Aggresive to handle and backward to ride- any ideas?

charlie76

charlie76

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I have a horse in the yard( not one of mine thank goodness) which is a nasty piece of work in the stable. He goes for you over the door and the all of the staff have been bitten by him. When you are in the stable with him he is always trying to bite with his ears back.
He kicks and bites if you rug him, groom him or tack him up. If you ask him to move over or back he threatens you and the staff have just said they can't brush his back legs as he kicks out at them.
I have just ridden him and he has the same attitude under saddle. The more you ask him to go forwards from the leg the less he wants to go and if you tap him with the stick or give him a swift kick he backs off, puts his ears back and kicks out.
I have half thought ulcers but he is in good condition, no signs of diahorrea and he has a good shiny coat.
Any ideas?
 
Its proberly just his character, nothing to do with health he just has no respect and thinks he's the alfa horse. The only thing i can suggest is basically try and be the alfa person. normal things like feeding him at a different time to the ther horses so he doesnt know food is coming, tieing him up when brushing and standing firm when he comes for you when your outside his stable. hope this helps xx
 
Ex race horse, then in a show jumping yard with a friend before coming here. Friend would not have been nasty to him.
 
What is Mackenzie doing in your yard?
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I found that the more you fight back with a horse like this, the more they fight back.


I'd have one person to handle the horse at all times, rather than mixture of people, giveing off different reactions and handling the horse in differnt ways, a horse like this needs to be dealt with with a one to one quiet but confident person, racers are used to routine and if he's been shipped about a bit and unsettled it can really unsettle them mentally.

How long has he had to settle in?
 
I'd have him checked for ulcers, especially if he is exracer. My lad was similar, difficult to handle and backwards under saddle, but still looked good. Got vet involved and he felt that ulcers/feed intollerances were the problem, he told me to change his diet and see if it made a difference and if not we would scope him. Now have him on high fibre, high oil, low starch/suger diet and 24/7 turn out and he is a much, much happier pony.....
 
More and more horses are being diagnosed with ulcers. Even when vets have laughed at the owners for wanting an investigation, then done it and there are the uclers.

Maybe a handling issue, but as he is difficult in the stable AND to ride there is probably an underlying health/pain issue. Some ex-racehorses have terrible backs.

I had a horse that was difficult in the stable (the first one ever to bite and kick) but she was wonderful to ride. It turned out that she was very nervous and my being nervous of her made her worse. When I got more confident and became her "teacher/leader" she was much, much better although I still had to be a bit careful as she was a bit of a grump. She didn't go for me over the stable door though. Sounds as though the horse is expecting trouble/agression from a human the minute they appear outside his stable door.

No real advice, sorry as I haven't a lot of experience of dealing with unhappy horses.
 
my lad is exactly as described above.When I first got him he would turn his bum on anyone who went into his stable,drag everyone around by setting his neck and bit almost everyone on the yard earning him the nickname 'the pirhana'.Fortunately by consistent firm but fair handling,increased turnout and lots of groundwork he is now a totally different horse although can still be defensive around people he isn't sure of.A good example of this was when the farrier came on Monday and without going to say hello to him went straight in to pick up a back hoof and almost ended up kicked.My horse automatically panicked and went for him big time with his hooves.He has however been mistreated big time in his past and has a few scars as a result of it. He automatically came to me for reassurance and once the farrier had come round to his head and said hello and made it clear he wasn't going to hurt him my horse was then good as gold to be shod. I would agree with the one person to handle him and build a relationship with him, if he goes to bite then whoever deals with him needs to ensure they do not step back out of his space but meet him with your elbow as he can not bite it and then immediately pull his whiskers or pinch his muzzle. Once he backs away from you immediately you need to reassure him that he is a good boy and give him a friendly rub. He will learn fairly quickly that biting doesn't get him anywhere but stepping back earns him some nice positive attention while also showing that you are not going to be pushed around by bolshy behaviour.How much turn out does this horse get? is there any way it can be increased or maybe he could just have a week or two out in the field before coming back into work.Being an ex racer and ex competition horse then chances are he has worked very hard and can't get to grips with the stress of it all and is telling you he needs a break.
Some horses can't cope with certain yards. Is your yard alot quieter or busier than he is used to. Perhaps putting him in a different stable closer to what he used to have would help him to relax a bit more.
I would certainly have his back checked and then his teeth and have him scoped for ulcers or at least try a course of treatment for it to see if it helps.The fact he is unwilling to go forwards under saddle and hates having rugs,tack done etc then it sounds like he is almost shouting that he is in pain somewhere.
 
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