Aggression toward humans is a natural event for horses and related to social interactions between the horse and his surrounding herd, including you. When you watch foals, play in the pasture you see them play this game: nip and bolt, kick and bolt, rear, paw and chase. Adults continue to play these games, with much more subtlety for the most part. When the subtlety fails, deadly force is generated. Horses are social animals that live in a social hierarchy, that is fairly complex. Some horses are more dominant at the dinner table, more aggressive mothers, others are leaders during time of movement.

The hierarchy is not static either. It changes and the games horses play are designed to constantly test and try to improve the horse?s position in the herd. When herd position is well determined and everyone accepts their position everything settles down and horses can quietly graze and groom. Aggression toward humans is an indication the horse believes it is dominant or wants to achieve domination. This article explains how to deal with aggressive behavior in horses.

When dealing with an aggressive horse, you are accepting a degree of risk of harm to yourself. If you are fearful, the horse will read that and you will fail. If you do not want to accept this risk turn the problem over to a professional. He will need to train you and your horse how to behave.

Note: Mares who have a behavioral change, becoming more aggressive, resistant, or developing stallion like behavior may be suffering from hormonally induced behavior change caused by a common ovarian tumor. See Granulosa Cell Tumor for more details.

It is understanding the difference between punishment and negative reinforcement. Punishment is applying an adverse stimulus after the horse is no longer acting aggressive. Horses do not understand punishment and do not connect the bad behavior with the punishment. The horse will only become confused and learn to avoid you if you punish him. Negative reinforcement is applying an adverse stimulus as the bad behavior is in progress.

The key to rapid learning is that the adverse stimulus lasts only as long as the bad behavior goes on and that the stimulus does not excessively excite the horse. This means you always give the horse the benefit of the doubt on timing and the severity of the stimulus, but at the same time, be prepared to rapidly escalate when your stimulus does not get an appropriate response. Giving him the benefit of the doubt does not mean, he is allowed to get away with bad behavior. In fact, the earlier in the bad-behavior-cycle you detect it and correct it, the less stimulus you need to apply and the faster she learns. The quicker you can detect the bad-behavior-cycle abating and stop the adverse stimulus, the faster he will learn. It is easy to know when to apply the stimulus but knowing how much to apply and when to stop is the key to rapid learning and where experience comes into play. I find the most common mistake made is the continued application of the adverse stimulus after the bad behavior has stopped. This obviously confuses the horse.

The key to long term learning is frequency and consistency. One way to achieve consistency is to never put yourself in a position where the horse can take advantage of you. Look at how you handle the horse. Identify the places where you are put in a weak position that the horse takes advantage of and minimize them. You should not be deep in the stall with this horse, he needs to learn to greet you at the front. If he is difficult to handle in the pasture he should be got up in his stall and approached there. It is hard to make specific recommendations here without knowing the particulars of his behavior because of all the variations, but the common thread is working the horse only where you have control.

The key to a bond between you and your horse is 90% positive reinforcement for good behavior to 10% negative reinforcement for bad behavior. This may be difficult at first but strive for looking for opportunities to reward good behavior, but good behavior only. Coming up to you in the pasture or stall, ears forward, and nonthreatening, should be rewarded with a treat. Walking quietly beside you and minding his manners should receive a kind word and a rub on the neck. I think the notion that offering food from your hand leads to biting is nonsense. Though it does present a good opportunity to bite you. Lack of understanding on the horses part should never receive negative reinforcement, this will cause confusion and shyness. But an aggressive reply to aggressive behavior is always understood by the horse.

Handling an older colt that will kick you is dangerous. If you are going to halter train this colt, you must accept that danger. For a horse that has shown a willingness to kick or bite, I carry a dressage crop which is about 42 inches long and has a good handle. As long as the colt is friendly and happy I would give him all the positive reinforcement I could, keeping the crop in a neutral nonthreatening position. However, any time he made a threatening gesture toward me, I would correct it with the crop.

Can't Get No Respect

Nipping can be corrected the same way kicking was, using a crop. If she nips at you, immediately strike her across the front of the forearm sharply. Just do it once, without hollering or raising a fuss, and look her straight in the eye. She will either back down or escalate and you must be prepared to respond. The forearm is a great target, she cannot move it quickly out of the way like the head, there are no delicate structures to hurt on the outside and front, and it prevents head shyness. This behavior cycle happens so quick you really do not have time for much else other than one strike, make it count. It is best to keep the whip in the right hand as you lead. This allows your strikes to be very rapid and without telegraphing your intentions giving the filly time to bite and retreat.

Biting and nipping at the lead hand can be an annoying and dangerous habit, hard to break. Another technique that can be used alone or in combination with the crop is a strap of leather or five or six layers of duct tape with short tacks embedded and sticking out the back. There are dog collars designed like this. The piece should be long enough to go around your hand and you are able to hold both ends securely. The device is held in the lead (right) hand, along with the lead line, so that the tacks point out from the back of the hand toward the horse. You can even make a handle that fits in the palm of your hand using several thicknesses of duct tape that goes all the way around. Put the device on your hand and between you and the horse. When he attempts to bite you just keep the glove between you and the horses mouth. I think it is important that you do not strike at the horse, allow him to run into it when he attempts to bite.

Teaching a horse to lead quietly is an important part of overcoming aggressive behavior of any kind. The next step to get control of this filly is to use a stallion chain either over the muzzle or under the front lip. A stallion chain is a lead, preferably a thick soft cotton rope, with 12 or 18 inches of chain attached to the snap. The snap is run up through the left lower cheek ring of the halter over the nose through the right lower cheek ring then up to the upper cheek ring (if long enough) and snapped. This is done so the chain moves cleanly through the rings. I would leave a halter on at all times until you gain control so that all you have to do is walk up and put on the lead shank. You should only attempt to interact with her when the lead is in place. Start with the chain over the muzzle and if she will not respond to jerks on the chain, place the part of the chain over the muzzle and place it under the upper lip, lying against the gum. This requires a bit of practice and experience to keep there with minimal pressure but it is not that hard to learn. The point is to find a stimulus that is easily applied, under any circumstance, yet gets a response.

During leading, while she is behaving, the chain should have minimal pressure and the horse should be relaxed. Next time she runs up on you while you are leading, jerk the chain once. No response jerk it twice, harder. No response jerk it three times, harder. When she backs off stop jerking the chain, relax, and praise the horse when she is calm. If you want to holler as you jerk the chain go ahead. Look her in the eye and look cross. She will understand the look and the tone. At this point she will decide to back down or escalate the bad behavior and you must be prepared to respond.

You already know the problem: this horse feels it can freely and without provocation become aggressive with you. You will need three tools: a piece of leather with tack embedded, a chain shank lead line and a dressage crop. I want to reemphasize this can be dangerous and requires a clear head and bravery. Realize before you start, you may not win, but if that thought makes you timid you have already lost. The crucial question is, can you move quickly enough, keep a clear enough head to keep from being hurt, and enjoy the rewards of the lesson . . . because after all having a good time is the point . . . , isn?t it? If you succeed, the rewards will be great. The aggressive horse tends to be skittish because he is fighting you for position. Once you achieve dominant stature in the herd he will relax and enjoy your company. A dominant position does not mean the horse will fear you, he just won?t be constantly trying you. Never forget you have other options.

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