Colt trying to kick me at feed time??

Question

Lately at feed time my colt will get really angry at me if i dont give him his food straigh away. He puts his ears right back, gets really pushy and occasionally will swing his bum at you and try and kick. I try and be firm with him and thought about taking the whip with me at feed time incase he goes to kick so i can give him a tap back to tell him off. But then i wasnt sure if that could cause him to get rump shy? Is there anyway to tell him off that wont cause problems down the track etc. any advice would be great as im starting to dread feed time. This is the only time he is ever aggresive towards me. I dont like it at all.

Answer 1

I agree geld him before he get's to dangerious their are already to many stallions running around that are untame and dangerious. as for the feed problem when he goes to kick you smack him on the rump lightly first then harder as he moves twards you with his rump eventualy he will get the picture. that is his way of saying i'm domonat and you will do what i want when i want. remember in the horse world the first one to move all his feet loses.

Answer 2

This colt needs to learn manners.  You have to establish yourself as the boss.  Do you think he acts this way towards his mother?  What do you thing she would do?  She would nip the h**l out of his butt!  Take the whip with you and when he turns his butt to you give him a good whack.  This is not mean or cruel.  Watch how your horses interact all this is doing is speaking his language.  Trust me - he won't get "rump shy" but he will get a little more respectful.

A dominant horse can run all the others off their feed.  That is what he is doing to you.  He is running you off the feed and making you give it to him.  And you do it every time, re-inforcing his dominance that is why you have to take it back by making him move off so you can leave the food for him.  Not dumping and running so he can "take" the food  from you.

Answer 3

first of all stop carrying the whip with you this will only make the problem worse as he is more likely to turn to kick if he is expecting to be hit.

Because he is so touchy around feeding time it makes me think that maby he has been kept short of food for a period of time. Though as he is only young many youngsters bite, espesially colts. The worst thing to do in this situation is to respond to a bite is by hitting the horse. This will only make him see you as a threat and therefore more likely to  bite you in the future. When he does bite you i think overreating works best even though it can make you look like a fool. Once he has bitten you immediatly jump up and fling your arms in the air squealing, this works surprisingly well if not overused esspesially with youngsters.

I would personally try to make feeding time as uneventful as much as possible. Letting your colt out to graze throughout the day or giving him hay to eat all day will make feeding time less of a big deal from the  horses perspective as he will not see it as eating to survive. It is also important that at night he has enough hay or a mineral l**k to tide him over untill his next meal time. If he is less hungry at meal times he will be less protective. It is very important with horses that are protective to just give them the food and walk off and ignore them as staying near them will just make them feel threatened. Never feed the horse while it is behaving badly as you will be rewarding him for his bad behavior.

As for the swinging his hind quarters and the pulling faces, he may have been inadvertently trained. If you move away from him and act wary once he does this than he will quickly learn that by doing this he can control your movements. i would recomend doing join up so that your colt begins to respect your space.

Hope this helps

xx

Answer 4

smack in on the butt with the whip as hard as you can just once (next time he does it) he'll never forget it and should be very polite next time. remember you're part of his herd in the paddock and he is working his way up in dominance, i'd also geld him before he gets dangerous

Answer 5

Okay well I'm glad you're gelding him!!!! You CAN'T CAN'T HIT HIM!!!! He will get shy and be afraid of you! Just take him out of the stall when you're feeding, then put the feed in the stall then let him back in and LEAVE HIM ALONE!!! A lot of horses don't like when you're around while they eat and it's just normal for horses. YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

How would you like it if someone was teasing you with food wen you're hungry? You'd want to kick them too!!!! You CAN'T blame the horse!!!

DON'T listen to the people on here that say to hit him, kick him back or smack him!!!! You will only get yourself hurt and make him mad!!!!

I've seen other answers from some of these people and they are WRONG!!! They don't know anything!!!

Answer 6

I wouldnt actually smack his rump. I would rather approach him normally and only when he starts to disbehave shout a loud NO and assert your dominance over him that way. If that fails to work then crack the whip loudly on the floor and in the air and carry on doing this til he stops this naughtiness. Once he behaves THEN give him his food. He must learn that once he behaves then he is entitled to it.

Never give him his food whilst he is still acting like this, he will think he can get away with it and still have his food.

Answer 7

Black Bunny, you took the words RIGHT out of my mouth! There were a lot of other great answers too.

You need to establish yourself as the dominate one. Get the horse out of YOUR space and away from YOUR food. I won't drop the feed until I get a positive look from my horse and they are being respectful.

You can halter him and put him on a lead at first and anytime he gives you the slightest bit of disrespect swing the rope hard to get him out of your space. If he tries to turn his rump to you to kick having him on a lead will give you more control. If he does threaten to kick, kick him back!!! Or smack him hard. Don't worry about him become rump shy, it's unlikely he will. Most horses that think they are boss NEED to be put in there place.

Horses have to be either dominated, or dominating. It's there nature. Someones got to be the boss.

I do make sure I spend lots of time scratching and rubbing when they aren't being a pushy brat, especially at a young age. That way they learn to respect you, but not hate or fear you.

Answer 8

PRS said what I would have...

She has EXCELLENT advice.  So do a couple of others...[sorry can't remember names at this point] and I like Jeff's too.

I drive mine out the stall when I am feeding in one.  It's MY stall and MY food until I GIVE it to them.

They do not TELL me to feed them...I am the dominant one and they WILL respect that or there will be consequences...like a swift smack to the rump or offending leg...

Answer 9

well i know nothing about horses, but i wouldnt whip him. is there know one else you can get to feed him

Answer 10

I just get in this new mare that's really pushy and extremely demanding.  With her she gets all hyped up and paws the ground to death.  So what i do is walk towards her, she does this i turn and walk away.  Takes a couple of times doing this before it registers in her brain, bad behavior no food.  I'm hoping she get this soon, walking back and forth is getting old.

Answer 11

When one of mine did that I kicked him back.  It didn't hurt him but he never tried it again.

If he is too big for that then  use a whip if he kicks at you.  Strike him on the offending leg above the fetlock.  Do not tease him with the grain

I make my stud take a step back if he even gets to close to me at feeding time.  I make him stand at a respectful distance (4 feet) until I have poured out the grain.

Rule number one in horse training.  No horse is allowed to be aggressive...EVER!  No excuses or exceptions!

Answer 12

sometimes if you use the whip on him, he will do it all the more.  Feed him last.  Don't give in.