Angry Neighbor

So a woman recently brought two extremely emaciated horses into the barn I board at. One of these horses lunges out of his stall window everytime I walk my horse by and tries to bite him(and has succeeded once or twice). I assume he is trying to protect his food. Anyway I have to cross by his stall many times a day when I am hot walking my horse, and so I have started(when no one else is around) to give the angry horse a little yell if he seems to be about to come and get us. Just a little 'Hey!". It works, he's gone from lunging out at us every single time we walk by to only doing it about 25% of the time. Am I out of line to yell at someone else's horse? I feel bad doing it because I assume his aggression stems from abuse but I also don't like having to worry about him sinking his teeth into my animal every time I walk by.

If the owner is not there it handle the sisuation i do not see any harm in giveing a stren "hey" you are doing no harm to him and just letting him no that biting is not going to make any friends.

I agree. You aren't hurting him or hitting him or anything. You have a right to protect your horse, and a firm 'no' or 'hey' isn't going to hurt him.

Agreed with everyone else. Your not hurting him in anyway, and if it seems to be working. Its probably a good thing.

I make that "EEEAACK" sound when other peoples horses are being naughty and they arent around. I think it would be way worse if you left the issue to escalate until it actually got a person or horse... You are doing the right thing....

i agree. i would do the same

Okay good, that helps my conscience feel better.

Lol, I'm evil in comparison. If a stern 'hey' doesn't do the trick... out comes the dressage whip which gets casually tapped against my leg. I never actually touch the horse with it or even wave it in his face. The mere sight of it usually clarifies my point. Then again, I know this horse's owner and his past and I know that this is perfectly fine. Half of the reason it works for me is because she actually will go after him with the whip if he doesn't cut it out.

Out of line? Not at all.

There are plenty of lungers and nippers at my barn.

First time, I notify the barn manager that they need to put up a stall guard to prevent this from happening.

If a stall guard isn't put up, I give the offending horse a stern look when walking past. If that doesn't immediately make him retreat into his stall, I tell him to get back (speak, yell... whatever it takes to get him well back into his stall.

If he actually does bite at me or my horse, I wouldn't hesitate to give him a good smack across the mouth. I would do the same to my horse. Biting is very serious, and should never be tolerated.

Keep in mind that horses doing this to passers-by from their stalls is very dangerous. Other horses learn the behavior and pretty soon they all do it. Horses also learn to expect it as they walk by and will start to "jump" out of the way. Not a behavior you want from horses walking down an aisle.

If an owner or barn manager will not put up a stall guard of other restraint, it becomes your responsibility to insure the safety of you and your horse. If this means yelling at the offender, you are well within your rights.

Have you talked to the barn owner about this yet? I think it's important that you do this. It's a huge liability issue for the barn owner and the horse owner. Knowing about this issue and not telling the barn owner puts you in a sticky place too, I think.

Please let the barn owner know what's going on with this horse.