Fighting Gelding?????????

Question

I have a 10-12 yr. old gelding who is being boarded at my friends house. She used to own him, and during that time he had attacked another gelding, and today, trying to be nice, we decided to put him in the pasture with one of her mares, who he typically gets a long with. But for some reason, he tried attacking her, and chased her around the pasture trying to bite her. I do not understand why he has such aggressive behavior toward other horses, even if he usually likes them. Does anyone have any ideas why he behaves this way.....or any tips on how to break him of the vice.

Answer 1

it's a dominance issue. he's trying to assert himself as head of the herd. this is totally normal horse behavior. if you leave them alone horses will fight it out so to speak, but their battles can leave one or the other with wounds, cuts, bite marks, kicks, etc.. a very dominate horse needs to be pastured with a VERY submissive horse, or the best option is pasture him alone in a situation where he can see other horses but not actually contact them. you can't change this behavior.. this is not something like lack of training... this is a part of his nature.... like a human having a positive, happy personality vs. being negative and uphappy toward life. the only way to modify this is to put him with a horse that's MORE dominate than him but that's VERY dangerous and could result in serious injuries for one or both horses as they fight out their position in the herd