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  Discussion on Aggressive colt
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Member:
Jennbk

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - 12:14 am:

I have a nearly 2 year old gelding who was spoiled as a youngster and who (I found out later) my neighbor snuck over when I wasn't home and played with him and would body slam him with his body when the colt tried to charge at him. HE said he was trying to teach the colt a lesson to stay off him--the neighbor had never been around horses. The colt has been a problem almost from day one-- biting constantly and crowding you. The biting is better, but when you pet across the fence, he will be okay for a few pets and then will try and bite you. (I have tried everything!!) But the main problem I am having is his aggressiveness in the pasture or stall when I am caught without a way to protect myself. He will run up on me and start to rear like he is challenging me. It scares me to death and I can not shoo him away if I don't have a whip. I have a trainer coming over who is working with him and is very good, but the colt still doesn't respect me. Basically when the colt gets mad, he has learned to rear up on you. He is very, very socialable and runs up to you in the pasture. He loves to have a halter put on and wants a job to do. He chews constantly on his lead rope when tied, and can be lead with a stud chain without too much correction. IT is just when I am caught in the stall with him or out in the pasture he wants to run up to me and starts to lift his to front two legs and rear. When I think to take a whip with me, and he tries to get on top of me, I use it on him and he continues to be aggressive on me,-- like turning and running off and kicking back at me. Will he ever stop his aggressiveness?
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - 2:14 am:

Yikes, Jennifer . . .

Is your colt aggressive with your trainer at all? If not, then your trainer is doing something right, and you need to learn how to do exactly the same things . . . so have the trainer train YOU, too. I can TELL you lots of things to do, but you probably need to be SHOWN how to do them. If your body language conveys any fear or uncertainty to your colt, he is going to keep taking advantage of you . . . and possibly other folks, too, which is a terrible liability. There is SOOO much information "out there" on different web-sites, at clinics and symposiums . . . You can even call or write to some of the best trainers to get personal advice . . . this sounds VERY serious and dangerous, though, and if the colt has good breeding, it might be possible for you to sell him to someone more experienced in dealing with problem "children." Just DON'T get hurt . . . it's not worth it.

Here are some trainers' web-sites.
www.juliegoodnight.com
www.markrashid.com
www.downunderhorsemanship.com
www.vanhargis.com
www.johnlyons.com

So sorry to hear you are having such difficulty with your little fellow. He won't be "little" much longer, and it is imperative that he get trained in having healthy respect for humans.
Best to you.
Member:
Christos

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - 7:12 am:

Jennifer,
It will be very beneficial if you can put this little one in a paddock with other horses, especially older mares. Within a week or two his attitude will be adjusted significantly, sometimes you'll think it is a new horse!
Especially with the biting game, he won't like it very much after he gets seriously bitten a couple of times.
Member:
Chohler

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 6, 2005 - 3:58 pm:

Christos is right older mares teach one heck of a lesson.

Your trainer needs to show you what he is doing with this colt and you need to work the colt in the same manner.

When I go into a pen with a naughty horse I do everything I can to make it clear i don't want the horse to come near me unless I ask for it. I stomp my feet like a crazy person and wave my arms. I have a gelding who thinks he is top dog that I have to chase off on occasion. If they turn the butt to me I throw a coffe can at the but or legs.

You haven't set boundaries with this boy and he is pushing it.

I have used several methods to stop the rearing but are a little complicated and require timing and coordination and I don't recomend for beginers or the light hearted.

You really need your trainer to show you what they are doing and explain it to you. If you have a round pen I would get him in it and make him tired. When he realizes you make him move and control the direction he will start think about what he is doing.

This would be a nice horse to use a vicebreaker collar on but see what you can't work out with your trainer showing you what he does.

Best of luck
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Apr 7, 2005 - 7:27 am:

First let's stop petting across a fence or any other practices that leads to a nip. The suggestions above are good but I would like to add:

In the pasture carry a lunge whip and if he is aggressive he gets a sharp snap not a vocal shoo. In the stall he needs to learn to approach you at the door, do not go in the stall with this horse until he respects you! These are the things to do in these specific conditions but where you really need to take control is in hand, on lunge, and learning to tie which it sounds like you have a start on. These are the places where horses learn to respect their handlers and give to pressure rather than resist. It takes time and repetition and these lessons will take hold. This takes you back to basic training. Besides the article associated with this forum see these articles for more on the above suggestions:
1) Training Horses » Training Your Horse's Mind » Working Around Horses Safely
2) Training Horses » Training Your Horse's Mind » Halter Training and Tying Horses.
DrO
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