Dangerous horse at feeding time?

Question

My horse, has become very dangerous at feeding time.

He tries to kick us, buck at us, bite us or just pushes us around.

He never used to be like this at all. He used to just stand there and wait, but now he's just gotten so silly, im afraid to be around him.

Hes even managed to kick my mum twice.

I just dont know what to do. My sister suggested biting him really hard on the nose, to get dominance over him, but another one said that idea is silly.

I was thinking of maybe tying him up as feed is made and such, and wait till he his calm, and then let him have his food.

He gets fed twice daily, and the only difference is that I don't ride him as often as I used to, so he's not really getting worked. We have also changed his feed slightly.

And normally I would spend time with him for a while in the arfternoon, but I've just normally fed him and left lately because im doing something.

He isn't sore, hes in perfect condition, how can I stop him from being so aggressive?

Answer 1

Every now and again we have this problem with both our boys. The old man is a 34 yr old QH and when he wants to eat he makes his wishes known noisily and physically. I make him back away from his dish and stay there until I dump his food and move. I do not dump his food until he does. I will wait as long as it takes for him to understand that I won't tolerate his pushiness. When he is really hungry, he rears up. Again, I make him back off and wait. I don't care how much noise he makes, but I won't tolerate him pushing me .

Now my younger guy.. he's different. When he gets pushy and obnoxious, he gets lunged. He wants to be miserable, he can run. It doesn't take long for him to realize that I am in charge and I am not going to put up with his c**p.  

My boys know that mom's in charge when I step in the paddock.. but sometimes they need to be reminded, kind of like my kids...:)

Don't let your horse get away with this behavior... someone will get hurt.

Answer 2

My thought is He has little respect for you.  Do you ever do any ground work with him?  Most every behavioral problem can be helped by going back to the basics.  The lead line.  Be hard on him.  You are the boss.  He walks when you walk and stops when you stop and trots when you trot.  If not, make him back 6-10 steps aggressively.  Keep your head just slightly ahead of him  and NEVER let him into your space, not even to be sweet ,until the lesson is over.  You don't need to hit him but use your lead line to push him out.  Work on your pivots to the right by putting your right hand with the leadline near his eye and pop his shoulder over if he doesn't listen. You should see a change after 15 min. of that as far as the respect goes.  Do this for about a week and feed after lesson.  Never feed him treats by hand.  Use a bucket.  Allow him to be aggressive over a bucket and not you until you get through this..  Good luck!

Answer 3

I KNOW THIS SOUNDS CRUEL BUT SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO, TAKE A CROP IN WITH YOU NEXT TIME AND IF HE TRIES IT AGAIN SMACK HIM HARD WITH IT ON THE BUM AND IF THAT DOESN'T WORK THEN HIT HIM ON THE NOSE WITH IT BUT NOT SO HARD.

SPEND MORE TIME WITH HIM TOO!

Answer 4

Is he getting enough to eat, horses can often be like this if they are hungry and grumpy.

Alternatively his feed rations may be to high for little/no work. He may need a cooling hard feed mix.

I personally tend to ignore this bad behaviour. Instead I think one step ahead, I have the feed all mixed up and just place the bucket through the fence. Or put it in a different paddock, then open a gate. Just keep out of his way - if you aren't working him you can't expect him to behave he is just being a naughty little kid. Your situation/season will soon change he'll be back in work and well mannered again.

Good luck, keep safe.

Answer 5

my horse was exactly the same, he would barge through and try bite and act agressivly towards me and my family (this was before we had him in full work), we found out it was a dominance thing and he was treating us as though we were another horse in the paddock. how we fixed it was just establishing some respect with him, we started with just leading him maybe just a bucket with some hay and walk him towards it. i would make hime stop every 2 or 3 strides. when we stopped i would walk towards him and make him step away and respect my space and move away (Flick him in the chest with the end of the rope and if he bits or gets cranky give him a flick in the nose and tell him it';s wrong) if he barges i would turn him away so he know that that will just get him further away from the food, eventually my horse learned to just step away when i face him. you just have to become the Alpha Horse

and by the way my friend had a horse that bite her so she  took a chunk out of his ear and he never bit her again

Answer 6

When you go into feed him and he starts, don't feed him.  Make him wait for an hour or so, then try it again.  If he starts again, do it again.  But if he continues you better check your feed, go back to what he was use to.  Your feeding him something thats hot for him and making him aggressive.  Esspeically if your not working him like you use too

Answer 7

That happened to me and my TB mare... I took a dressage whip when i was feeding her and if she showed any agression towards me id gently tap her..if she tryed to kick id tap her on the butt , bite id tap her on the shoulder etc. Also once they dont show any agression I make mine step away from the feedbucket when im putting feed in it and wait til I am out of the stall before begining to eat.

Answer 8

Well first make sure he has unlimited hay between feedings.  He should never run out unless he has obesity issues.  Horses are grazing animals and should not go more than an hour or 2 without food available under normal circumstances.  

As for feeding grain meals you need to only give the feed when he's demonstrating the behavior you want.  I'll put a horse in a large stall or if your worried about such a confined space a smaller round pen or little holding pen made from extra panels.  Get a dressage whip and take in a feed pan already full of grain.  You are allowed to tap the horse everywhere but it's head.  I will do a well aimed pop to the muzzle with my hand if they try to bite but otherwise try to keep the face off limits.  Don't get excessive but definitely do what is necessary.  First do not enter the door until you've made him back up so at least several feet are clear.  Then when you get in the pen set the feed pan on the ground and do not let him near it.  No matter what chase him off that feed pan.  When he stands quietly and approaches with manners then step back and let him start to eat.  Do not leave until after he starts to eat.  You are showing you control the feed not him.  Doing that for a few days should calm him down considerably.  

After that you can put him back in his stall and just reinforce every time you feed that he is to stay away from the grain until you tell him he can come forward and then don't leave until after he starts eating.

Answer 9

You are definitely doing the right thing.  I've dealt with horses like this before.  People think it's cruel to slap a horse, but it's sometimes the only way to get their respect and to keep them from hurting you.  I had a horse who bit me on the arm and I hit her on the nose.  She never bit again, but she wasn't face shy either.  This only works when you don't slap a horse around all the time though, because it startles them and they're like, "Whoa, she/he never done that before!"  They  learn that those kinds of actions have painful consequences.  So , it teaches them respect, but they still trust you and still like you.

Answer 10

You really should never punish a horse by withholding a feed.  This can lead to further bad temper (and with good reason!) and can cause colic.  This is completely cruel.

The longer you leave him to wait, the worse he is going to get.  I know that I get bad tempered when I cannot eat when I need to - but then I am diabetic.

Horses are animals of habit and have in built clocks.  They thrive on routine.

One horse I had would barge, but I took a schooling whip in with me and smacked him on the chest if he tried to get in the bucket or trough before I was ready.  This took a week or so but he got the message and I would just say "BACK" and he went back.

Another way to do it is to make the feed before you bring him in and do what you have to do, ie grooming, riding etc, bring him  back, settle him in, then do as I suggested before.

I also used to leave the stable door open, open the gate, let the horse in - he knew his way - and he could be eating happily and I could quietly close the stable door and let him get on with it.

That took him two days to figure out that there would be food in the stable waiting for him and he was happy with that arrangement.

Just a couple of ideas.  Of course the letting him in you would have to assess your own situation.  Is it safe?  Are there other horses on the yard?

Also, his feed should be mainly roughage if he is not working.  But he must have something!

Finally, biting will not solve the situation and could be dangerous - he has bigger teeth than you.  And it is cruel.

Answer 11

My daughters horse did this. First I would say that the horse is very hungry, but with a horse you cannot ever let them get away with anything not even once. We went to feed our mare and she reared and bucked so we quickly left the paddock with the food and fed all the other horses and let her watch. To start with tie up the horse and point at it and say WAIT or STAY and hold up your hand. Put the food down and then wait a bit then release the horse. Now when we enter the paddock with the food all we do is say WAIT and raise our finger and the mare will just do circles on the spot until we have put the food down and lowered our hand. Tie up until your horse walks nicely to the food. They are really very smart it wont take long.

Answer 12

Your problem sounds a bit like what i was having trouble with. I have recently been looking after a 2 year old cob, who has had such good manners until a few months ago. She has built up a lot of strength and is getting was getting out of control at dinner time and breakfast time. I tried so many different things on her to try and stop her.

Everytime before dinner now i took her out of the stable and groomed her for a  good 10 minutes and rewarded her with treats if she was good. She seemed to be very calm and relaxed after id finished grooming her. i then left her tied up and got the feed and then placed it in front of her and stood with her until she finished. This has worked really well and now she doesnt try to kill me at dinner time lol. Nor does she get unpatient. The grooming seems to relax her which helps her and me a lot.

I would give it a go and see how you get on with it for a few weeks.

Good Luck

x

Answer 13

You need to show him who is in charge. If he is too aggressive, you need to break the habit... every time he bucks, and kicks, and you still give him food, you are rewarding him for doing that.

Stop giving him food until he calms down, don't worry you won't starve him.

Let him get tired... stand in front of his stall, or the gate ( whereever you give him food) and wait for him to calm down.

After you have mastered him to the point of him claming down, do this training with him, to keep it from happening anymore...

point in the corner ( if your horse is trained that way) or just push him in a coner with his head faced opposite of you, and make him stay there until you have given him the food, and you are away.

This does take time, but it is VERY effective.

good luck :)

Answer 14

dont take his c**p

Answer 15

In my opinion he is probably just trying to get your attention. He is feeling "left out" and "ignored" because you arnet spending as much time with him as before. Trying working with him more often if you schedule lets you and about 5 min before feeding go in with him and stroke him talk to him and try to calm him but dont let him take control of you then fix his food and see how that works i hope this helps!

Answer 16

I just got over this problem with my horse. The dominance thing can be a major problem. It sounds like because you spend less time with him, he feels you aren't in charge anymore, he doesn't want to have to wait for his food, so he kicks and bites as a form of bullying you to do what he wants (my horse did this for treats). I suggest working with him on ground manners, Teach him he needs to respect your space and that You, as the leader, will not tollerate him behaving like this around you. If a horse acted like that in the heard, the other horses would knock it back in place really quick. Another thing it could possibly be is the new feed...maybe it gives him more energy and because you aren't riding him as much, he doesn't know how to channel it. But either way, he definitely has a problem with respect that needs to be dealt with

Answer 17

FEED TIME FOR HORSES IS THEIR OWN TIME DONT DO ANYTHINK WHEN THEY ARE FEEDING OR THEY WILL KICK U!!!!!

Answer 18

I have a mare when i got her she was very aggressive when it came to food and feeding time.  Took a few times but know she waits at the other side of the corral for me to tell her its ok.  I think i scared the crude out of her when she first did this, i sent her off, i made her move to the other side and i took the food and walked away.  Had to do this a few times and now she understands, or i will get after her again.

Answer 19

Well, if you dont ride your horse as much as you used to, then maybe you are giving him to much corn. Corn gives energy.

Answer 20

You Get After him you don't take that c**p from your horse You work his *** aka lunge the h---l out of him you make him sweat you let this behavior go and some one will get hurt ma be you in my opinion don't feed him for 12to 24 hours  then see how his behavior is but you HAVE TO GET AFTER HIM when this happens and you need to spend time working him

Answer 21

my horse also does that.

i lock him outside and prepare his food then walk out and do evrything else then feed him last.

-when i feed him i:

~tie him outside

~put his food in the feeder

~make him stand (and he'll usually try and push me over to get to his food) so i yell at him and give him a swift hit (not to hurt him but to tell him it isnt right)

~and make him wait until he focuses on me then let him to it.

i read over it and it sounds like it'd take an hour but he usually gets it after about 10-15 mins

good luck. hope it helps

Answer 22

take in a whip with you and crack it when he displays an undesirable action. dont hit him just crack it loud. and when he stands nicely and waits feed him and if he doesn't stand and continues to misbehave walk out of the paddock with the feed and wait five minutes then go in and repeat, he'll soon realise bad behaviour gets him nothing but loud noises and no food.

good luck, my paint did the same thing.

Answer 23

Your idea should work fine, but I'd suggest riding him more often so he doesn't have all that excess energy.

Answer 24

Do Not Ever not feed your horse. That is abuse. Also if you do not feed them they can get colic and possibly die. You need to either decrease the amount of grain which I had to do with my horses because I am not working them at the moment ( but gradually) or you have to start working you horse again. But never ever not feed your horse. I cannot believe you would allow that to happen. If you dont get any other type of health problem from doing that, you are going to have a starving and even more upset horse.

Answer 25

You are right, this is a dangerous situation but you need to figure out what happened.  You describe that this is very new and different behavior for him so why the change?  You need to know.  He obviously has no respect for you right now but the things you are doing will not help solve the problem.  NEVER hit your horse or stab him with a hoof pick.  NEVER snatch on his halter or face.  NEVER be cruel to your horse.  Your horse does not understand that your are punishing him.  He may develop fear issues related to your behavior but it won't change anything, it will just make it worse.  A fearful horse will be even more dangerous.  Your horse invades your space, turns his butt to you, kicks at you, bites at you - all of these things indicate that he sees himself so far above you in the heirarchy of the herd and has zero respect.  Riding or not, spending time with him or not, will not effect his behavior as you describe.  Something has happened to him to produce such an extreme change, and even if you are unable to identify what it is, you need to do what is necessary to help him get over it and improve his manners and communication.  For that to happen, you have to improve your skills.  I don't care who is telling you to do these things, THEY ARE WRONG and you are wrong for doing it.  Primarily, you need to keep this horse out of your space in all situations so you don't get hurt.  If you keep attacking him, he will return the favor.  He will not respect you if your stab him with a pick or slap him or scream at him.  He may appear to stand more calmly but he is just waiting for the next opportunity to take a shot at you - and believe me, eventually, he'll get it.  Work with your horse on a lead and halter - teach him to stay out of your space.  I have a warmblood that can be pushy but if he crowds me at feeding time, I stand there and ask him to back away and stay away until I deliver the feed and allow him to return.  He is well trained but he tests me from time to time because he is a horse and this is his nature.  While I do not tolerate his unacceptable lapses in behavior, I would never be cruel and hit or stab and slap or snatch on my horses.  Horses do not think or relate or perceive behavior as humans do so you need to investigate improving your ability to communicate with your horse because now you have zero ability to do that and your horse is explaining that to you in plain language - you are just not getting it.  More than anything, you should keep yourself safe.  It sounds like you need some help from someone who has more "horse sense" than anybody you've talked to before.  good luck to you.  From what I see most of the time, the problem with having "horse sense" is that the horses have most of it.

Answer 26

OK you have definatley lost the top spot in his heard....you need to reinforce that you are boss!

Yes...tie him up whilst you are getting the feed prepared make sure he stands still and behaves...if he doesnt want to behave then make him stand till he does (no matter how long this takes he has to re learn)

----One question - What are you feeding him? If its grain etc get him off it as he is not working...cut him down to just chaff or hay.

You can always try working him on a lunge line till he is buggered (make sure you change sides etc) then about 30mins after working feed him but again make him stand till your ready to let him have it!

You need to spend more time with him - i know this is hard but try grooming him for 20mins or so before you feed him -everyday!

When he starts playing up pull him in line and teach him who's boss - wether you do this by giving him a firm check on the halter of a little smack on his tummy.

Also you could try tying him up and when you have his feed ready for him you walk over to it with him still on a halter and lead...if he charges and gets nasty walk him around and around in the tinniest circles then try again...keep this up till he goes to his dinner quietly and behaves.

DO NOT SHOW HIM YOU ARE SCARED or you have lost before you begin.

GOOD LUCK

Answer 27

I would start by looking at the feed. You say he's not really being worked - so does he really need all this grain ?

Would he maybe be better with a big pile of hay and a salt l**k ?

In graining him twice a day you are piling him with extra energy that is not going anywhere as he's not working - it's bound to make him feel grumpy. And if you are busy doing other stuff and aren't able to spend time with him then all he has to look forward to is the feed times. If he tries to bite or kick then you react - you pay attention. If he does nothing you put down the bucket and walk away. Boredom is the root of so many problems in stabled horse.

Please think about this before you beat the cr4p out of him,