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Most Aggressive

7K views 42 replies 22 participants last post by  Dreamcatcher Arabians 
#1 ·
"Be as light as possible, but as firm as necessary" - CA
Now, I don't agree with everything he says and does, but I love that quote.

What is the most aggressive move, that you can remember, you've made to a horse?

I remember mine.

She was a thirteen(ish?) year-old AQHxTB mare. (She wasn't my horse, but I was caring and training her.)
I was feeding her and she came a full on King-Kong-bulldozer charge with that head held low, teeth baring, and ears pinned at me. I haven't been training that long with her (a little less than a week, maybe?) and that is one issue her owner said needed worked on. Anyway, I wasn't in the mood to get snaked (I never am, but, you know... :shock:) I was pretty mad at her. I was quite aggressive and chased that horse like she was gonna die. I stopped once she started show signs of submission.
Long story short, she has *NEVER* again even thought of trying to snake a person.
 
#2 ·
My most aggressive move wasn't my finest moment, and didn't really teach the horse anything... and I still get made fun of for it... but it was a very helpful learning moment for me.

I was maybe 14 and trying to de-worm my gelding's mother. I had been stupidly fighting her for an hour or so. I should have at some point realized that what I was doing wasn't working, and wasn't going to work. I had just gotten her back to the point where I could touch her mouth with my hand without her freaking out, and I slowly tried to bring the syringe to her mouth once again, and she went ballistic. She started flipping her head and she sidestepped right into me. I still had a hold of her halter and she shoved me into the fence. In a panic to get out I whacked her neck and much to my surprise, I also BIT her. I had a hold of a nice big chunk right where her shoulder meets her neck. She sure moved (so I guess it did work).

I stood there in shock. I spit hair and couldn't believe what I had just done. I decided that was the point to quit. I walked away bawling and left her in the round pen.

Not too long after that my uncle happened to stop by. I told him what happened and he nearly fell over laughing. He took me back up to the barn and explained to me that when things go on too long that you need to take a break and try to look at other approaches. He asked where her bridle was, and I showed him. He bridled her up and slipped the syringe right into her mouth with little fuss.

That's probably not the kind of story you're looking for but I thought I'd share. In reality, the most aggressive I've had to be is a good whack or two to the rump or shoulder if there is aggression or lack of respect. I think what you did was perfectly acceptable for the situation.

BTW, I've never bit another horse ;-)
 
#40 ·
In a panic to get out I whacked her neck and much to my surprise, I also BIT her. I had a hold of a nice big chunk right where her shoulder meets her neck. She sure moved (so I guess it did work).

I think what you did was perfectly acceptable for the situation.

BTW, I've never bit another horse ;-)
It worked and was an appropriate action. ****

No judgement here as I have bitten a dog who latched onto my hand and wouldn't let go.... It happens on occasion.
 
#3 ·
Well, I've whipped my mare hard with a 4' long leather whip made by folding over a split rein. The harder I laid in to her, the faster we went - backwards.

There is a long thread discussing how aggressive one might get here, primarily written from the "I own the horse" perspective:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/willing-compliance-aversive-reflex-727450/

The problem with "Be as light as possible, but as firm as necessary" is that many people believe they need to be "firm", when they really need to be more understanding or more inventive. As a trend, the longer I ride, the less aggressive I need to be - 8+ years now, so it sure isn't as if I was born on a horse. I understand there is also the other extreme, where the rider believes Ol' Littlebitofhell just needs more pampering.

But here is a very recent example, for me, from yesterday:

I was trying two new things with my horse - a bitless bridle (rope sidepull) and a shorter stirrup length for me. As we started a canter, he started bucking. Not real hard. I pulled his head up, he stopped bucking, and we continued.

Then it happened again. Same response from me.

Then we did 6 short canters - my arena is more like a round pen than an arena - and all went fine. I fussed over him a bit, then put him in the corral.

Later in the evening, I realized both bucking spurts took place when I asked him to accelerate just as we turned directly into the setting Arizona sun, probably blinding him. So he defended himself. He did it in a way I consider improper communication, so he was wrong. But I was setting him up for failure, so I was wrong too.

Had I shown better judgment, he probably would not have bucked at all. I'm glad I didn't punish him for bucking, apart from getting his head up. I did find out that this particular sidepull worked fine when I needed to get his head up, and that the shorter leg didn't bother me when he hops. But I set him up to fail when a better horseman would have avoided the issue. IMHO. Firm only became necessary when I acted stupidly.
 
#17 ·
Hi OP, instead of asking 'what's the most aggressive' and giving/getting extreme egs, how about talking about how 'firm' people feel they generally have to get & why?? Because...

The problem with "Be as light as possible, but as firm as necessary" is that many people believe they need to be "firm", when they really need to be more understanding or more inventive. As a trend, the longer I ride, the less aggressive I need to be
The above needed restating. And thinking about again. Seriously!

And BTW, that quote is not a 'CA quote' it's just one that is probably common, maybe came from Dorrance originally. Is also a 'pet saying' of Parelli's... I too agree with it fully. BUT it is incredibly subjective. Your 'firm as' and your 'necessary' may be a totally different perception to mine, as I think Bsms was trying to convey above.
 
#4 ·
Subbing

The most aggressive I've had to get was probably last week when my friend's 2 yo filly decided to pin her ears and swing her butt at me when I wouldn't let her into an empty food bucket. She got popped one good time with the end of a lead I was carrying, and when she came for it again, she got popped and chased across the pasture by a swinging propeller-rope.

I also agree with bsms' statement about more firm or aggressive not always being the best option. I learned that with Cherokee over the weekend, and it's a very good lesson to understand. By my realizing that, he was a lot easier to work with.
 
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#5 ·
The most aggressive I have ever been with a horse was many years ago. The horse was a three year old entire when he came for schooling and getting fit for racing. He had the worse parrot mouth I have ever seen. He was dangerous on and off him. I had never met a horse like him as his one intention was to get you with teeth, heels or just squashing you.

We had him gelded and he remained in work. This is the only horse I have ever been frightened of.

Out riding one day I asked him to step over a gully, all 6" wide and deep. He started playing up and I lost it. He did everything he could to drop me and I did everything I could to stay on top because when I had come off him before he turned to attack me.

He went into the hedge on both sides of the road, I broke my whip on him and the battle lasted for at least 30 minutes. By the time he did go forward there was no gully left, it had been trampled to mud but he did got forward and over another further down the road.

On getting home he had cuts from the wire in the hedge, welt marks from the branches and my whip - thorns embedded him and my legs.

What amazed me wasn't that from that moment on he changed. His whole attitude was totally different. He stopped attacking anyone and became sane and sensible.

A couple of weeks later his owner wanted to see him pop a few fences. I jumped a few cross country jumps and over one I expected him to try and turn left to the gate but he didn't, he went sharp right on landing and I was hanging on his neck. He stopped and did all he could to hold his neck up to let me get back on but couldn't. I ended up on the floor in front of him and he stood there just looking.

This was a horse that had learned he could frighten people and was a product of his handling. He went back into training in France and won several races.
 
#6 ·
Oh boy, this has been something I constantly work on, finding a balance between gentle and firm. As I progress I find I can use less physical pressure and use more of my 'energy' to be assertive. I know some people say to never lay a hand on your horse and although I do not think you should ever act out of anger or the intent to hurt, I will hit a horse if they are being dangerous or very disrespectful. Am I going to smack my mare when she sniffs my pocket for treats? No, of course not. But if I were eating an apple and she came at me, teeth open to grab it, I wouldn't think twice about firmly pushing her face away or smacking her shoulder.

I always follow it up with a lesson, get them to pay attention and work until they understand. Then, when all is well, I always pat/rub whatever spot I hit/pushed.
 
#7 ·
I have a kind of funny story about this. I too believe in being as gentle as possible and firm as necessary, and this is not the most aggressive move I've made but the funniest.

So, my colt was losing his front cap and being quite the baby about it and it was just hanging in there by a thread.

Anyways, he can be particularly studdy at times, and I was out petting him when he decided to get a little studdy. He reached around to bite me and missed, but I reacted and wacked him on the side of the mouth. That little baby cap went flying. I didn't hit him hard so I was dying laughing that I knocked the tooth out of his mouth.

I found it and had to tell everyone about knocking his tooth out. On a side note, he's never tried to bite me again either!
 
#8 ·
Oh boy, these are great. I have some, mainly when I was young and learning on my own.
My most aggressive time was with a nasty, spoiled rotten, bottle fed mare. She was downright dangerous and I took on the task of rehabilitating her. She was not socialized so had no idea about respect, body language and boundaries. You could slap her with the crop and she would keep on coming.

I was in the round pen with her doing like CA. She was showing some tremendous talent and learning ability. All the sudden she had enough. She turned toward me and ran me straight into the ground, teeth barred, front feet flying. She hit me a couple times and I bailed out of the pen. I came back with a chain lead rope. I got into the pen and practiced what she knew. Bang, she came charging again, squealing, *******, teeth out. I whipped her right between the eyes with the chain and she stopped dead like I would have shot her. She blinked a few times, licked her lips and turned sideways. After that we had no problems. She was cut across the forehead but let me tend it. She turned into the best Liberty horse I've ever seen. She's extremely sensitive to body language and not a lot of people can handle her. I can drive her around the pasture with just my eyes- everyone always says "how do you do that?!?" I just say " she'd rather not have me touch her so looking is all it takes."

My funniest memory happened last summer. I went to get Trouble out of the pasture and he ran away. He has NEVER done that. I just stood there like :O and chased him around for three hours. He'd let me touch him then squeal and take off wide open. Stop, look at me, wait for me to catch up. I got so frustrated that I literally threw the halter at him. I was sweaty, sunburnt and hot and I threw the halter at him as hard as I could. He stopped. Picked up the halter. And shook it at me!! I gave up and went inside. He never once ran away again. My dad was ROLLING on the floor laughing, having watched the whole thing out the picture window.

He has a great story too- I was 6 and had a very bad little pony that my dad used to haul logs with. One day he was doing up the harness and the pony reached around and bit him. He smacked him, went to the other side, got bit again. Repeat four times. The fifth time, the pony grabbed him by the ribs and wouldn't let go so my dad grabbed him by the ear and bit him. They both stopped biting after that day.
 
#10 ·
I have fortunately not had many incidents of my own. Where is a giant piece of wood when you need one? Guess I'll knock on my kitchen table.

One of my coaches has a royal witch of a horse. She is a small woman and this is that serious 'Alpha Mare' type of horse who doesn't mind knocking people around to get her way. So the Farrier after being nearly kicked twice asked if she could be drugged. This woman (the owner) waited for the horse to be aggressive and punched her right in the mouth as hard as she could. "Alpha Mare" stood there like a perfect lady for the rest of the Farrier visit with the owner, my coach, petting her.

I'm still processing what exactly happened and why that worked.
 
#11 ·
Usually, on horses raised correctly , you seldom need to go to that firm as needed, being anymore then to apply a leg aid, for instance, in increasing increments, until the horse gives that correct response, and one he knows, an dis not just learning
However, I never rode hubby's horses, once they were going well, and many here can identify that you really can't tell aspouce anything , at times!
Back then, we would trail ride some young horses, then sell them, and go on to other green horses, that we raised, needing that experience
Well, "moose has really not been ridden out by himself, since he was started, so I decided to do that
He took me by surprise , the first time, by just dropping tot he ground, in a balk, then jumping up again
Next time I was ready, had him in a snaffle, and when he dropped, I quickly stepped off. ran the outside rein against the back of the cantle, which turned his neck, and I then sat on that neck, so he could not get up, until I let him up
That put a whole new light to that balking mthod, and he never offered yo do it again-sold him with the people stating what a great trail horse he was
 
#12 ·
Many years ago, I worked on a breeding farm. When the farm expanded and bought an additional facility, we inherited a vicious stallion with the property. The horse was a serious problem with a history of attacks. Our farm owners didn't want any parts of him, but needed to deal with the legalities of ownership before he could be euthanized. The staff was given express orders to not enter that paddock for any reason - food was tossed over the fence, the tank filled from a hose through the fence, etc.

For whatever reason, one of the maintenance guys decided to go into the paddock with that stallion one morning. I was cleaning stalls in the mare barn with another staffer when we heard screaming. We both dropped what we were doing and ran towards the noise. The horse had the man around the ribcage in his teeth - I would not have expected a horse to be able to open its mouth that far, but he had him and was shaking him like a rag doll. Then he would toss him on the ground and kneel on him, before picking him up and shaking him again. Our yelling did nothing - the horse never even hesitated. Not knowing what else to do, we went to the stallion barn to grab metal straw forks.

I still don't know if the horse understood what a metal pitchfork was or had simply tired of the game.. but by the grace of the universe, he chose to spit the man out and retreat to the far end of the paddock as we climbed in. Amazingly the stupid man lived, though I had nightmares about it for a long time afterwards. I climbed into that paddock with every intention of using deadly force if it was needed..
 
#20 ·
I climbed into that paddock with every intention of using deadly force if it was needed..
:eek:mg:And I hope the property owners decided it was needed then & there & not to wait any longer for 'permission'??! That's one poor deranged horse that needed deading!!
 
#14 ·
I have laid into a horse with a whip who came after me.

She was in the round pen, my first time working with her, and she refused to move forward when sent. Cracking the whip next to her did nothing. I finally got up closer and tapped her butt, she turned and charged me full on with her teeth snapping, striking, and I have no doubt she was going to pin me if I didn't do something. So I hit her, hard and repeatedly, across the chest and neck with the whip. She had some marks, but she was barely two feet from me when she finally backed off - Not in my comfort zone!!

She did try and charge me one or two more times, but I switched to a stock whip, and one good whack on the hip with that changed her attitude. We went round and round for a few days and after a bit she started relaxing, licking and chewing, and respecting me.

Other than that odd instance, I usually only need to give some firm thwacks every now and again, as most horses figure it out pretty quickly.

Regardless, if it's an instance like that where it's them or me, I'll take them down by any means necessary. They can take it - And if they kill me out of aggression, they'll probably be put down anyway, so it's really doing them a favor to get the snot whacked out of them once so they learn that humans should not be charged. We are a LOT more fragile than they are.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Regardless, if it's an instance like that where it's them or me, I'll take them down by any means necessary. They can take it - And if they kill me out of aggression, they'll probably be put down anyway, so it's really doing them a favor to get the snot whacked out of them once so they learn that humans should not be charged. We are a LOT more fragile than they are.
One of the many and highly controversial topics in the "horse world" is hitting a horse, especially and more specifically in the head.

Although I'm not a fan of hitting a horse in the head, I have done it before. I'm not proud of it. I really wish I didn't have to, but sometimes you must do what it necessary. You will not always be "set up" for the "ideal" correction. If hitting a horse is necessary, then do it. It'll be good for both you and the horse.

I have dealt with horses that one were extremely aggressive, especially toward food. These horses would come at you ears pinned, teeth bared, and hooves flying. Most of the time, with less aggressive horses, moving their feet is correction enough, but not these horses. Now, when I hit some of these horses in the head, I didn't do it real light, but I didn't whip them needlessly and mercilessly. I hit them, made them move their feet, and made them yield to me. These horses knew it was correction. They didn't become head shy, scared of me, or "hate me" (tree huggers).

Once was often enough, and these horses turned in to better ones by making them safe. In my opinion, I much rather be aggressive to an aggressive horse and make better, than have them put down because they were too dangerous.

Abuse kills horses, but so do overly passive owners.

However, like everything, it isn't black and white. Aggression, correction, assertion, understanding, being passive are all five very different things. The more you work with horses, the more you'll get a "feel" of what you need to do. Even if you don't make the best judgement, it'll be a good learning experience.
 
#16 ·
I have two that are tied for my "most aggressive."

The first, I was trying to desensitize my gelding to clippers. Had my friend working with me. She had the cordless clippers and we were doing approach-and-retreat. He wasn't tied, so I just had his lead rope in my hand. Apparently we pushed a little too hard and he thought the appropriate response was to half rear and strike at me. Clipped me pretty good in the thigh (mind you, he was a 15.3hh, 1200lbs 3yo at the time!). I chased him backward a good 60ft, cracking him across the front cannons with a crop (happened to have it hanging on my wrist in case he got feisty). He's never even thought about going up again and that was close to five years ago.

The second, I was standing with my best friend's QH mare on a lead, waiting for her to take her TB gelding into the barn for dinner so we could follow. She got impatient and bit the back of my right upper arm (she's a mouthy cuss at the best of times because my best friend doesn't make her stop ever). I spun around and chased her backward the length of the arena (about 40-50ft). Got to the far corner of the arena and just stood there looking at each other, with her breathing hard like she'd run a marathon. I asked her if she was done, she lowered her head and looked at me all apologetic, and we turned around and walked into the barn. She's never tried to bite me again and that was almost four years ago.
 
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#18 ·
trying to desensitize my gelding to clippers.... we pushed a little too hard and he thought the appropriate response was to half rear and strike at me. ... I chased him backward a good 60ft, cracking him across the front cannons with a crop
While he may have 'learned' not to do that particular thing again, I bet it didn't help with 'desensitising'! The way I see that, looking at it from the horse's perspective, you were approaching/attacking him with something scary, he didn't trust you, felt the need to defend himself, then got seriously attacked by you & wasn't able to escape from it.

What I would have done in that situation? Considering it is a dangerous behaviour, that IMO would take precedence over the 'desensitising lesson', so I too would have punished him, *IF* I could have managed it *the instant* of or after his strike. I would have walloped him hard & fast, but then I would have quit, just as fast and walked away with him, from the clippers & whip & calmed him down. Then I would have gone back to what we were doing, in a less confrontational way.

I do think it's vital to learn/understand the principles/thought processes at work behind the use of punishment(& the rest), by understanding basic behavioural science, so that we know when/how to punish(or reward/reinforce) most effectively **with the least misunderstandings/side effects**. Eg. understanding why it's so important to act *at the time of* a behaviour we want to change & not let the punishment carry on for many seconds, let alone longer. Also so that we can better understand the horse's perspective, how he interprets it - how in this instance, he was already being threatened - effectively punished - before he reacted/you reacted with further punishment, so that we can also understand & be considerate of the misunderstandings that arise & learn how to better avoid those situations & motivating 'survival reflexes' in the first place.
 
#21 ·
Cut and pasted this from an older thread. Not my experience, but the comments of being charged by horses reminded me of this.

Putting the new guy on a problem horse used to be a pretty standard initiation practice. A friend of mine, only slightly older than me tells the story of his only equestrian experience. He had no experience at all with horses or livestock before, or since, but somehow managed to get hired as a wrangler at a dude ranch when he was a teenager. Of course, during the job interview, he had told them he knew what he was doing.

On his first day, he was sent to fetch a horse out of the stall and saddle it up. They didn't bother to tell him that this horse was known to be a holy terror in the stall. As soon as he was in the stall, the horse made a lunge for him. Without thinking, my friend followed his first instinct and delivered a haymaker to the side of the horses head. The horse backed up to think things over and my friend moved in to put the bridle on.

He had never even seen a bridle, but he knew from watching westerns that the metal bit went in the horses mouth. He draped the leather parts over his arm and tried to shove the bit into the horses mouth. The horse wouldn't cooperate, so he banged the bit against its teeth until it opened its mouth. He held the bit in place and put the headstall on. By the time the rest of the crew came out to check on him, he had the horse saddled and waiting.

They asked if he'd had any problems, and he said "No, everything's fine.". He never told them his secret and they treated him like any other hand. He had several other adventures that summer. Most relating to not having a clue about what he was doing, But apparently the crew never caught on.
 
#22 ·
The most aggressive I ever got was back when I was a teenager. In those days, if a rough horse who wouldn't stand still had to have something done, farriery, or veterinary for example, it was customary to "ear" it. That meant taking an ear and twisting, or folding it double and squeezing. Some would even fold the ear, then bite it. The pain from that caused a horse to lower its head and stand for whatever else was being done. Lots of rough horses passed through the stable I worked at then. I eared my share of them when called on. I even bit the ear of one rank booger. Since then, I've found better ways of dealing with them.
 
#24 ·
I also dealt with the most aggressive horse, I ever had, when I was least able/knowledgeable to deal with such a horse
I know I have posted before, about the spoiled Anglo Arabian stud, my step dad bought me, when I was just around 15 years old. That was also in the days, the only horse literature I had access to, was fictional-like Black Beauty, certainly no training books, DVDs ect
My step dad used horses, as part of work, pulling tobacco boats, working up the garden, haying, ect. He was not a horseman though, just someone who had to use horses
My mom wanted him to buy me that saddle horse I longed for, as a reward for having worked hard in the tobacco fields. I had learned to ride on those Percherons, but wanted alight horse to ride, like the neighbouring kids

Being practical, and our work horses being mares, he bought a stud, and one that was spoiled

Not only did he balk by rearing and going over backward,but would also try and run me against things, so I got very good at swinging one leg out of as stirrup, or doing an Indian riding imitation, as he ran me under the bridge that went to the hay loft, to avoid having my brains knocked out!
He was also pastured with the mares, and I would get him out of the field with just a halter and lead shank. He pulled away once, and kicked out as he left, getting mein one hip.Not knowing about stud shanks, I then got him out of that field with a bridle
Far as the rearing and flipping over, I was both lucky and ignorant, and would just get back on
Of course, the logical solution, would have been to have gelded him, and perhaps had someone ride him for awhile. He was eventually gelded, upon my mother's insistence, and I rode him everywhere, as once his only' brain' that was left, was between his ears, I earned his trust ,purely out of my own resolve to ride him, and that ex stud learning to trust me.
 
#25 ·
@loosie, it is a situation of "You had to be there" and "You had to know the horse." Knowing that Aires was going to reach the size he has and that if he thought that reacting aggressively was an okay response, it could prove disasterous, I feel that my reaction was completely within reason. I have not once gotten as aggressive reaction out of him over anything, no matter how "traumatic" since that incident. A firm smack wasn't going to get the point across that the reaction displayed is NEVER an acceptable answer. He has no ill effects from it other than he's still not desensitized to clippers, which is something I can totally live with. There are certainly no trust issues between us at all, either.

For what it's worth, what caused him to go up was having the clippers switched on and about a foot away from him. We moved them closer about an inch and up he went. After I chased him back, we stood for a second, then I calmly led him back to where we started and ended the "lesson" with him simply standing with the clippers two feet from him and switched on.
 
#31 ·
@loosie , it is a situation of "You had to be there" and "You had to know the horse." ... A firm smack wasn't going to get the point across that the reaction displayed is NEVER an acceptable answer. He has no ill effects from it other than he's still not desensitized to clippers, which is something I can totally live with. There are certainly no trust issues between us at all, either.
I think you missed my point Drafty. It was about timing of punishment & not starting too late, or carrying it on, and also that no matter how 'well done', it does generally have some 'side effects', so that's worth understanding/considering. Not to say severe punishment should never happen. You could call the... further sensitising to the clippers a 'side effect' and I would definitely class that in the 'trust issues' category. But as I said, I too would have walloped him(*IF* I could do it immediately. No, not just a 'firm slap'), as I agree wholeheartedly that when it comes down to dangerous behaviours, getting that message across loud & clear is vital, and other training 'side effects' are definitely of lesser importance. No arguments there at all. Was more a clarification & considerations post.
 
#26 ·
I guess I'm just grateful that even in the worst times I never found it necessary to damage a horse or remove hair, hide or cause bleeding. I have given some pretty good smacks with my hand, and grabbed a handful of loose skin and twisted it around until it pinched pretty good. I've also tossed ropes at horses and stung them with the end of a lunge whip.

The worst things I've done to horses have been accidents. I've pulled them off their feet while long lining, had stuff break that flew up and hit them in the face, accidentally chased them into fences or holes. I've even knocked my two horses' heads together while ponying one and riding the other.

I'll say when horses have been the most aggressive to me, though. I've been kicked and bitten and smashed and run over but the worst was when an aggressive mare had her open teeth a half inch from my jugular and they snapped shut on the air just as my friend hauled me backward through the open doors into the barn by my shirt.

If a horse is trying to kill me, I don't get aggressive and don't fight. They weigh 1,000+ lbs and have many weapons. Personally, I get out of there. There will be time to teach the horse lessons another day, if you are still alive.

One day I saw there was a new mare out in the pasture at my barn. She was wearing a blanket and one strap was hanging down loose. I walked out to the field and she turned toward me looking angry. I thought I might need a lead rope, so grabbed one off the ground before going into the field. The mare came rushing at me, so I threw the rope around her neck and cinched it down by her throatlatch. Both ends were wanting to come at me, so I gingerly reached under while staying out of reach, watching the teeth end and aiming the butt end away. I was able to grab the strap and refasten it before letting the mare go. She glared at me but I had quickly retreated to a safe distance so she just trotted away.

I went up to the main barn and the barn owner walked in. I said, "That mare down there is not in a good mood." She said, "Tell me you didn't go in there!" Turns out the mare had been tortured by some kids and become so aggressive she had to be sedated before anyone could handle her except her owner. Later I saw her in the barn and she literally would try to bite body parts off people if they came near her. Sometimes you'd think you were standing far enough away and hear her teeth clacking right next to your ear when she tried to reach it through the door slats.

They actually worked out a good home for the horse on a lonely farm with one trusted horse friend, the owner and a vet that devised a system to care for her. In that setting she became placid enough to handle and more trusting over time.
 
#27 ·
I had a Welsh Pony Club me as a livery. The mother of the child rider to,d me that Tony was never to be turned out as he would attack when you tried to catch him.
Of course Tony was over excited when taken out of the stable and to fresh for the child. I had a long talk with the mother and Tony pony went to live in the fields with the other ponies.

He was a so and so to catch and only once turned to kick at me, he had the halter whacked across his butt for that. He became OK to catch and the older children would catch him up.

One day I was taking a lesson and one of the children came in to say that they couldn't catch Tony, he was attacking them.

Lesson end I went out to catch him. He was grazing away from the other ponies. I took his halter and rope and walked up to get him. As I approached he had his ears forward watching me whilst eating. I got a few feet from him when he spun around and double barrelled at me.

I whacked him with th e halter as hard as I could and he shot forward a few yards. I walked towards him and as I did so he started to run back at me.

Of course I had an audience all at the gate watching! Again I whacked him with the halter but this time as he shot forward so the headpiece was wrapped around his back leg and as he shot forward he took it with him.

Again I marched towards him and again he ran backwards towards me. I was unarmed. It took be very little time to realise that he at all of 11.2, my legs were longer than his and before he could kick me I kicked him - hard. I caught him just right at the base of his butt and hurt him as he shot forward on three legs. He joined the rest of the ponies and stood there. I marched up to him, picking up the halter on the way. He stuck his nose in his halter and never again attacked anyone who went to catch him.

He was fine and perfectly sound after walking a few steps.
 
#28 ·
My young filly Twoey has received my most aggressive "Thou Shalt Not Bite" lesson to date. She was unhappy after weaning, mad at the world and especially with me because I took her mom away. She walked right up to me and bit the fire out of my arm. I slapped her hard on the muzzle and simultaneously kicked her in the chest and when she spun around and presented me her butt, I kicked that too and drove her out. I paid attention to the other filly and wouldn't let Two any where near me for about 5 mins. She was a very sad, apologetic and lovey baby after that and has not offered to bite again.
 
#29 ·
I think the most aggressive I've gotten was with my Starhorse just yesterday. I haven't ridden her or even had her out for about a month now. I led her to the trailer, tied her up, saddled her and then..... she yanked back got loose and took off over to the pasture fence where the other horses were. I went over there to get her and started to lead her back and she yanked back again running backwards and the lead gave my hand a nice rope burn right across a scar on my hand. I proceeded to smack her across the chest with the lead rope a couple of times and make her run some more. Why did I do it? Because she hurt me and I got angry. Was it right? I don't think so but she did settle down after that. She stayed put without even flinching as I finished tacking her up.
We ended up having a nice ride in the arena as she is usually great under saddle and I ended the session with her standing tied to the trailer for a bit with some hay.

That whole episode led to a conversation with the B/O as she told me that I probably didn't do Star any good by smacking her and making her run. Then it led to her telling me that she thought me using a bosal to ride her was probably not good for her either. I asked her why and she said that it was too harsh and that I wouldn't be able to get her to bend at the pole with that thing (which Star does flex pretty nicely when I ride her) and that I should be using an O ring snaffle (which Star absolutely hates). I ended the conversation by saying "I'm not too keen on thin little twisted wire snaffle bits and tie downs with thin wire nosebands but I guess in the right hands they can be useful."

I guess my point in sharing this conversation that I had is that I think sometimes something can look hugely aggressive but it's not, and other times something is hugely aggressive but so subtle that no one even notices.
 
#30 ·
I absolutely will NOT tolerate food possessiveness from a horse. Much like Bill Cosby brought his children into this world and will take them back out, I brought this gift of grain to your stall and I will take it back out. Cisco was aggressive towards me at feed time when I first got him. His previous owner told me to just drop his feed and make haste. ;) I don't think so, Scooter. So I repeatedly walloped him into the corner where he had to stand until I told him he could come get the gift I had so graciously presented him with. :) It only took about a week and I have never had to do it again.
 
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