My Filly has No Respect or Fear of Anything. What Can I Do?

An equine behaviorist offers advice for managing an orphaned filly who exhibits dangerous behaviors.
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My Filly has No Respect or Fear of Anything. What Can I Do?
One recommendation is to start young horses on organized ground schooling even earlier than you would for a normal horse. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse
Q. I have a 9-month-old Thoroughbred filly we got when she was 3 months old. The breeder told us that she had been orphaned and was bottle- and bucket-fed. They warned me that she was a bit over-friendly, and that I should stand my ground with her and try to avoid babying her. They explained that hand-raised foals can think of themselves as people or think of people as horses, so they can be too friendly around people.

Well, it’s a good thing they warned me, because I have never seen a horse like this one. This filly will follow you anywhere. She’s like a dog. She wants to be touching you whenever you’re near her. But she has no respect or fear of anything or anybody. If you try to lead her, she just walks all over you. She’s not only in your face, she’s clumsy and pushy, more like an ox instead of a horse. She gets into everything, knocks things over, and keeps right on going. She walks through gates to get to people. I can’t seem to get tough enough with her to keep from getting pushed around. You can’t go in the pasture with her, even to get another horse. I’m starting to dread doing anything with her, and I’m also becoming afraid of her.

Do you have any suggestions? I hate to hit her all the time. I’ve had other nippy, pushy youngsters, but they seemed to learn on the first or second whack. With this filly, sometimes it’s like a game, but mostly it’s like she’s retarded. She’s not at all mean, and she doesn’t bite as much as she bumps and nudges you.

Will she get over this? I’m beginning to think it’s permanent

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Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

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