Aggressive Horse

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malibu211211

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Has anyone had a horse that is aggressive towards other horses whilst in a stable?

Monty has been getting progressively worse, he is stabled in an american barn type yard and he has a huge corner box with a horse each side of him. But just recently he has started having a go at one of the horses through the bars. He has always pulled faces but now he is backing into the wall, kicking out and rearing up at him. So we moved him next to my friends mare but that was worse as the mare tried to fight back. He is now in the box which faces them all but only has the tack room next to it and no other horses.
Just wondered if anyone had come across this?
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My boy is moody around feeding times he is always hungry.He will even have a snipe at his field companion if there is feed about.Dont know what you can do about it, he is lovely with me I can do anything with him even if he pulls faces in or out of the stable.
 
Yes i have,lol!!!My lad in the same sort of set up,bars up between him and his neighbour!!His neighbour however will not back down and i think it is a dominancy thing as they cannot get to each other,it is a hell of alot worse at feed time!!We could not turn them out togethet,however they do hack out and travel together all be it with some face pulling,lol!!I think it is down to the personnal space and when in a stable that perimeter is taken away!!!
 
Yes and thats why when I put in my new stables I had solid walls put up in between not bars. So many horses hate having no space on their own. They get seriously stressed by the constant presence of another horse. They cannot eat in peace - always there is the other horse too close for comfort. Horses become agressive, stressed and can develop serious behavioural issues. hopefully now yours has been moved to next to the tack room he will be come less stressed and able to relax in his own space
 
Most horses yes!!!My lad has to be able to see his neighbour threw a wall,not just over the door!Last place he was at they had to knock out part of his wall and fit a grill as he would not touch his hay unless he could see his neighbour at all times!!They just get shirty with each other,yes as i said above it is down to space,but.....when you have a horse like mine that weaves like a bu--gger and stresses weight off it is a better solution as his weaving is non existant(dont get me wrong they dont spend all night kicking off at each other)!!As a rule we have found that all the horses have settled in soooo quickly with the barn system,but most are next to their field mates,mine could be but would still have an unknown next to him,lol!!
 
Went to see my boy, horses all fine with people but for horses tis running the gauntlett!
And between the stables they are grumpy as sin, it's interesting as some of them are field mates!
 
Ours are grilled in all way round barring outside wall,were they look out!!They cant put their heads out into the isles!!!
 
yes my mare is, ive put the v shape bars up and its calmed how down, shes so bad if the other horse isin she will stand and just stamp her front feet and lash out with the backs!
 
My friends mare hates my gelding, launches at the stable door and rears when he passes and roars at him when we ride past her stable when Im in the school. Tonight I turned him in the school for a wonder as he was sedated this morning and she ran at the fence from the field, walked off and ran at it again. I ended up taking out of the school for fear she may come through the fence! My boy never pulls faces or even looks at her. Cant understand what the problem is.
 
Sounds like she wants to be top dog.I think its all about dominace and they cant assert themselves properly in a stable like they would in their fields .My daughters mare put her nose over the stable door this morning and got a real telling off from my horse because he was eating ,yesterday he groomed her after they had both had their breakfast. Hes a greedy pig and doesnt like sharing his hay in their field but in the summer when they have plenty of grass she can put her nose in his feed bucket and nick his racions.
 
Yes, plenty of times. Some horses need more personal space than others, and being stabled in close proximity to other horses stresses them like mad. They might need windows or grills blocked off so that they can choose when to see other horses by looking over the door, but able to retreat into the stable as they wish.
It isn't all about dominance. Sometimes it's about fear. The most "aggressive" horses often start the behaviour because they are afraid, stressed or uncomfortable in some way. In the field they can either walk away to get space, or if they are higher up the rank they can move the others off. In the stable they are stuck. My mare is always in charge in every herd she joins, she moves the others about, often it appears with no good reason. When she had a grill window in a stable it had to be blocked off because she started lunging at the grill and kicking the wall between her and her neighbour.
If you put up grills to stop horses looking out then you just shut the problem behind bars and the anxiety may well show itself in other ways. Like stamping for example.
 
Open the stables in the correct way!!!!As i said earlier,my lad can look out onto the yard not into the isle,stops them all biting butts as they walk past!!!!
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Going back to the original post, Stropster said
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He is now in the box which faces them all but only has the tack room next to it and no other horses.


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Has that solved the problem? I was under the impression that it might have done and this was just a discussion, rather than asking how to solve an issue.
 
I had a suspicion that Daisy would be like this when we moved to our new yard because she is always the dominant horse in the field, whoever she is with. She wasn't too bad for the first few weeks because the stables to either side of hers were empty but she went mad when a gelding was put in next door. From the way she was behaving I think it really bugged her that she couldn't assert her dominance over him in the same way she would in the field. She was squealing, rearing and lunging at the grill, he just stood there looking at her and it really wound her up. We had to move her that night and put her in one of the traditional stables, solid, brick built and out of sight of any others
 
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