Aggressive behaviour help needed

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tubby1

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As title. My 6 yr old ish mare is displaying real aggression when having her saddle or rugs put on. I have had her for 4 month and recently changed her saddle as she was bucking when being ridden. Now she is a star when being ridden but has turned into a witch in the stable. She has always had good stable manners but became aggressive towards a gelding that moved beside her. He was moved but she is still aggressive specially at feed time mostly towards her neighbour. Tonight she was dangerous whenI was changing her rug turning her back end towards me and trying to kick me. Not sure how to deal with this it's very frustrating coz I thought we were getting somewhere as the riding has improved so much. Any help is appreciated.
 
Have you done any ground work with her???

Perhaps this may help as you have only had her a short while, and this could help build up the relationship that you have and possibly sort out the boundary issues?

Also can you feed her on her own? How can she interact with her neighbour??

I hope that you manage to sort the problem out fairly soon!
 
Oooh. Sounds like good old female hormones are kicking in. Is she in season perhaps? If not I would get your vet to check for any hormonal imbalances and also for the possibility of ovarian cysts as these can certainly affect her mood. Mares can be temperamental at the best of times and perhaps she has simply taken a dislike to her new gelding neighbour. In any case I'd get the vet to do some bloods to rule out anything sinister.
 
We have done some groundwork and I spend loads of time with her. Fortunately there are bars between the stables so she cannot get to her neighbour but it doesn't stop her trying.
 
As others said groundwork, she may just need to look at someone for reasurance, she's been in a new home and needs to bond with you, I've been there my boy was an angel to ride but his ground manners towards me were awful, in the end I diched the riding for a while and just bonded, now he will do anything for me, remember horses take time to trust, do you have any of her past history x
 
Was your new saddle fitted by a saddler you trust? I might think about getting her back checked.because if the old one didn't fit properly she might have some residual muscle pain causing her to play up when you do things around her back. Also it could be a remembered response to previous pain so once you are sure her saddle and back are fine you could work on building positive associations with saddle and rugs. E.g rest a folded rug on her back, make a fuss and give her a treat and build up gradually to create positive associations. Good luck!
 
Do you think its that particular gelding or would any horse set het off while in the stable?

I know for a fact that I wouldn't be able to keep one of my horses next to another if the stables were those that are split by bars (where they can see and sniff each other) he'd go mad at feed time, he'd be a right bad tempered so and so even if there was no food about, since being in a more private built up block stable where he can't see other horses apart from over the door looking out into the yard he's completely different, so it may just be a combination of her feeling more dominant around certain horses now she's settling in, her stable environment not suiting her (specially during feed time) and now testing the boundaries with you.

I second what others have said but it may just be that she needs a change of stable and establish where she is both with the horses and around you, maybe she's feeling insecure.
 
Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately she is in a block of 4 with this gelding. He is a particularly grumpy horse especially around feed time. There are no other stables available just now so moving is not an option. Her aggressive behaviour started when this horse moved in. Strangely it's much worse in the evening. She has been in the past few days so will turn her out today and see if she is any better tonight.
 
tubby1 said:
Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately she is in a block of 4 with this gelding. He is a particularly grumpy horse especially around feed time. There are no other stables available just now so moving is not an option. Her aggressive behaviour started when this horse moved in. Strangely it's much worse in the evening. She has been in the past few days so will turn her out today and see if she is any better tonight.
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Some horses just don't cope when there are only bars between their boxes. We had to move my gelding into the courtyard as he could not cope thinking another horse was near his food. In the interim if moving your mare is not an option could you put up (securely) chipboard so she can't see the other horse? We have a block of six in a similiar set up in our barn and my poor YO has had endless shuffles to keep all the horses happy.

Would also review the saddle and possible back issues but would look to stamp this behaviour out very quickly!
 
Can you feed her in hand outside of the stable block if it is the feeding which triggers this behaviour? Also, tie her up to do rug changes, tacking up etc if she is threatening to kick you.

It sounds like she is feeling claustrophic or threatened by this other horse if she was fine before he came. Also possibly getting stir crazy if she's been in for days on end. Hopefully some turnout will let her let off some steam and help her feel a bit better about things.

If this continues I'd get a professional out to help you, the last thing you want or need is this kind of behaviour escalating and that's whether she is in season or not.
 
Hi,
I have recently started energy therapies module at uni as part of my course and we have started doing reiki. Your horse sounds very similar to a few of the cases we have been reading about. Why don't you get in touch with a reiki master, it's all about balancing energy and aids the healing process, they can find out deep problems that could be from their past.. My teacher is a reiki master and i have heard fascinating stories and also started to do it on the course. It could be worth a try :-)
 
Along the same lines of Maesfen, we had one who hated not having any privacy and hung some linen type curtains along her side of the bars which was easy and solved the problem very quickly. Got some from a charity shop so they gained as well :)
 
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