Ear Pinning

[Jen]

I'm not quite sure what to do about my yearling filly's moodiness/cranky moments if anything! She will pin her ears but never actually do anything (eg... If I go pat her while she is eating occationally I'll get the flat ears back or tell her not to do something, go and play with her or trot her in hand etc...) Is she just going to be one of those mares? Not nasty but making faces being marish! Should I be getting after her? Is this just a stage?
She does for example trot in hand when I ask her but her ears are flat on her head! They come back up when we stop and I give her a pat. She isn't sore or anything. I'm wondering if she is just being defensive cause my older gelding really chases her down and bites her when they are turned out together(which ISN'T often) and my old mare pinnes her ears at her occationally and swings her bum in my filly's general direction.

I have round penned her lightly and she joins up willingly and accepts that I'm the Alpha horse etc... so I'm not sure that that is the problem.

Any thoughts or suggestions??

[tapestry]

bre used to pin her ears and get nasty when i did the girth up.. cowkicking, reaching around to nip (though she never actually TRIED to nip), etc. now she might just twitch one ear back if she's feeling particularly grouchy that day. hush also pins her ears occasionally when she doesn't want to do something.

I allow them to have an opinion, so long as they're not backing up that opinion with threatening behavior or refusing to do what I ask. IE... no kicking, biting, stomping, lungeing, etc... or evading me by backing or refusing to move etc..

eventually they give it up.

also reward her when she's DOING the behavior you want, not after she does it. that might help.

[Jen]

I have been ignoring her ear pinning cause she doen't take it any further and I'm looking at it as she is a mare/filly and it goes with the territory I guess. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing!

[Kootenay]

That's funny Jen - I just realized that I had the same concern about my yearling right up to a few weeks ago...but lately, it's just stopped! She was in a very similar situation, pastured with her older sister who is very dominant. She's never given me any other kind of trouble, but I was concerned by her apparently sour attitude to everything I was doing with her. Anyway, I guess she's just grown out of it or something - lately her ears have been up and she's either given up protesting, or decided she doesn't mind, or something. So maybe your yearling will get past it too!

[NancyM]

Just stay away from her when she is eating. She is just asking for a little privacy, which she has not been getting from the other horses. Getting after for this is only going to put her more on the defensive. Ignore it and don't give her the opportunity to feel this way by staying away from her while she is eating, and the behaviour may well go away, as it did for the previous poster. Make a big deal out of it, and it will only get worse.

[tapestry]

I disagree about leaving the horse alone when eating if it pins the ears. That can actually make the problem worse. I agree you shouldn't make a huge deal out of it or push the issue too much (you're just asking to get bit) but you should let the horse know that the stall is not "her territory" where she can boss you around.

Breanna used to get really cranky about people being in her stall when she was eating. She hasn't done it in so long I'd completely forgotten about it! hahaha.. For the first week, I stood outside her stall (out of reach in case she decided to lunge at me, which she never did) and talked to her, made lots of noise, eventually I started going in and out of her stall, not touching her or getting close to her, just going in and out. I started doing a lot of work in the stall when she wasn't eating as well, for example always grooming her in there, cleaning the stall with her in it (the wheelbarrow out of reach) and making her move when I needed to clean somewhere and so on.

When I fed her, I asked her to go to the back of the stall and to stay there until I had put the food down and let her know it was ok to eat. Eventually I stuck around the pile of hay longer and longer, started tying her up to eat and grooming her at the same time, and now she's much better at feed time. Of course she's not really interested in quality time when she's got eating to do, but she doesn't pin her ears or get grouchy. I can do anything with her including ask her to stop eating so I can pick up her feet.

[Jen]

I think I will CONTINUE to ignore her ear pinning I think it will eventually stop If it doesn't then I will accept it as part of her personality as long as she keeps it like it is now JUST ear pinning. I was thinking it had something to do with her feeling defensive because of my other horses. I haven't been pushing the issue with her at all and I haven't gotten after her. I just want to make sure that this is the right approach!

THANKS for all of the suggestions and the support it is really appreciated!

[tapestry]

ear pinning alone is usually a defensive thing. as the horse trusts you more it will stop. I think that continuing to ignore it is a good idea, she'll come around

[Doomed 2B Banned]

Yes it is because the other horses treat her like that, bad, so you should give her less freedom (keep asking) when she does something for you, because she thinks she is on one hand working for you, on the other hand you leave her alone too much, so she thinks she is bossing you. You can do a lot of complicated exercises with her, for example lead her and then pet her on the back, stop her do something more difficult than walking her from A to B, so she feels appropiate. Reward her a lot, the ears will go forward if you simply reward her (not with food). Don't allow her to bite you when she's eating.

[Erin]

Just outta curoisity, how was the baby raised? Was it imprinted or not? How soon did you halter break? How much handling?

The reason I ask is that too much, and not enough handling, and at the right times can create behavioral problems later on.

Give me all the history you can from birth.

Erin