Horse pinning his ears at everyone!

[Carri]

Hi Everyone! I have a question about the guy in my Avatar.
He is a great horse, and we have a wonderful bond. He is 10 years old and wonderfully trained, and has a great personality!
His main fault is that he CONSTANTLY pins his ears at everyone, people, other horses, small children, dogs, especially ponies!
Now, he has never acted on this, never bitten anyone, or even tried to, he just looks intimidating, pinning his ears and bobbing his head. He even does it at me, and I just ignore him! Since I know he doesn't mean anything by it, I don't let it bother me.
Lately, though, it is starting to bother other people at the barn where I board more and more, where he is starting to get a "bad reputation". Even worse, the other day, a young girl (about 10 or 12??) was walking by, and he pinned his ears and bobbed his head at her pony, and she smacked him across the face with her crop! Totally unacceptable!!!
So, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas how to help curb this bad habit a little, and help him accept people walking by his stall and past him in the cross ties, or around him in the ring.
What could I do to help him improve? I know at 10 years old, and as far as I know he has always done this, it will be hard to change him. I love him and accept him for who he is, but people who do not have the same bond with him think he is just being nasty.
He has bars on his stall where he cannot get at anyone, and I take great pains to stay right with him in the cross ties, get all my stuff ahead of time and all that. The worst part is that since everyone is getting a negative attitude about him, it is spreading, and now no-one has a kind word for him, and that just perpetuates the problem. Not to mention that they are also treating me like it is MY fault!!
Any ideas? Thanks!!

[JoAnne]

the only suggestion I have is one that worked on a gelding we are helping with a similar but worse problem. He would charge with ears pinned back and teeth bared at anyone who came near or walked by his stall. ( he would follow through and nip at times!) anyway, we started spraying him in the muzzle or face with water from a household cleaner bottle when he did it. After about a month he dropped the habit.

Since your guy does not bite, you could perhaps post a sign by his stall ( if owner agrees) that explains the horse is really gentle but just pins his ears out of habit..and that no one should hit him. Good luck!

[hopeless addict]

I have known a number of horses that behave in the same fashion and none of them are mean or dangerous. It just seems to be something that they pick up and for some reason find amusing or enjoyable! Maybe they think our reactions to them are funny...I have seen several Arabians of the same bloodline who are face-makers and look as though they would love to take your arm off at the elbow but are all actually very nice loveable horses. At the barn where I boarded no one was terribly concerned over their behavior - we all knew about it, knew that they didn't mean anything by it and just accepted it as part of their personalities. Is the barn where you board small enough to be able to talk to the other boarders individually and reassure them that he is just a game-player and won't actually do anything? Perhaps putting a notice on his stall to this effect might help. It seems a little ridiculous that all of them are so upset by this...

[horses19201]

There is a mare at the the barn who does this and no one worries over it. I would probaply just put a notice on his stall. I would be concerned over the girl who hit him with her crop. I would let her know that it is very unacceptable!

[reba4]

If he has bars on his stall I don't see why they are even worried about it. I think the note on his stall is a great idea.

[MLovely]

There's a horse that I know who does the exact same thing for no reason. He is a real sweetie and has never tried to bite or kick anyone....it's just something he does. And like hopeless addict said, it's just part of the particular horse's personality. If your horse has never pulled any dangerous moves, I would just chalk it up to that.

As far as the girl goes...I would confront her and simply say "Dont ever touch my horse again, it's not your job to discipline him". She'll get the point. That kind of behavior is completely un-acceptable in my book...she should know better.

Good Luck!

[jyates]

I've read several times that spraying horses with water that lunge or look like they are lunging at people works pretty well. That is unless the horse likes to be sprayed.

[Lopin]

I have a horse who pins his ears when he comes to his door and he also body slams it. He is a wonderful horse otherwise, but that's just a bad habit that he has.

He will drive you nuts and some of my customers aren't very fond of him at first, but once they realize he's all bark and no bite, they're ok with him.

I've found that the best thing to do is just simply ignore him when he does it and I don't feed or pet him until his ears are forward.

[Faceman]

Hard to tell if the ear pinning means anything without being around him.

I had a mare that constantly pinned her ears and it didn't mean a thing. The funny thing is that Rambo, her colt that I still have, does exactly the same thing. Neither of them ever presented any problem, but it makes it hard to "read" them - I read ears a lot, and have to look at other body language to figure out what the heck they are thinking at the moment - pain in the butt...

[Rocking Horse]

My Zeemonster pins his ears all the time. He doesn't have a mean bone in him, it's just for "effect"

I will say I had someone crack a whip in my horses face once (because he was standing at the fence when they were riding) and I promptly jumped the fence and told them if they ever dd that again they'd need to have that whip surgically removed

No one and I mean NO ONE touches my horses

[Jadesmygirl]

There is a horse where I board who recently started pinning his ears. No one corrected him because he is someone else's horse, and the owner has never seen him do it. It did not take long for it to escalate in to swinging his hind end to anyone who came through the gate to "his" pasture-with the exception of his owner. He even reared one day and knocked another boarder and horse into the fence.
While I am NOT saying that your horse is going to do that, I am saying that others have no way of knowing that. As Face said, most of us read a horse by their ears and ear pinning is generally a big red flag. A 10 or 12 year old girl with a pony could have felt very threatened-and logically so. Your horse could not have been in his stall with bars at that time if she was able to hit him with a crop.
I think the sign explaining his behavior sounds like a good idea. I would keep it positive though and not include any statements about not hitting him because that will just come across adversarial and as if you are singling out the little girl.
I also think speaking with the girl is ok, but definitely recommend a gentle, educational approach rather than threatening or reprimanding. Maybe even taking her aside and having her get to know your horse a little. She is a child, after all, and still learning. Most likely, any other approach will only result in further distancing of yourself and your horse from the other boarders.
I guess I am the odd man out here. I love my horse and feel protective of her also. But I think it is unreasonable in a boarding situation to not expect anyone to correct your horse. While I certainly don't want anyone to hit my horse for no reason, on the flip side I would not want anyone to let her get away with unacceptale behavior either. Particularly after what I saw with the aforementioned horse. We did him, nor his owner, any favors in not disciplining him right at the start.
Carri,to clarify, I am NOT recommending by that last statement that you let everyone start smacking your horse!! That was more in reference to some of the other posts. In your case,Because you know he does not mean it, and he probably won't stop anytime soon, I think the best option would be to educate your fellow boarders as best you can. Be your horses advocate by showing them first hand what a sweet boy he really is and that they have nothing to fear.

[KrisRN2005]

My girlfriend has a gelding that would pin his ears at everyone that walked by his stall, then he started trying to nip and lunge as people walked by. She couldn't figure out what was going on with him well she finally figured out that the other boarders were actually teasing him they were afraid of him and instead of leaving him alone they would tease him! swinging crops to buckets at his door on a daily basis!
needless to say she posted the sign on his stall and eventually asked the barn owner if she could have a stall at one of the ends so there weren't so many people and horses walking by him.. it did help. she also kept the bars in his door to prevent him from getting his head out of the stall.
since then she has moved him and his vice of nipping and charging the stall door has stopped... she really thinks this problem was made worse by the other boarders and considering he hasn't nipped in months I would have to agree although he still greets you with his ears pinned he doesn't act on it. thankfully he is all bark and no bite!

[EquineAlberta]

I agree with the last two posts.

You may also want to consider getting him a stall toy. The ear pinning may also be a boredom breaker.

Karen2