just got double barreled my a horse

. I came to this forum ready to learn and share. Not to be shot down by someone who thinks they have been there done that.

Or thinks that they have the answers!

HA - Take no notice and please dont take it to heart, the horsey world is full of people who think they know everything xxx I like your warmth and outlook - its very refreshing.
 
A horse can't be nasty. There's a reason for everything a horse does.

I completely disagree, you have rose tinted specs on if you think otherwise, a horse can be nasty, and the damage they can do to you can be fatal.

There can be thoroughly bad tempered horses, in the same way there can be thoroughly bad tempered humans. I have one. I have had it since it was a baby - it is now 12. I can assure you he has never been mishandled, abused, or otherwise traumatised. Some days he is an affectionate darling, others he is a total bad tempered, aggressive S***. Some days he will fall asleep while you groom every inch of him, some days he will, in no uncertain terms, tell you to get lost! He needs reading, and appropriate handling. I would never allow anyone to go into his field unaccompanied, unless they knew him, and were "proper" horsemen. He has been known to chase people out with a combination of feet and teeth. So, yes, he can be damn nasty :o
 
TBH, I don't think it is fair or reasonable to go into a field and give one of two occupants a stroke. IMO it is asking for trouble. The horses don't really know that one belongs to you and the other doesn't. I have seen horses act out of jealousy and that could well have been the case in this instance.
OP if you want to stroke your pony, I suggest that you remove it from the field first. It would certainly be dangerous to take a 4 yr old child into a field with any group of horses.
We keep ours at home in our own small herd. If I want one of them, I bring them all in, in their hierarchical order and put back out the ones I don't need at that point. This is much safer for all concerned.
 
TBH, I don't think it is fair or reasonable to go into a field and give one of two occupants a stroke. IMO it is asking for trouble. The horses don't really know that one belongs to you and the other doesn't. I have seen horses act out of jealousy and that could well have been the case in this instance.
OP if you want to stroke your pony, I suggest that you remove it from the field first. It would certainly be dangerous to take a 4 yr old child into a field with any group of horses.
We keep ours at home in our own small herd. If I want one of them, I bring them all in, in their hierarchical order and put back out the ones I don't need at that point. This is much safer for all concerned.

Wise words. Most of the times that humans get hurt in horses fields are the result of them not respecting or being aware of the hierachy. If I need the herd leader of any particular group in, then there is never a problem, but if I need one of the lower ranking individuals, then I have to take into account the horses that are above it in the pecking order. Sometimes I know there won't be a problem because the higher ranking horse(s) are very easy going, but with one of the small groups I have to remove the higher ranking horses first and then put them back (higher ranked last back in).
 
HeatherAnn - you are refreshing!! Ignore the know-it-alls please. Treat them like 'all the gear no idea!'.
My vet believes that 99.9% of horses with any aggressive behaviour do so through pain or abuse.
The horse is a flight animal - it will NOT waste energy attacking a human.

My horse was SO aggressive it was nearly pts. I dread to think what would have happened if some of the forum users owned it. I believed in him that he was screaming that something was wrong and there was. He was in chronic pain through a sacro illiac injury. He is pain free now and a different horse completely. He had been whipped for being aggressive and schooled into the ground for having attitude. Amazing what the poor horses will poke up with from humans who won't hear their screaming.
Good on you. Listen to your heart..
 
HA,

Did you not read where I said I do not have all the answers. Take that any way you like but I do not sugar coat life. I'm not arrogant but I will also not dumb myself down to suit anybody.

Horses have been my greatest teachers. You will be learning as you go too. And I don't like making blank statements. There isn't always a reason. Like I said extremely rare. I am aware animals get killed in the wild all the time. You don't want to talk to me arrogantly to you but you can to me. The ability to see other people's views who maybe have slightly more experience is helpful in learning. You don't have to agree with them but a blanket statement that basically says everyone's an idiot but me because it will never be the horses fault reeks of arrogance.

Horses are not all wired the same. Of course many of them can be figured out but if you think with your understanding and patience and obviously extreme gifts you will solve all horse problems, you are actually wrong.

And also as you get older you realise many people have horses they are good with and an odd one they are not good with. A good horseman says, well I know who could help out here. They know other people have skills too and aren't afraid of going to others for advice or help.

It is never one size fits all. They all teach us something and you may want to realise an odd horse is not wired right and will do things that can hurt and kill you.

Your enthusiasm and love for horses is wonderful. Never lose that because it will get you far.

Terri
 
Yas and crystal

I'll send that mare to you if you believe a horse will not ever attack a human because it's a flight animal. I know the reasons why, but silly statement.

You people with all this never mind the know it alls, you really have it all sussed. Quite funny actually.

No offense but I really have had enough of the black stallion syndrome as if you are the only person clever enough to figure out what was wrong with a horse. And where in my posts was it mentioned I put anything down for behavorial issues?

More often than not there is a reason for behavoir. Why you think I was saying otherwise is beyond me. I am saying that was not norm what happened to OP today. Maybe horse was kicking at another horse but maybe he wasn't. Caution needs to be taken and all people with horses in the field need to be aware.

Next thing it's the fluffy bunny brigade waging war on anyone with a different opinion. They no this because in all the world they were the only ones who figured out what was wrong with their horse.

No that's no arrogant in the slightest.

Terri
 
Aggression in animals most of the time stems from fear or pain.

There are nasty horses out there and like I said extremely rare, but they do exist.
Terri

Ditto this. There is usually a reason.

My vet believes that 99.9% of horses with any aggressive behaviour do so through pain or abuse.

Aren't you all in fact agreeing that, although very rare, there may indeed be some horses (which you may not have met/handled/experienced) who may act out of agression? Not sure why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist :p to be honest.

Is it not better to accept that all horses are individuals and it's how we deal with situations that is important?
 
Everyone should take care around horses, that's obvious. Accidents do happen and of course it is best to be cautious even with the softest of horses. Same goes for dogs.There are horrific stories of people getting whiplash and worse injuries where they have kissed their horses head and horse has brought it up violently.

Nothing to do with being fluffy - horsemanship is reading the horse and it's intent and using intuition and your gut feeling when things aren't right.

I still stand by the fact that a viscious horse is indeed a very rare thing indeed!

And incidentally we never stop learning - I would never be as arrogant to think I knew a fraction of what there is to know about anything apart from what food I have in the fridge :D
 
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Aren't you all in fact agreeing that, although very rare, there may indeed be some horses (which you may not have met/handled/experienced) who may act out of agression? Not sure why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist :p to be honest.

Is it not better to accept that all horses are individuals and it's how we deal with situations that is important?

here here :D
 
I had a mare that used to do this, although she would threaten first. I could be quite innocently poo picking and she would wander over and present her backside to me! After growling, shouting, jumping up and down and clapping my hands at her, over several weeks, in the end I threw the rubber feed bowl at her, as hard as I could and caught her on her rump. I had to do this three times and after than she never bothered me again. I did see her do it once more when a visitor was looking over the gate at her and she presented her bottom.

I put it down to guarding her friend. She was a bit grumpy, but she had a difficult childhood. I had young children at the time and had to stop them going into the field to fetch their pony, just in case.
 
I will echo the sentiment in which it is nice to see such enthusiastic young people in horses.

And 20 years from now you will be passing on the wealth of knowledge you will have gathered. Because it's people like you that stick around and make a difference.

Terri
 
I will echo the sentiment in which it is nice to see such enthusiastic young people in horses.

And 20 years from now you will be passing on the wealth of knowledge you will have gathered. Because it's people like you that stick around and make a difference.

Terri

Now just how do you know how old everyone is??? I am no spring chicken for sure :D
 
We have a herd of up to 8 mares depending on how we are arranging them. There is a heirarchy within the herd that obviously can be quite fluid because we are tampering with it throughout the year by removing/introducing mares as we need to. All our mares are well handled and friendly and we do take visitors into the field but we have to keep our wits about us and read what is going on. If we do stroke a mare we have to be aware of where she is in the pecking order and be aware of what the other mares are 'saying'.
This is doubly important when one of our stallions is running with the mares. Yes he is friendly and yes he will let you into the field with them but we are careful not to put ourselves between him and the mares.if you are going to take a mare out we always clip him onto a head collar. If we have visitors into the field we clip him on, the visitors come and stoke him and say things like he is really friendly, he is but we want to keep everybody safe.
We just use common sense and keep our wits about us.
 
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Oh your too enthusiastic and see good everywhere Crystal. You can't be old and jaded! LOL! That's me! LOL!

I was more referring to HA because she really is very passionate and good on her!

Terri
 
TBH i dont care what the reason/excuse is for a horse kicking out at a human, the horse should have enough respect to know that that is NOT allowed.

I actually cant believe that people are making excuses for a horse wandering over and kicking someone.

OP my only advice is to be carefull and send the horse away from you as soon as it looks to be coming in your direction by whatever means seem right to you at the time.

4yr olds have been going into fields with horses for a long long time, accidents sometimes happen but you could also trip in front of a bus one day!
 
Rose tinted glasses? You truly believe that an animal has the capacity to be mean or nasty? No. It is a label someone gives an animal that they do not understand.

Yes i do believe it as ive seen it, we are getting into the nature nurture argument here which has been hotly debated for decades.
You have your opinion, i have mine, we are on different sides of the fence, i have worked with some difficult and challenging horses, some have been "made that way" by poor handling but there have been a few who were nasty wee gits both to humans and other horses for no reason other than they could
Be. I think agression like this can be caused by both nature and nurture but i dont believe you can just disregard the nature aspect of the horse and blame everything on how its been handled.
 
I haven't read all the replies but I do agree a horse cannot be 'nasty' as nasty is a term we use as humans and would mean a horse has given some thought to it's actions and that (in this case) it wants to inflict pain on a person. Horse do not think this way! i imagine the horse in question is higher in the pecking order than the OP's horse and was probably wanting to move the OPs horse out of its way but did not take the OP being there in to account. I have a pony like this - he would NEVER intentionally kick a person but he can get a bit caught up in his temper tantrums and i am always aware to not stand behind him if it's between him an another of our 'gang'. Only this morning i was putting my horse out and pony evidently felt he was a threat to the miniscule amount of hay he had and started reversing, squealing and kicking out (this is what he does!). With him though a quick "Oi, idiot" at him usually is enough to stop him and make him aware you're there.

If this horse is really a problem then I would certainly discuss the behaviour with the owner and come to a decision of how best to sort it. As other posters said as well (and i don't have children). I wouldn't really let a 4 yo in to a field with a herd of horses. My horses are not aggressive in the slightest but they're still half a tonne of unpredictable animal!!
 
Aren't you all in fact agreeing that, although very rare, there may indeed be some horses (which you may not have met/handled/experienced) who may act out of agression? Not sure why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist :p to be honest.

Is it not better to accept that all horses are individuals and it's how we deal with situations that is important?

Couldn't agree more. It's just whether you think it suitable to use moral terms to describe the behaviour - the behaviour is the same whatever you attribute it to.
 
I had this about 3 months ago. In 20yrs I've never been kicked, but it just showed me how complacent I had become. I was in the field just checking my pony's legs when I stood up and was launched forward having been given both barrels by the pony she was in with. I cracked 3 ribs and am subsequently having all sorts of other problems as a result. In a strange sort of way it was the best thing that happened to me. Not sure if that makes any sense.
 
Could you possibly make an electric fenced off enclosure just inside the gate? Would then be safe to leave son in & also somewhere you can take your horse or your son's pony in where the other horse cannot get too close up.

Hope the pain goes down soon x

Did you mean "electric" fence or just "fenced off" area. Hate to think of a 4 yr old child in an electric fenced paddock - OUCHHHH
 
Haven't read whole post but I have a very settled calm herd of 3 ( Horse, yearling and pony)who live at home with us but would NEVER let my boys go into our fields without me or my husband not even to get the football etc.

Just like I do not allow Children and dogs to be left alone together as misunderstandings between species happen.

Agree with someone else half a tonne of unpredictable beast and a child is a total "No "

Also my kids are very aware of electric fence and have seen me get zapped being careless enough times to keep away from it ;0)

I hope you sort out a satisfactory solution for all and agree horses don't have the capacity to be nasty but some are more reactive than others.
 
Good grief!! What an asswipe! Hope you kicked it back?

Glad you're alright. As for horse... get rid.

Only my opinoin :D
 
Did you mean "electric" fence or just "fenced off" area. Hate to think of a 4 yr old child in an electric fenced paddock - OUCHHHH

lol :p meant an enclosure by the gate and obviously the cheapest & quickest way would be to do it with electric fence.

It can always be turned off for entry/exit, etc.......(some people can be too literal! :p )

It always worries me when fields are gated onto a road etc & the handlers have nowhere to sort out stock before exiting the field. its useful even if just to bring one out of a group for its daily check/rug change etc.
Also saves the 'mud mayhem' of getting things back in too in the winter time
 
who has this kind of time ????

I do, because I prefer it to risking injury to horse or human.

I call, the horses come to the gate, I open the gate and let the horses up into the yard one at a time, they go into their own boxes, I close the doors. I put back whoever I don't need, as Wagtail said, in reverse hierarchical order.
When they were in fields further away from the yard so that it would have taken too long to bring them in, there would always be 2 of us, one to hold the boss horse out of the way but blocking any horse which was above the one we needed and one of us to lead the horse we wanted out of the gate.
It is always wise to understand that loose horses tend to be less well-mannered than those which are being held/led.
 
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