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04/02/08: I have an 18 year old Quarter horse gelding. I often take him to my friend's farm to ride. My friend recently adopted a wild pig. My horse became instantly attached to this pig. He was calling to it and acting like a stud horse does around a mare. What might be the reason for this behavior?

Shelley Stewart

04/09/08: Loading a horse seems to be one of the great problem areas. Why can't you just put some food in the back of the trailer and wait for the horse to go in?

04/16/08: I loan a pony down a yard where we don't have any coloured poles. The pony I loan is a fantastic jumper, and I would love to take him to a show. However, I think he might be scared of the coloured poles as he is quite nervy anyway and he has never jumped over coloured poles before. I am not allowed to buy any coloured poles so I was wondering, is there anything else I could do? Thanks, Laura

04/23/08: The Bullying Horse
I have a 6 year old gelding, Geronimo, who is very much the dominant one in my small heard of three geldings. Everyone gets on fine at home as they know what the pecking order is. My problem is when I take Geronimo out in public. When we are standing around, waiting for our turn at an event, if there is a horse within 10 feet or so behind Geronimo he will begin backing up in order to bump in to the other horse. The only way I can stop him is by turning him to face the horse or spurring him to move forward. A simple leg squeeze will not suffice when he is on this mission. I can avoid the situation by being careful of who is around me, or simply “hiding” in a corner, but I would really like to cure him of the habit. Thanks, Jo Mayo, Missouri

04/30/08: My name is Silvia Lenarduzzi. I'm 20 and I go horse riding since I was 12. I jump with my horse, who is from Sardinia, but we have some problems. His name is Devil Salus and he is 8 years old; he jumped 1,35m competitions with his previous owner and now we're jumping 1,20m.

When he starts to work he is fantastic, he's not scared of jumps and never stops, but often he doesn't want to start to work. After walking he makes defences, trying to unsaddle me by rearing and bucking... I don't like at all to whip him, and he also becomes dangerous with lashes, but I don't know what to do. I think he can understand that I care about him, and I suffer with him when he defences! What should I do?

Thanks, Silvia

Monty's Answers to April 2008 Questions

Question:
I have an 18 year old Quarter horse gelding. I often take him to my friend's farm to ride. My friend recently adopted a wild pig. My horse became instantly attached to this pig. He was calling to it and acting like a stud horse does around a mare. What might be the reason for this behavior?

Shelley Stewart

Monty's Answer:
Horses have an extremely sensitive olfactory system. This means that they “smell” really well. The sensitivity of a horse’s system to smell is nearly as acute as a blood hound. Horses are affected by smells in many different ways. Most horses are frightened by the smell of pigs. You have a unique individual with a very weird apparent affinity for pigs. I don’t see anything wrong with this but this is what it’s all about.

The next time you chose to ride near your friend’s property take along a small container of Vicks Vapor Rub (topical aromatic oil). As you approach the area where the pig lives, dismount and rub the salve in the horse’s nostrils. It is probable that the strong scent of the Vicks Vapor Rub will overpower the smell of the pig. Once you have accomplished this you should be able to ride your horse without distraction.

Question:
Loading a horse seems to be one of the great problem areas. Why can't you just put some food in the back of the trailer and wait for the horse to go in?

Monty's Answer:
One could certainly do that, and horsemen often do. It is a problem if one never teaches the horse follow your requests to load. There will be times when the horse is not hungry, and it might take hours and hours before it decides to go in. With my system, the horse learns to load as a partner with you and allows the horseman the opportunity to enjoy a relationship with a horse that will load every time and with no stress.

Editors Note: see Monty in action on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGsOV_eOYXk

(See more questions)

Question:
I loan a pony down a yard where we don't have any coloured poles. The pony I loan is a fantastic jumper, and I would love to take him to a show. However, I think he might be scared of the coloured poles as he is quite nervy anyway and he has never jumped over coloured poles before. I am not allowed to buy any coloured poles so I was wondering, is there anything else I could do? Thanks, Laura

Monty's Answer:
This is a problem that I can help you solve very easily. Take the poles that you do have and buy some colored tape. Decorate the poles to the maximum you choose and school your pony in that way. If there is not enough money to buy the colored tape one could get colored shopping bags and tie them on the poles, as anything like that will do the job to help your pony jump brightly colored poles.

Editor’s note: Many readers contributed clever answers to this question. We will share more next week as it seems a common challenge.

(See more questions)

Question:
The Bullying Horse
I have a 6 year old gelding, Geronimo, who is very much the dominant one in my small heard of three geldings. Everyone gets on fine at home as they know what the pecking order is. My problem is when I take Geronimo out in public. When we are standing around, waiting for our turn at an event, if there is a horse within 10 feet or so behind Geronimo he will begin backing up in order to bump in to the other horse. The only way I can stop him is by turning him to face the horse or spurring him to move forward. A simple leg squeeze will not suffice when he is on this mission. I can avoid the situation by being careful of who is around me, or simply “hiding” in a corner, but I would really like to cure him of the habit. Thanks, Jo Mayo, Missouri

Monty's Answer:
This is an interesting question and one that is quite unique. I have seen this phenomenon occur many times in my life. The problem that I have viewed has been present in riding schools and rent stables almost exclusively. It is more prevalent when riders have very little experience and the horses are able to take advantage of that fact.

I suggest that you treat this remedial behavior in the same way that I recommend for balking or barn sour horses. This behavior is also called napping in England. There are three chapters in my book From My Hands To Yours which deal with similar behavior, balking, barn sour and separation anxiety. I recommend reading all three of those chapters if you have the book.

To put my recommendation in capsule form, what I suggest is the use of blinkers so that the horse does not see behind him. I then recommend the use of the Giddy Up rope (called a wip wop in England) One can easily make one and it is fully described in From My Hands To Yours. The Giddy Up rope is made from yarn, cotton or a soft rope material. One makes it in such a way that it is about 3 feet long (one meter) with a loop at one end for your wrist and tied in such a way so that you leave a tassel of about 8 inches at the other end.

The Giddy Up rope will produce no pain but when used in conjunction with blinkers it will encourage forward motion more effectively than anything else I could recommend. With all of these measures in place one should wait for the problem to occur and then swing the Giddy Up rope back and forth in front of yourself allowing it to meet the horse’ s sides just behind your legs. Generally two or three contact impacts are sufficient for each schooling episode. Your horse should immediately move forward and cooperate with you instead of considering his negative activity.

Repeat this effort several times during the course of any riding session and I think you will be amazed with any results. Gradually you can remove the blinkers and eventually you won’t even need the Giddy Up rope. Do not reduce to pain-producing whips as they will simply have you sending in another question about another problem they have created which may well be unrelated to the current problem.

Sincerely,

Monty

Question:
My name is Silvia Lenarduzzi. I'm 20 and I go horse riding since I was 12. I jump with my horse, who is from Sardinia, but we have some problems. His name is Devil Salus and he is 8 years old; he jumped 1,35m competitions with his previous owner and now we're jumping 1,20m.

When he starts to work he is fantastic, he's not scared of jumps and never stops, but often he doesn't want to start to work. After walking he makes defences, trying to unsaddle me by rearing and bucking... I don't like at all to whip him, and he also becomes dangerous with lashes, but I don't know what to do. I think he can understand that I care about him, and I suffer with him when he defences! What should I do?

Thanks, Silvia

Monty's Answer:
It is obvious that your horse is under a great deal of stress connected with his work. It is possible that he has been overmatched and suffered pain while jumping fences too high for him. It is also possible that he has been jumped while physically sore. Another possibility might be that he had sessions too often or too long .I have no idea what category this horse might fall into but I feel confident that I have covered the most likely ones.

In cases like this I suggest that practice session should be shorter and practice fences should be lower. Your horse should find more fun in his practices than he does at the moment. For whatever reason this horse is finding too much stress or pain or both, connected with the sport of jumping. I would further suggest that you dismount from your horse at the conclusion of your session and lead him out of the jumping area. Don’t ride him out.

It is obvious to me that you must take the actions of this horse very seriously. It sounds to me that he is dangerous now. And if you do not significantly modify his activity he is apt to be far more dangerous later. Rearing and bucking hold serious potential for injury to both you and your horse. Please change these procedures now.

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