Ox afraid of tack?

[hayhoss]

I have a bull who is afraid of all tackle, chains, and yokes. He is very well trained to stop, go, gee, haw, and back up. He is a wonderful animal, and he can be ridden bareback. Very docile, a patient, but willing to work with me. If I am carrying a rope he become unapproachable. Not aggressive but extremely fearful, staying 20 meters out. He is bos indicus, 16 months of age, and I love him. I have tried feeding him in a bunker with the ropes hanging near, he knows, they are benign without me. I have got a halter on him, which was usless, because he soon broke the lead, and became feral.

[Tim Harrigan]

When did you become aware of this problem?

[bivol]

he broke the halter you say…. that’s not desirable, as he learned he can break them. strap a really strong halter on him and tie him by a strong, thick rope, to a place he won’t break. let him fight as long as he can. sooner or later, he’ll accept it. second, did you hold the rope when he broke away?

how about coupling his experience for yokes and other things with positive experiences? for example, leave the yoke and chains (maybe rubbed with hay) dangling near where he eats. or even in his feeding …. even if he won’t eat he’ll soon get hungry and come near. leaving them on a low position could help, too.

get him used to that bunker, go in there and give him treats there. tie him up in there for a few hours each day, and also blind him daily until he gets used to it. be calm while leading him there, he’ll sense it if you’re not calm!
get him in that bunker, close it, and put the yoke. put something on his eyes so he can’t see, and put the yoke on. tying his halter to the walls should help also. fasten the yoke with chains to the sides, as he’ll be, more-less, fixed in one position. let him act up all he wants, and talk in a calm voice. after he calms down take off the cloth, but leave him there for a few hours. maybe it should be good to yoke and unyoke him more times while in there. repeat daily until he gets used to it. the ox should be tied so that he can’t back up, either near the end, or put some thick ropes behind do stop him from backing up.

just my idea….

[bjahnes]

I had a similar problem, with my steer being afraid when I approached him with a halter. He began associating being haltered with losing his freedom, and having to work, because this was usually the only occasion that I haltered him. I found that if I haltered him at random times and fed him, and/or gave him a good and long scratch under the chin, the halter became less threatening because the routine of being haltered became less associated with negative experiences. Also, i’ve noticed that it is good to distract him with food, water, or a chin-scratch when unhaltering, so that he doesn’t associate being unhaltered with immediate freedom.

[mstacy]

Bjahnes that is a very astute observation about animals associating the halter (or other tack) with loss of freedom. I never really thought about that but know my four Devons sometimes get a little goofy when I’m putting halters on or taking them off. I like your idea of applying tack at random times so that it is associated with pleasant experiences too. Or more accurately to teach the animal that they can’t reliably associate the halter with anything pleasant or otherwise.

I’ll see how it works with my beasties.

Matt

@bjahnes 8959 wrote:

I had a similar problem, with my steer being afraid when I approached him with a halter. He began associating being haltered with losing his freedom, and having to work, because this was usually the only occasion that I haltered him. I found that if I haltered him at random times and fed him, and/or gave him a good and long scratch under the chin, the halter became less threatening because the routine of being haltered became less associated with negative experiences. Also, i’ve noticed that it is good to distract him with food, water, or a chin-scratch when unhaltering, so that he doesn’t associate being unhaltered with immediate freedom.

[Author]

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