Help!! my horse has turned mean and crazy lately!!!! I DESPERATELY NEED HELP!Please!!!?

Question

he is a 13.3hh domnant gelding. we recently moved him into a different paddock, and he has been fine until another horse was taken out. noe there are only two other horses in there. it is a sixty acre paddock of bush. now he has been mean lately and whenever i go near him he bares his teeth at me and swings his *** towards me. i was trying to lunge him freely, and he usually is fine with that, but he just charged at me with a mmean look on his face, like that firey stallion im-gonna-eat-you look. you know the one? like he was leterrally gonna kill me. needless to say, he scared the S**t out of me,(as im smaller than him, and i have low cinfidence around horses). when mum tried it, he just walkred into her, and she couldnt do a thing about it.

he has never been like this at all. i need desperate help, as i saved up for himm all on my own and bought all of his tack and i love him to bits. i really dont want to sell him. any suggestions would be grat.

Answer 1

He brought out the big guns, it's your turn too.

Do you have a round pen, or at least a small paddock? And is there someone who is more confident who could try this first?

What I would do is go in there with a  lead rope. When he comes at you, yell "BACK OFF" in your deepest, manliest, growling voice, and walk towards him swinging the lead rope in a circle at your side-- keeping it short enough that it doesn't hit the ground. The closer he comes towards you, the faster you do it, and kind of "advance" towards him threateningly.

Horses don't want to fight. It's likely that he'll back off. Follow him, and drive him further and further away. Change directions, and make him go in a different direction. Make him run. Make him work. Driving a horse away establishes your dominance. It also makes them want to come back to you. DON'T let him(every time he tries to come back, drive him away) until you see him l*****g and chewing his lips, this means he's submitting to you. Even then, you can do it a little bit more to let the message sink in. Then stop swinging the rope, talk to him, and go up to him and pat his neck. If he shows the slightest sign of being a brat, DRIVE him out there.

Answer 2

Don't let him turn his *** to you!! Remember: Two eyes=respect, two heels=disrespect. If he turns away from you like that, run his butt around until he never wants to run again!! He needs a lesson in respect and a lesson letting him know that YOU'RE his herd now and YOU'RE the dominant one!! Good luck!

Answer 3

Please carefully consider what Cow Girl Lu wrote, she is exactly right.

When I was little my pony did this to me, I had broken my arm and she hadn't been worked in quite some time. She just wanted to bully me, just as she would the other horses in her pack.

He has found some new friends/bullies, and he wants to be left with them

Things I found helpful when I was little. I always held a bridle/halter in my hand, and if she charged towards me I would let fly with it near her head. I know this sounds mean, but I was little and it was a case of her or me.

Never let her heals turn towards you. Can you get her into a big pen? If you don't have one, you may need to make one. Even using some electric fence tape and standards. Then when she tries this again, just as 'cow girl' said, go for her and don't let her stop running till she is tired. You know when this happens by watching her head. When her head stretches out long and low towards the ground this means she now respects you as pack leader.

If you don't think you can do this, get a professional to come and help you. You need to quickly nip this in the bud and not let him hurt you.

Best of luck. Keep safe. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR RIDING HAT AND BACK PROTECTOR WHEN HANDLING THIS HORSE. Borrow one if you don't have one.

Answer 4

I'd say show him whats up. Back him up alot and push him around as much as he is doing to you. Let him rest and get used to the new space. Don't be a push over, show that gelding that you're the boss no matter what---and that you love him and hate seeing him like that. If he ever tries to hurt you back that horse up immediatly. And also, people may tell you to find help with a trainer and that may be the case if it gets any worse, but this is your gelding, you're the boss, not anyone else. Show him whats up, but at the same time calm him down, he'll get used to the new enviornment.

Answer 5

It sounds like you have been letting him slide with his behavior towards you.  He thinks that he is the dominate member of the herd, and is offended by you trying to make him do anything.  If he has progressed to pinning his hears, bearing his teeth and charging you, you need professional help by someone that has plenty of confidence around horses.  This horse can and will hurt you if he thinks that is what it will take to keep his dominance stature.  Don't feel bad, a lot of first time owners get into this situation.  It can be fixed, but it needs to be done by someone that knows that they are doing, and you need to watch them do it.  It's the little things that we don't really think about that signals that we are below our horses in the pecking order of the herd.  Like; the horse invading our space, we look at it as affection, they look at it as they are more dominant than you.  You want a horse that respects you and your space, and you have to enforce it on a daily basis.  Get you some help so you don't end up getting hurt.

Answer 6

Hello,

How long have you had the horse?  How old is he?  How much training has he had?  

Sounds like he is trying to dominate you....and YES that is scary, they are huge animals.

Do you feed him from your hand and treat him like a dog???  This can be a BIG mistake for some horses.  They get pushy, rude and disrespectful of their humans.  

One thing that helps is to pasture him with a grumpy old mare...he needs to be the one to be submissive!  Other than that he needs ground work training, if you can not do it or don't know how, you may want to hire someone...to show you how.