Pawing while standing still

ClaireBear_nz

ClaireBear_nz

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Jun 17, 2006
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Levin, New Zealand
Yes, Tally's come up with yet another way to draw attention to himself!

I was out riding today, when Mum called me over to discuss something, and so I just sat on Tally. He tried for a bit to eat grass, then gave up. After a bit, he began to paw the air. I growled at him, so he simply swapped feet. He'd only stop when I asked him to walk on.

Later on, I asked for a halt, and after a couple of seconds, he began to wave his toes around again. I waited for him to stop, and after a bit of dancing, where he'd swap his weight and wave his toes around, he stood still and I praised him and walked him on.

How do I stop him doing this? Will he pick up that he's *not* supposed to be doing it as fast as he picked up that its extremely fun to do?

Oh...for a normal horse!
 
hi i had the same problem with my horse when he was a youngster. Think he thought standing still was far too boring!!! It was very annoying but i used to make him stand until he stopped and as soon as he stood calmly gave him a pat and asked him to walk on. It took a while but he soon began to understand that he was made to stand for longer if he started to paw the ground and it really wasnt worth the hassle anymore!It will just take some time! hope that helps a bit:)
 
Amba used to do that when i made her stand, shes a very impatient mare :rolleyes:, if a growl doesn't work, i used to use my crop and a short tap on the shoulder used to work, she hasn't done it in a while. However, shes started doing it when i got her ready for long-reining, this was out of temper and tantrums. Again not with a crop but my hand a tap/smack on the shoulder and she soon stopped it. Now and again she tries it on i just remind her that's not what shes suppose to be doing.

Good luck :) i too wish i had a normal horse sometimes but most of her daft quirks make you laugh :D
 
Try a "bracelet" with a wooden ball attatched I've heard this works would be interested to know if anyone has tried it (I think its mainly for horses that paw the ground etc in their stable but it might work the same for stand still lessons
 
How old is Tally? I've heard it can be a way that youngster's deal with their need to be moving around all the time if they're being asked to stay still. If this is what Tally's doing, it's better than major fidgeting or worse behaviour. If you ignore her when she does it so that she doesn't get any attention and doesn't think it's a good thing, she might well grow out of it/get bored of it.
 
kyanya - you have obviously been spending too much time observiing leah!! - thats exactly what she does and exactly why i believe she does it - in our case ignoring it is the best policy!!
 
my pony is 5 years old,she likes to paw the fence,this wrecks the fencing but

what concerns me more is that she has pulled shoes off and a couple of times got stuck (wire between hoof and shoe) I've now put electric fence up.

Would be grateful for any other suggestions,pleased to hear she may grow out of it.
 
Kalli does it when she's bored and wanting attention. With her size 11 feet it's not funny and the shoes cost far too much for her to wear out;)

As she's doing it entirely for attention the worst possible thing for her is to speak to her or tell her off.

So instead we appear to completely ignore her and she is mighty suprised when something nasty happens;)

If she's close enough she gets a long dressage whip smacked across her waving leg but without looking at her in any way or form - often it's done whilst she's behind me.

If she's too far away but still doing it she gets the hose turned on her. She's not remotely afraid of the hose or water but doesn't particulrly like a jet of water being squirted in her ear, esp when it appears to have come from nowhere.

Both stop her in her tracks and only needs one repetition to stop the pawing completely for thats day. She's also doing it less and less altogether.

If she's doing if whilst also stressed she gets her suprise then as soon as she's stopped she's untied and taken for a walk.
 
Ermm...he's not actually that young, he's 12! However, mentally, he's very immature and has a tendency to throw tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. I have my doubts he will grow out of it now :rolleyes:

I like the sound of the dressage whip, except Tally has a phobia of them. I attempted to ride with one once, and he went absolutly nuts, and wouldnt stop until I dropped it. I was then left with a trembling, shaking, sweating horse.

I squirted him with water in the face once, and he looked surprised....then began playing in the water!

He also has the "put my foot in the waterbucket and flip it" attention technique down to a fine art. If this fails (and the bucket loses entertainment once he's thrown or kicked it out of his reach) he proceeds onto the float banging techniquie. He picks up his front feet and bangs on the float, creating a hell of a noise. If this fails, he just unties himself and wanders off.

Luckily, he hasn't learnt the bang-on-the-gate-for-food technique yet!

Anything else? I try to ignore it, but I get seriously worried about his legs!
 
Alps has just had his 11th birthday and is yet to mature beyond the mentality of a 3 year old :rolleyes: ;)

Alps paws at the ground when he's impatient or in a strop about something, being tied up, made to stand, whilst being tacked up etc. etc. if he's really annoyed about something he actually physically stamps his feet and glares at you :eek:

If he starts pawing now he gets a firm "Ah ah!!!" then if he doesn't stop he gets a sharp slap on the shoulder of the offending leg and told "NO!" Just with the flat of my hand, it doesn't hurt as such but the noise and effects shocks them - it's also mightly clear what they are being told off for, it only took a few days of this before Alps stopped pawing all together when I was in sight. I repeated this as many times an necessary until he realised it wasn't allowed behaviour, which wasn't long. Now if he raises a leg I can be across the other side of the yard and say "Ah ah!!" and it gets put straight back down again.

It might take a lot of repetition and it can be tempting to just ignore it especially when you're across the yard doing something else and have to treck over to tell them off but they do learn and then they just accept that pawing isn't allowed anymore.

Poking with the bristly end of a broom also works if you've got one handy - mine got that treatment the other day for pratting about while I was mucking out and was most offended :p
 
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