Help?

[OfficerPeppercorn]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had tips on how to catch an aggressive horse in the field and how to combat his aggression.

My horse is a thoroughbred and I have only had him for a month, but he has been displaying aggression when I approach him in the field with his halter and rope. He lunges forward and threatens to bite us and occasionally runs towards us with his teeth bared. He has also displayed this with other people, not just myself. Once his halter is on he turns back into the sweet horse he is and will follow you wherever and do what you want. He has never managed to bite me or anyone else, and we have stood our ground, but it seems to be getting worse and I can't be putting up with this behavior. I have managed to lure him with treats a few times but I am worried that it will end up teaching him that his aggression is acceptable, so I either need a new method of catching or a program or training exercise that will hopefully combat the nasty behavior.

I have heard of the Parelli Catching Game, but it seems like it will benefit horses who run away from their owners more than those who display aggression towards us.

Thank you in advance x

 

[huskydamage]

Mine does this too, though its not personal! (I have seen her chase a pheasant out the field!) She has always done it and is usually worse when in season. She lives out 24/7 I leave her head collar on and separate the field with fence so I can get around safely.
She has kicked me before and will literally run at me with teeth bared. She goes through phases of being perfect to catch then evil again. She will not do it if I am poo picking or something though, only when she knows I'm trying to catch her. I have had her years and she is fine in all other aspects. so I just learned to work with it.
I have perfected catching her to about 5 mins. I literally just do not enter the field. It is too dangerous and not worth getting kicked. I never approach her, I wait for her to come to me (without teeth/ears back!).
I stand on the other side of the fence with some feed in a bucket and wait, she will canter in circles with ears back etc tossing her head at me. If she stops, I walk along the fence line and call her so she has to keep cantering round and jumping about ('the hatey dance' as I call it!). After 5 mins of this stupid display she walks over to me and accepts my offering of treats! Then I grab her and climb through the fence. I have had so many people tell me 'do this, do that' over the years with no success. Someone even told me to put a horse down that runs at you! (seriously?! as if!), I have a few other tricks I use but this is the safest and quickest way for me.

 

[Brightbay]

Defensive aggression (which is what your horse is displaying) is very dangerous and not something to be tackled based on all the conflicting advice you will get on an internet forum.

This would be one case where I believe I would be contacting a qualified behaviourist (NOT a natural horsemanship trainer, a BHSI, or any other form of trainer - this is not a training issue, this is a serious behaviour problem and needs to be treated as such).

Parelli catching games and any method that involves chasing the horse away seriously risk making this issue worse - the horse is already concerned about people in their space (and is shutting down once caught and haltered, in itself a concern). Methods involving chasing (or "moving the horse on" to use a common euphemism) make the horse even more insecure about humans approaching).

I don't know where you're based, but any equine behaviourist accredited by http://www.apbc.org.uk/ and who has had postgraduate training in equine behaviour is a good place to start.