Aggressive horses- anyone ever seen anything like this before?

Hippona

Hippona

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Ok....on our yard, horses are split into two groups. There are two in particular in my group who are very bossy in the field, moving horses around and gate-hanging at bringing in time. If you go to bring your horses in they charge at your horse and try to keep them away from the gate....horrible horses, but they belong to friends of mine (sisters).

On Saturday pm I saw them chasing my horse around the field...targeting him, both of them working together to pin him in a corner...it was awful- my lad was trying to get out of the way but they were literally teaming up on him and running him to fences and the corners.....obviously I brought him out, he was physically ok...but recently he has been coming in with bite marks on his bum and he has had a couple of superficial cuts- I thought they were brushing injuries but most likely caused by him panicking and try to get out of the way.

YO wasn't around, so I went home upset.....spoke to her the next morning......she was brill, my horses are moving in with the quiet smaller ponies, which is great....my lad loves playing with the ponies, I've seen him on his knees before getting down face to face with them playing
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....horses are in today because of building/fencing work so will get them moved over the next day or so.

Has anyone ever seen horses teaming up together to pick on another horse? I have never seen anything like it, neither had the girl who was with me....they were like dogs, honestly......I think its because my horse is very good natured and quiet, he wont stand up for himself...easy target for bossy horses I suppose
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Oh yes,
I have seen a team of section D's playing tag with a TB!!
They all took it in turns to batter it and turned on anyone who went into the field.
In the end it was an operation of 6 people to work the TB over towards the gate, we opened it letting the TB gallop through and managed to shut it before the D's got to it.
The poor horse emptied his bowels once through the gate.
 
My horse will chase other horses.........its to re-affirm the pecking order. Fortunately she never gets close...just wants to check that they run and she will chase them for a bit but doesnt kick.

We had a surprise foal in January from one of her field companions and the owner has just returned mare and foal to the main field. She has chased the foal a few times too but even the owner knows she wont harm it....her view is the foal needs discipline and what better than using the natural herd to do it.
 
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Has anyone ever seen horses teaming up together to pick on another horse

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Yes, it's quie awful to see.

Your YO should think about splitting these two up - some of the aggression may well disappear then.
 
oh dear poor you, im afraid i am an owner of a very bossy horse although he just stays away from the pack on his own. he gets horrid by the gate though and tries to lunge at any horse that comes in before him to scare them away he has never actually hurt another horse hes just scary. Ive made sure he had a headcolloar on now and i leave his rope on the gate for people to tie him out of the way or hold him while they bring theres in. he came in with two big chunks out of his rear end the other day for the first time ever so i think one of the other horses has finally decided to stick up for himself which is good. its nice your YO has let you move fields so at least you know your boy will be left alone in peace and quiet!
 
My friends 2 mares do this to the her gelding. but they have got quite crafty about it too, they chase him till he tries to jump the electric fence, pulling it down then they can get to the greener lusher grass, while chasing him off it!!
 
Gate hangers and bossy horses I can deal with....yes, thats just pecking order getting sorted, I know that.......it was just the way the two of them worked together to target one particular horse that shocked me....

Dont get me wrong, our mare is no angel- plenty of face pulling and squealing but point a finger at her and she goes and sulks....
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So glad you got your boy moved, he doesn't need that stress in the field.

I have seen horse's behave this way but it was two mares rather than geldings. They would team up and put horse's in corners, then one would stay facing able to keep the horse from escaping while the other would go in with the back legs. Pretty much behaving like dogs as you say!

I had my girl moved out the field after a bad kick as I was to scared how far it might end up going, eventually they ended up in a field with 2 other mares whom they seemed to take no issue with
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never really figured out what triggered the behaviour.
 
Cheers....he's had a broken leg before- after a particularly bad thunderstorm so I'll never know if it was anything to do with that, although these two horses were present at that time I cant make any accusations.

I dont know what triggered it either...although thinking back they did pick on one mare in the past, she was grey too.....perhaps they just dont like greys!
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I dont know what triggered it either...although thinking back they did pick on one mare in the past, she was grey too.....perhaps they just dont like greys!
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Funny you saying that about the grey thing! I've heard a theory before that horse's tend to avoid closeness with greys as they are to 'visible' and pose a risk to the herd. My boy who got seriosuly attacked by a stallion was grey but we think the trigger for that was the mares but you never know. And the 2 greys at the yard are a bit anti social, they are never in with the cool kids. You might ahve found the trigger there!

The b!tches that I refer to were probably just hormonal mares, they maybe didn't want any competition so decide to batter the competition. I seriously don't like the pair of them!
 
My old grey pony had always been top of the pecking order until we moved to one particular yard. He was put in with a large group of geldings who just took against him right from the start. He was kept away from the water trough, not allowed into the shade and finally was run into brambles. It was so awful to see and I moved him pretty quick. We went to another yard with lots of horses and he was soon at the top of the pecking order again. I could never figure out what the first lot had against him, poor old bugger!
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Yes, there is a riggy sort of gelding and a very marish mare on my yard who have been seen working as a pair to corner and attack new horses. One came in with cuts all over his hindquarters - turned out the gelding had been rearing and coming down on his back. They used to deliberatley chase the victim up against the electric fence. They have now been separated but the gelding is still a barsteward and I never turn my back on him.
 
Hovis gets ganged up on like this occasionally. In fact omar gave him an utter pasting last night - over what we know not.
Omar and the other horse in the field have got hovis cornered before now and beat the what sists out of him. But omar is very very dominant. That said if another horse tries to hurt hovis he will step in. A case of "I'm allowed to bully him but you're not" perhaps?!
 
yes..... my horse shared a field with two others, and when I realised what was happening I split my boy off. The down side was trying to get my boy out of the field as we had to go through the other two to get out. IT ment that one day I was trampled as my horse tried to get away from the other two.
 
Yep. Very frightening. I hope your horse is OK.

I am glad to hear that you have a sympathetic and obliging YO. I know that horses are only being horses, but bullying with vicious intent like that is one of the few things that really makes me dislike a horse.

Years ago a mare of mine was run through fences and a bog by a bully, she injured her legs so badly that she had to be pts as a result. I don't do bullies, they get separated and stay that way.
 
Enfys, one of these horses in particular I really do dislike.....and usually most horses have at least one redeeming feature...but this one, no.....

YO is very good at stuff like this, she will try and move horses around to restore harmony. She has her own horses on the yard, so she is very sympathetic...
 
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