Horse attacking other horses

[midnight mayhem]

A horse at my yard keeps attacking others..there are 7 horses in total, he's fine with 4 of them (mine included) but two of the horses he's taken an intense disliking too and will lunge, kick, bite..at any opportunity he can get, he is actually a sweet horse in every other way and lives out with one other horse in their own paddock next door to the others in individual paddocks. Why's he doing this? The two horses he seems to 'hate' happens to belong to one person but did not arrive at yard at same time!

 

[ladyt25]

I woud say it's just natural herd behaviour to be honest. If this horse is essentially a dominant horse and the two others are dominant characters too but arrived later then he probably just sees them as a threat to his authority! If they have ONLY just arrived then this is pretty much normal behaviour anyway adn usually settles down but it may be he always feels he's going to have to let them know who's boss even if he's not in the same field as them.

 

[AmyMay]

Whatever the reason, it's dangerous and needs to be addressed. Either by removing the attacker, or the two being attacked.

 

[ladyt25]

Unless i have misread the OP, this horse (the attacker) does not appear to actually be turned out with a herd so isn't actually a direct threat. I assume the behaviour is being exhibited over the fence, when passing the other horses or when being tied up on the yard near them or even if out hacking?

There is not a lot you can do - some horses are just this way out and they don't get on with other horses (or certain others).If the two the horse dislikes are new then the likelihood is the behaviour will calm down. If not then I will stick to my origianl thoughts of the "two" being dominant characters and the other horse feels his place is threatened so is letting them know he's the boss.

I have a pony who's the same. He can't bear being near any strange horses at all (thankfully we have our own land and he has his own herd so we don't have any issue). He doesn't like meeting other horses out on hacks - you can't stop and 'chat' tp other horse riders. He will get very anxious, squeal, reverse, spin etc. When I first got him he'd squeal and strike out in front at strange horses. Therefore i learnt - keep him a safe distance away!

Mine is impeccably behaved as far as stable manners are concerned and is no problem at all to handle BUT he is a dominant pony, always has been and he wants to ensure all other horses know this! You just have to manage it really, it does improve but you can't 'cure' the behaviour as it's natural instinct.