Ear Pinning

We recently acquired a ten-year-old quarter horse mare. She had been trained as a cutting horse, but more recently had been a companion horse who was pretty much left out in a dry pasture with a buddy and didn't receive much attention.

When she first arrived, she was a bit aloof, but very patient with us fawning over her—brushing, a bath, morning and afternoon walks around the round pen. However, in less than a week, she began pinning her ears back when we would approach her...quite a sad feeling for my seven-year-old daughter. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

- Denise

Denise, sometimes sudden behavior changes can be due to illness or injury, so the first thing I would do is have your mare checked by a vet. Assuming everything checks out with the vet, my next guess is that there is something about those sessions that the horse finds unappealing. The easiest way to change the behavior is to pair your approach and haltering of her with something that feels good. Since she is new and you have not yet had the opportunity to find out what kind of touch or activities she likes, I suggest you use my favorite fallback choice—food. When you start and end your sessions, give her a treat or two—and, when possible, pair the sessions around feeding time so the session begins or ends with tasty grain. You should see a change in her response to you and your daughter’s approach quite soon.

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