Headbutting horse! grr!

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mazziek

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My highland x will not stop headbutting me! had enough today when he bust my nose que blood! when he has done it in past ive always given a very firm and loud NO! but he comes back 2 seconds later, i dont want to hit him. ive also done sharp tug on headcollar but as he is so chunky it has no effect! any ideas please?!?!?!
 
This tends to be a domination issue. I notice it a lot with the younger horses, the one doing the head butting is telling the other to get out of their way.

This needs to be stopped as soon as possible which is easier said than done. Try and ensure that he isn't able to butt you. As soon as he tries make him step BACK away from you.

If I have a horse that tries this with me I tend to flip him on the nose with a baseball cap as soon as he gets into my space uninvited. It doesn't hurt but give enough of a shock.
 
eggs said:
This needs to be stopped as soon as possible which is easier said than done. Try and ensure that he isn't able to butt you. As soon as he tries make him step BACK away from you.

If I have a horse that tries this with me I tend to flip him on the nose with a baseball cap as soon as he gets into my space uninvited. It doesn't hurt but give enough of a shock.
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I think you need to take a firmer approach.
It is a bad habit and you need to protect yourself, a bad bang to the head could be very dangerous.
I would not think twice about a smack on the nose for this kind of behaviour personally, others may not agree but they are large, potentially dangerous animals and need a firm hand when they do things like this.
I hope your able to sort this problem out.
 
Out of interest, do you ever treat him, hug his head or give him head rubs when he's itchy? It may be that your boundaries aren't consistent.
I think you need to just work on this a bit. What does it take to make him take a step back? Will he go back if you leap into the air and yell "back!"? Normally this happens not so much because of dominance, but just because it's hard for us humans to be consistent about our boundaries. Decide what is a comfortable distance for you to have between you and insist on it - always. If you want to move in towards him to give him scratches, then do it, but don't let him barge in on you for fuss. You probably don't need to do a lot, but you need to catch every thought, every step towards you, just quietly back him back two steps. Oh, and never treat him by hand.
p.s. Smacking, whacking, etc might work. However, consistent handling and boundaries will do it as well. Normally we have inadvertently taught these sort of behaviours.
 
My very rude horse likes to headbutt anyone who comes near him head. He is a monster for it, and I am forever apologising to people for his behaviour. He doesn't do it to me because I push his head firmly away from me before he gets close enough to do it. Apparently this tricks them into thinking we are stronger than we are (?) Anyway you have to be persistent about it. Why not try for a week pushing his head away from you when he moves into your space and see if he learns where your personal space is? We are at the stage now where he goes headbutt me then stops and moves his head away! He still headbutts other people though. He's just a git.
 
Mines a s*d for doing this, he will do it to new people mostly, but I do what nobelsteed does and push his head away when I know hes about to do it.sometimes he will sneak up and head butt me up the bum so to speak but as times gone on hes got the message its a no no.
 
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