Any suggestions to help a mare with food aggression?

Question

We've only had our mare for a few months now and she has always had an issue with us being near her while she is eating. Otherwise She is the sweetest horse. I nearly got kicked once. She's been getting somewhat better but she still pins her ears and grits her teeth every time we get near.

We've been holding her feed pan while she eats and pet and groom her at the same time. She doesn't seem to be having much more progress. Any suggestions.

Answer 1

dont hold the pan. thats your problem. SHES SPOILED.

Answer 2

When you go near her with her feed, and she pins back her ears, walk away with the food. She must learn that if she gets aggressive or mean, she won't get the food. If she pricks up her ears and nickers to you, let her have the feed, but if she pins them back again take it away. It'll be a battle of wills. Good luck, and hope I helped.

Answer 3

Is there a reason why she could be doing it.

The reason I ask is because I bought one of our reining horses from someone who I later found out was a horse broker (I guess thats the name). And he was in a pen with 50 other horses and had to fight for his food. So now whenever there is food around he gets very cranky. Hes calmed down alot (because he hit his head when he reared up for hay once).

Im not sure if there is anything else you can other than to keep letting her know you are not going to take it from her.  

Answer 4

I recommend watching a Parelli video on that. I think they have a video about food agression.

My old horse was the same way, but he was really bad, he even trampled a few people, thats when he got way too agressive so we had to sell him...

But do some research, I'm sure you'll find something.

Or maybe you should find a horsemanship trainer?  

Answer 5

Well obviously this mare thinks she is in charge of you. You need to turn that around. Can I ask what you did when the horse kicked at you? Did you run off? A horse kicking at you is  life threatening and should not be tolerated. When a horse kicks you, you need to kick them back. I am not kidding around. Don't have any fear you will hurt the horse, she weighs a lot more than you do, and I am not saying kick her as hard as you can. But don't do a light tap either. Kick her firmly to let her know in HORSE LANGUAGE that you are not going to take that kind of behavior from her.

If you are petting her and grooming her while she eats you're reinforcing her notion that she is in charge of you and rewarding obnoxious behavior. Instead, you need to communicate to her in no uncertain terms you will not tolerate aggressive behavior.

What I would suggest is taking a crop or lead rope in when you feed her. If she shows signs of aggression, use your tool to make her move off. Don't be intimidated, if you swing the crop or rope in the air she will move off. If she doesn't, then do not hesitate to let it catch her on the nose.

What I would do is come in with the food, and when she is coming toward you to get by the food bowl, make her move off. Put the food down and make her move off again. Then turn and walk away. She only approaches the food after you have gotten away from it, and YOU decide when this happens.

This question highlights a lot of misunderstanding people have about horse behavior and mistakes they make. The horse gets aggressive to you and even kicks, and the reaction is to pet and groom the horse hoping she will calm down, which does nothing but reward the horse for being bad. Please don't take this as criticism, I am not saying anything against you at all, this is actually a very common way people deal with horse problems. Lots of people do this and they are just asking for trouble later on because it does not deal with what is really going on in the mind of the horse.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...