bully of a horse.. help!

[bushbaby28]

Help!

my horse, as a youngster can sometimes be a bit of a bully with other horses. From what i've seen this is only when he's been provoked although i will admit that he can pick on some horses (chasing and playing but i've never seen him bite or kick)

This morning one of the horses came in with a big cut down his leg and it was automatically presumed it was my horse beating him up. problem is this has now gone round the yard and nobody wants their horse turned out with him!!!

what can i suggest to make the situation better? Hes only 5 and i don't want him out by himself and i know hes not that bad as hes been on pony camp all week turned out with 5 total strangers and was fine.

any advice very very much appreciated

 

[thedunthing]

i dont know if this is possible nor do i know it will work but if he has got back shoes on you could take them off if he will cope as i doubt he cut cut somethings leg without shoes on

 

[Tia]

I really think owners would be totally gobsmacked at what their horses do when they are only visiting for an hour or so each day; horses get up to a heck of a lot more than you might imagine; try watching them for hours every day and you will see none of them are angels and yes they all get up to mischief.

Anyhow, back to your dilemma. In my opinion, the only way to curb this exuberant behaviour is to put him in with horses above him in the pecking order, or new horses that he doesn't know, so it puts him off his cocky stride a bit. I don't have any problems with this sort of thing going on on my yard as I have so many horses that it really isn't a big deal to switch them around if they get too big for their boots.

The thing is, you don't want to break this playfulness he has, you simply want him to learn a bit more respect within a herd situation; sometimes that can prove difficult for horses who did not grow up in large herds. Time will help with this; and age will calm him, but for the meantime I guess you may have no option but to keep him alone until he matures a little more.

 

[bushbaby28]

many thanks 4 ur help. ur right, i'd probably be amazed at what he gets up to! i think i was in protective mode after everybody was telling me how horrible he was.

i think the plan is to keep him by himself to settle down for a few days and then maybe introduce a new horse under observation with his back shoes possibly off. i can also understand why people dn't really want him with their horses as if it was the other way round i know i'd be protective too!