My horse is a Bully

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samleigh

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Well long story short I'm hoping to move Livery Yards..

I've had my horse 8mnths, end of Feb a Stallion moved onto our yard and my horse morphed into the field bully, he's in a field with just geldings. He can go a month without incident then he goes ballistic and causes caos in the field, yesterday cutting a fellow pony quite badly. Current YO is considering putting him in a paddock on his own, which i have no complaint, I hate apologising for his behaviour. He's a 9yr old TB.

When I move him he is going in a paddock with a 31yr old dominant Gelding & a mare, I have informed NEW YO that he is a dominant Gelding that he has been brought in on a few occasions and put in a stable for his behaviour..do I rediscuss his behaviour with them after yesterdays incident, I'm worried that at the new yard he'll do some damage and they will think I've not been truthful. They don't have as much land and may not be able to provide solo grazing!
 
I would talk to new YO again, stressing again that he is very dominant, & has hurt other horses before, so that they can either find a small paddock for him or tell u they aren't able to accommodate him, as it would be better not to move than move & be asked to leave.

I have a v dominant mare, she has always been so & every yard she lived on I was up front about this. YO's would invariably say 'oh she'll be fine out with X' who would invariably get kicked by my mare......

In the end (before we able to keep her at home) I brought a weanling, who she LOVED, for her to share with as YO's don't seem to mind 2 horses with same owner in field in their own :)

Obviously this isn't an ideal situation, so in your case I would warn & warn again :)
 
My mare is dominant and she grazes on her own within touch and sight but not kicking distance of other equines. If I watch her she will coo and groom then ears back and buck so the rest of the gang are safer and no fights at bringing in time etc. I woul continue to raise my concerns before yours or another horse is injured.

Bit puzzled as to why time out in his stable is seen as the answer ... he must be totally baffled as the connection would have been lost immediatly after the action.
 
Do you know what triggers his 'ballistic' behaviour? Did anything change on the yard or with his routine prior to yesterday's incident? Eg. less work, more work, trip out somewhere for him or another horse etc. If he can go for a long time without incident that suggests he's not got a consistent bullying character but more likely that something is sparking off his reaction.

If he were mine I would definitely keep him fenced away from others until I understood what was going on with him. I had a livery whose horse could be aggressive but keeping a close watch on him over a couple of weeks we found that bad midge days and slight dips in workload were the cause. Once these were addressed the problems disappeared, although I understand it might not be that simple in all cases.
 
With no mares one gelding has to be top of the pecking order, however if you put him with a mare and gelding the mare should be alpha, but i fear he will attack othe gelding for favour of the mare esp if there is little grass. If it was me i would be very concerned, maybe dont move and put on his own.
 
I absolutely wouldn't put him in with a dominant 31 year old, far too much of a risk for the old boy. The old lad may think he is king of the castle but he may get hurt by the younger gelding. Also it is important (in my mind) that an older horse is left in peace.

I had a dominant gelding, not only did I have to organise his herd but I also had to organise the fields in such a way as to prevent outside influences disturbing the equilibrium. A new horse appearing in the next field would send him off the dial and everyone would get kicked. He would plunge in to a fight not caring if he lived or died.

In the end the secret was just two other horses, his lordship plus one submissive gelding and a submissive mare. Both the other horses knew the score, not even a whisker moved in that field without his say so.
 
Thank you everyone you've confirmed what I thought, will pop and see new YO this evening. I think yesterdays behaviour was down to the Mares being moved into the field next to him, some of which are in season. Other times when they've had to remove him from the field have been when the Stallion
1st appeared, or the mares where moved nr the Stallion..he's now been put in a paddock far far away from outside influences & seems happy in his own company.
 
samleigh said:
Thank you everyone you've confirmed what I thought, will pop and see new YO this evening. I think yesterdays behaviour was down to the Mares being moved into the field next to him, some of which are in season. Other times when they've had to remove him from the field have been when the Stallion
1st appeared, or the mares where moved nr the Stallion..he's now been put in a paddock far far away from outside influences & seems happy in his own company.
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Well, you should definitely tell this ^^ to your new YO as well. Horses that are described as "dominant" are often just rather insecure and worried that something they value is going to be taken from them. This can include food, other horses, access to preferred humans, resting places...

That's why it doesn't happen all the time - only when the horse feels the thing they value is under threat.

It may well be that your horse will be better and more settled in a smaller, more stable group, and that far from being a problem, you may find he settles and is easier to manage. Labelling a horse as "dominant" or a "bully" often stops us seeing what and when causes the behaviour - it's better to look at the behaviour and work out how to manage it.
 
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