Horse goes psycho at feed times... what to do?

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Ziggy_

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we have a horse at my yard who goes absolutely evil at feed times, i went to put his bucket over the door this evening and he bit my arm so hard he lifted me right off the floor and flung me into the yard gate.

Also a couple of months ago he reared at a girl who was putting hay out in his field and kicked her in the face, putting her in hospital.

he is getting more and more aggressive, mainly at feed times but increasingly away from feed as well, the other day i was riding him and he charged across the school at my friend who was watching in the corner! he has also started to threaten you over the door when you walk past.

we have warning signs on his door for people not to go near him but the staff (ie me) still have to handle him.

anyone got any advice? he is nearly 16hh and built like a tank and the situation is getting really dangerous. he doesn't have an owner, he was sort of dumped on us and we can't get rid of him
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He sounds very unhappy
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I'd be working on the theory that something is wrong;

could he have stomach ulcers
does he get enough turnout
does he have adlib hay
is he getting fair and consistant handling?
 
I can rule 3 of them out, at the time of the 1st incident he was living out with ad lib hay and he has always been handled fairly. Don't know anything about stomach ulcers though.
 
How long have you had him and when did it start?

If this is the first winter you have had him, and its only during this time it started, it could be due to him being starved in the past... many horses can become extremely possesive over food, usually only with other horses, but it can cross over to the handler too.

I would also get him checked out physically... and failing that at may just be the yard... certain places can majorly affect horses behaviour
 
I had a problem similar to this with my boy. Didn't help that I found out (by turning up unexpectedly one day) that his feed was literally being thrown over the door!! - I think he may have been starved or something before I got him because he is so possesive over his food and was very grumpy in his stable.

Sounds silly but his haynet was moved to the front of his stable and he calmed down a lot (think this was because he could see what was going on around the yard and eat at the same time - he was still funny with his feed and as I wasn't able to get to the yard every day at feedtime I couln't monitor how they were feeding him. I have now moved him and in just a few weeks he had calmed down so much and I walk into his stable with his feed and put it in his manger and he waits for me to move out of the way before going to it.

It will take a lot of patience but hopefully you will get to the bottom of it in the end - good luck
 
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