Horses instantly not liking someone,

Both of mine are very clear with who they do and don't like. They also know exactly who they can take advantage of and to what extent they can push their luck. Equally they are both excellent with children and people with disabilities. I find it fascinating to watch them eye new people up and decide what they think of them.
 
I would be inclined to say horses can be excellent judges of character - or aura, or psyche or whatever you want to call it - hence why they are so good at therapy and with people with disabilities. But I think they may also have slightly off-kilter responses when someone reminds them of someone who treated them badly - I am sure this applies in the case of the poster whose poor Dad inadvertently upset the horse!
 
I have come across a few horses who have taken an immediate dislike to someone. My little mare will be horrible with people she doesn't like, yet is usually so good. She is fab on the ground with me so it is very hard to stop her behaving badly with someone she doesn't like, especially as she has always been right when she has taken a dislike to someone!
My friends anglo also took against someone we were on a yard with. I was riding her in the school when this man asked if he could come and join us. I actually said no, as the school already had two people in and he was wanting to lunge, but he came in anyway. She actually went as if she was going to attack him, which was completely out of character. He was a pretty nasty guy, and seemed to get away with bullying any horse around him, which as he was a professional (haha) always annoyed me. Maybe the mare knew!
 
I have two quiet stallions one is the biggest cuddle bug going, the other although not quite as cuddly enjoys having a good scratch and is generally a pleasant person t be around. Puts his head on you shoulder for a doze. He hates the YO apparently and pins his ears back and tries to bite her and means it. He has never done this to anyone as far as I know and certainly not to me. The really daft one doesn't really act like himself around her either.
 
Many years ago I worked with tb youngsters, there was a yearling filly who disliked me and tried to squash me against walls, muck heap etc :-( and a two year old colt who ( if he got the chance) would grab you by the hood/ collar and shake. We only went in with him in pairs . I believe he went on to be a stallion in Ireland
 
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There are dozens of reasons horses can take a dislike to someone - smell is the most likely. I have one mare the vet can't get within 40' of - but she also objects to anyone who has used disinfectant in the last 8 hours! Then there's the person's inner feelings.

I have a loopy 3 year old at present - scared of everything and everyone - but better with a few that handle him regularly. There is NO reason for his fear - I bred him, I know his Mum, Grand-mum and father well. But before I went into hospital, I was his victim. I'd spent 20 minutes in his stable - talking to him, getting in the occasional pat on his shoulder - but not much more. I went to leave him - got to the door - and he swung around and double-barrelled me, getting BOTH my legs around knee height!

Looking back on it, I WAS feeling very frustrated and irritated at the total waste of time. (I was seriously considering putting him down - the question was HOW! The only answer would have been the guy from the Safari Park with a dart gun!) He must have sensed my tension - and objected. Goodness knows if we'll ever cure him and make him happy with strangers.
 
Cortez said:
It is never acceptable for a horse to act aggressively towards a person. You deal with aggressive behaviour from the very start by nipping it in the bud, which is why early handling (of foals in particular) is so important. And horses can take particular exception to certain people - I bred a filly who disliked me (the feeling was entirely mutual); BTW the filly wasn't allowed to kick, bite, barge, lay her ears or be disobedient in any way, she was broken and competed (by me) perfectly satisfactorily but we still didn't like each other.
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I agree with you to a point, trouble is, if you never see it yourself, you can't correct it. My horse has threatened to bite people over the stable door, he has *never* tried this with me, he won't do it when I'm within his eyeline. The only time I've seen it, was when I hid and stayed quiet for ages, long enough for him to get distracted by something else. Obv it got corrected when I saw it.
 
My horse does not like my 4 year old daughter. I don't know whether it is because he doesn't understand little people or whether he is jealous or he simply just doesn't like her. Either way - she never goes in the yard unless he is tied up or in his stable. He is a little distrustful of people although she is the only one he has reacted adversely to since I've owned him.
 
I know this one, I help my friend out with her 4 every now and then and she has a young-ish cob think he's about 5 or 6, not yet broken. He was late gelded and I think is a bit of a rig. He just does not like me and I have never done anything to hurt, frighten or upset him that I am aware of, I love him to bits but his behaviour of late is now beginning to frighten me like spinning around in the field the other day and kicking out with both feet, then I got bitten hard for my troubles. I had my friend with me the other day who had never met him before and he was putty in her hands, I walked past about 6ft away not even looking at him while sorting haynets and the ears went flat back. I hate to admit defeat but for the safety of it I feel I have to. I don't know if it's a confidence thing, I've lost a lot recently due to a bad situation I was in last year with dangerous horses so I don't know if it's "she's a wuss let's take the mick".

I wish I was Dr Doolittle so I knew what I had done wrong as I get on with her other 3 fantastically including her new 3 year old.
 
Dunlin said:
I know this one, I help my friend out with her 4 every now and then and she has a young-ish cob think he's about 5 or 6, not yet broken. He was late gelded and I think is a bit of a rig. He just does not like me and I have never done anything to hurt, frighten or upset him that I am aware of, I love him to bits but his behaviour of late is now beginning to frighten me like spinning around in the field the other day and kicking out with both feet, then I got bitten hard for my troubles. I had my friend with me the other day who had never met him before and he was putty in her hands, I walked past about 6ft away not even looking at him while sorting haynets and the ears went flat back. I hate to admit defeat but for the safety of it I feel I have to. I don't know if it's a confidence thing, I've lost a lot recently due to a bad situation I was in last year with dangerous horses so I don't know if it's "she's a wuss let's take the mick".

I wish I was Dr Doolittle so I knew what I had done wrong as I get on with her other 3 fantastically including her new 3 year old.
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Carry a whip with you and if he lays his ears or looks at you sideways, whack him. A job for your friend if you are not confident doing it. A horse that goes for someone - any one - is a danger to be around and must not be allowed to continue to be so.
 
I have not read all the replies, but I tend to listen to my horse ( and dogs) opinions on people.

My boy loves people, but can be nervy when you first meet him just backs away slightly. I told the farrier this and asked him just to take it slow before he picked his feet up. As soon as the farrier approached Dan's ears were straight back and he turned very defensive. In the end he picked Dan's feet up and he started trying to rear, back away ad I could feel him shaking. I stopped him doing anything at this point.

I changed farrier and had no issues! Dan just didn't like him and I don't know why. (although I am happier with the new one as he is never late! And D loves him)
 
He's a horse, a flight animal, cornered in a stable, so flight option removed. OP says he usually walks away from anything he doesn't like - this time he couldn't. He had already given signs that weren't heeded - and so had the OP. I'm reminded of the video going around facebook where a mum films her baby grabbing her dog's toes, leaning on his bony joints (that MUST have hurt) etc, dog is cornered, is being told to stay, gives all the warning signs and looks to owner for help but doesn't get any, gives more warning signs, they are ignored, so lunges at the child. No, it's not acceptable for a dog to lunge at a baby or for a horse to kick out at a person, but in both cases the person (not you, OP) could and SHOULD have read the animal better and not put them in the situation where they felt that their only option was to fight. For whatever reason, this horse was unhappy in this person's company to the point that he felt it necessary to physically defend himself.

I think it's possible that it was something innocent like her soap powder or the sound of her voice that triggered him in a way that wasn't her "fault"... AND... I think animals have much better intuition than us and I wouldn't be surprised if he was reacting to something disagreeable in her mannerisms/personality/smell that we humans might not have picked up on so early.

Caol Ila said:
My sweet, straightforward horse, who is so soft in the contact and has such lovely manners, took off bucking across the arena. Oops.

PSG rider did not think horse was very well schooled.

Horse thought PSG rider was a tool.
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Sorry, probably shouldn't, but I laughed! Horses, the great leveller! Reminds me of a cob I used to loan, absolute sweetie who put up with mane being pulled, mouth inadvertently jerked, off balance rider if they were nervous riders, beginners etc. Took the pee out of me constantly the moment I took my eye off the ball (often, he's a dude to be around) and took off broncing with me at a show because I had mixed up my curb and snaffle rein! Oops, sorry, completey my bad.

Cortez said:
Carry a whip with you and if he lays his ears or looks at you sideways, whack him. A job for your friend if you are not confident doing it. A horse that goes for someone - any one - is a danger to be around and must not be allowed to continue to be so.
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Way to teach him that he was right to distrust her :-/
 
A horse which has been gelded late may well retain some stallion characteristics even if not a rig. Don't put up with this behaviour. In my experience, unless a line is drawn, horses (like small children) will keep pushing till they find their boundary. If he bit you, he should have been clobbered back, hard and immediately. Kicking out would mean a whip with me the next time and a crack over his rump for doing so.
 
If anyone took a stick to either of mine they'd find themselves in intensive care! No wonder the filly hated you Cortez you, you nasty moron.
 
If you took a stick to my youngster for him threatening to kick he would kill you. Sometimes undesirable behaviours cannot be solved by a beating, but instead, praise for when they do do good. My other youngsters would accept a clout for stepping out of line.

I would never ever recommend hitting someone else's horse though - that's dreadful.
 
The Tank said:
If anyone took a stick to either of mine they'd find themselves in intensive care! No wonder the filly hated you Cortez you, you nasty moron.
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I'm not a moron, and you are rude. I have no problem with you training your horses however you see fit, and if you don't mind a horse attacking you that is also perfectly fine by me. Allowing a horse to threaten or attack is extremely dangerous. For your information no horse has ever "hated" me, in fact I specialise in retraining spoiled, abused and generally messed up horses (the majority, these days, spoiled by ineffectual handling) and have earned my living with horses for considerably more than 40 years. Manners are essential (in horses and in people).
 
Dunlin said:
then I got bitten hard for my troubles. I had my friend with me the other day who had never met him before and he was putty in her hands, I walked past about 6ft away not even looking at him while sorting haynets and the ears went flat back.
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I would not take my eyes off a horse which had bitten me. About 6ft is nothing to a horse. I'd be ready for action at all times and the slightest indication of ears back, movement towards me etc and I'd become very 'big' and ensure that the horse knew to back off from this reaction. I'd be watching for the horse's reactions from the second I entered the field and would react instantly to any threat and that might be at a distance greater than about 6 ft.
 
Cortez he did not attack at any point, I have been with horses 26 years and do not care how long you have been, you are abusive full stop, Vile person
 
The Tank said:
Cortez he did not attack at any point, I have been with horses 26 years and do not care how long you have been, you are abusive full stop, Vile person
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I think Cortez's post was not in response to yours, OP, but to a poster who is frequently scared by a horse who kicks out at her and has bitten her before. I rather think Cortez was trying to help her and prevent the situation escalating to the poster being kicked, which would be very nasty.

In terms of your OP, Ginger hated my ex - wish I'd realized sooner such how smart my little gelding is. But he didn't attack him, just ignored him and completely refused to acknowledge him! That said, sometimes my horses give me warnings and I ignore them (e.g. last year, Ginger had an abscess and was very grumpy about having his poultice changed - but I was going to do it!). If he had carried out his threats I would have been furious.
When one of mine tried to kick the vet, I was mortified - he (horse) was in agony so somewhat understandable, but still very dangerous behavior so he had a verbal telling off. He let her carry on in peace.

If a horse regularly makes threats then something needs to be done, whether that's building its confidence or being more assertive (not cruel, obviously). But in the case of a very sweet horse, it's difficult to pre-empt when they will carry out a threat because we don't expect it. Sounds like this may have been the case with you OP, otherwise I assume she would not have gone in to the stable/you would not have let her gone in if you really thought he would see it through. Sometimes they do act out of character and there's usually a reason, even if we can't see it.
 
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