How does the sound of a stun gun work on motivating a horse to respect?
Is this a serious question? Most horses don’t like unfamiliar sounds. Depending on its personality and the extent to which its been exposed to novel noises, it will either be mildly alarmed, or not care.
If it knows that the sound precedes a strong pain, it will flee at the sound. If you panic a horse and you are between the horse and freedom, it will knock you down in a heartbeat to get away. A horse which cannot escape will turn and fight for its life. If you are with a panicked horse in a confined area, you are likely to get killed.
Most likely the opposite of what you expect. A panicked horse can be dangerous. You don’t need stun guns to “force” respect. My daughter (5’ and 105 lbs.) is a horse trainer and she is the Alpha to even the largest horse in her barn. She does it by outthinking them and being consistent.
She rarely uses punishment, but when she does (usually horses that she hasn’t started herself) she is quick and forceful. If you’re going to punish, you have to realize you can’t “pick” at a horse - they have to feel it.
IMO, Lorene’s action was a perfect example of an appropriate punishment - quick and forceful. 
A panicked horse is indeed dangerous. I have seen people who try to control horses through pain and fear. Those horses may do what they are forced to do. But they are not safe.
Everything in this post is exactly correct. If your experience with horses is mostly from watching other people, you are a good observer, CheshireKat.
Horses have a weak ability to link cause & effect. You have about 3 seconds to make your opinion known about misbehavior. After that, the horse has no idea what action they did to produce the punishment. Arbitrary, inconsistent, and ill-timed physical punishment will make a horse dangerous to humans. We’ve already discussed the danger of a frightened horse which is physically cornered. A horse which is psychologically cornered - who doesn’t know how to produce a result which is not painful, because the painful stimulus comes from the human at random from the horse’s perspective - is equally dangerous if not more so.
Thank you! I rode, trained and showed my own horses as an amateur, but was lucky to know a very good professional who was my close friend and mentor. She also instructed my daughter, who has far surpassed me in knowledge and experience at this point.
The first horse I trained (before meeting my friend), I trained by reading a book! I taught her to lunge, taught her voice commands, then eventually just hopped on and went from there. It’s always been a thinking sport to me, to figure out the best way to get the result you want from each individual horse.
What about bringing them treats?
I’d give them carrots if they didn’t hassle me when I was moving them around the barn, and it seemed to make one of them my buddy, but it had zero effect on the horse that was always nipping at me.
Giving treats by hand actually produces biting behavior in many horses.
It has no effect on general behavior, and given that it usually produces biting, its not allowed in many lesson barns. (children can give treats by dropping them in a feed bucket, but not by hand).
I am Alpha,the horse will get out of my way… If said horse is new,I’ll be carrying a lunging whip … A sting on the chest or butt re-enforces my statis.
If you can’t correct a behavior by the count of 3,forget it,'cause the horse has.
As to treats — If they came when I whistled there was always a treat… Saved their life and mine one night when a prowler opened the gate… I didn’t need to chase horses up and down the hiway and through traffic,I just whistled ,clipped on leads and went home.
Just because a horse eats grass doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous
Nothing wrong with snarling/biting a pushy horse. I’ve twitched a horse with my mouth in an emergency situation when I didn’t have access to a twitch.
That is hard-core.
I agree with everyone else. Your body language is probably a bit hesitant, which horses interpret as submissive. It’s a rare horse that won’t take advantage of that situation. Stand up straight, head up, move with authority an intent and the horses will respond. Also, give quick corrections when they do nip or otherwise get bossy. With those changes, it won’t take long before they are respecting you and quit with most of the acting up.
Understand that I do not like bullfighting in any form,but to see what real communication between horse&rider is,watch “Merlin,the bullfighting horse” on Youtube. I have never ever seen a horse move like that before!
oops
You guys are making me feel like the biggest wimp, no wonder my uncle used to laugh his ass off at me every time I got kicked, bucked, or bit.
It’d partially depend on what you mean by “mean.” I’m not sure that animals have the capacity to be malicious like humans, but they can certainly associate people with “hey, this human caused me pain” and react accordingly.
Your uncle needed better trained horses.
My horse was a “War Horse”. remember,I was a 16 year old girl and was accosted by someone who pulled the bridle off my horse… I got away because horse knew some leg aids… So! When I got through training my horse would(on command only) bite/strike/rear/kick/ and do that rear,leap in the air and kick backwards… Which I would show off at the drop of a hat… No more problems.
I never could figure out how a man could ride a horse. I know men have been doing it from Genghis Khan and before to John Wayne and since, but I have this set of equipment as a man which hangs down and every time I came down against the saddle it hurt. Like getting a kick in that area. How do other men stand it? I have no reason to believe that my equipment is bigger than other guys,but the horse riding thing hurt too much for me to wish to continue. Let the women do it and complain that their boobs hurt afterwards.
In a logical world,men would ride sidesaddle.
Perhaps, “mean” wasn’t the best choice of words, but I did feel like they singled me out for mischief. Mostly, it was stuff that would happen in or near the barn, out riding it seemed less of an issue.
Four out of the five horses were rather green, and it did get better as time went on, but “Bitey” always had it out for me.
The last time I was near a horse, he swung his head at me as soon as I walked up.
He’d never seen me before, and I wasn’t even trying to get him to do anything, just saying hello to my friend.
We have a gaited (Tennessee Walker) horse. The ride is very smooth, not bouncy at all. Plus, while riding you hold yourself up with your legs sorta. After hours in the saddle my legs are like cooked spaghetti, but my man parts are fine.