Scary incident yesterday

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CaraT

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I am fairly new here and was hoping that someone could give me some words of wisdom please after a particularly nasty incident yesterday evening.

For the past two years a friend has been keeping her 15.2hh 4yo Friesian gelding at mine and he is turned out with my youngster (also a gelding). There have been no problems at all with her horse except he did go through a stage of nipping which he seemed to have grown out of.

Yesterday, I went into their field to check the water trough (which is in the corner) and the horses were grazing nearby. My gelding wandered over to me, followed by my friend's horse who suddenly started jostling for attention and out of nowhere bit me on the top of my arm. He clamped down really hard with his teeth; I couldn't get him off so I slapped him on the shoulder. He let go and then lunged towards me, pinned me against the fence, reared and started boxing with his forelegs. I was absolutely terrified as I was convinced at one point that he was going to come down on top of me (I had a hat on luckily). I tried to shoo him away and he jumped backwards so I scrambled through the fence and as I did so he spun round and double barrelled, just missing my head, and continued to kick out until he had smashed down the bottom rung of the post and rail fence.

I have never seen him behave like this before. As I made my way around the outside of the field he kept trying to get at me through the fence. He then proceeded to hurtle round the paddock, lashing out at my horse with his ears pinned back and his teeth bared. I called my friend immediately and she came straight over by which point her horse was trying to jump the gate :eek:

I have a whacking great bruise on my arm and I still feel quite shaken up. What on earth could have caused this? It was completely out of the blue. I've been in and out of that field countless times before and he's never done anything aggressive.

Today I turned my gelding out with my two veteran mares. I have told my friend I'd like her horse to be kept separately as I don't feel I can risk having to go into a field with him there. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?
 
How awful. For such a rapid and violent change in him I would want vet to check for neurological issues.
 
It's incredibly scary when something like that happens out of the blue, I really hope you are ok!
I had a lovely laid back gelding chase me and try to double barrel me once because the mares were in season and it scared me senseless, I was terrified to go back into the field with him for a long time after that and terrified to go into a field of horses I didn't know when I had my horse at my old yard 10 years on :(
I hope your friend finds out why he did it and that it gets sorted soon!
 
Yes, I think so. Even though ours is a stable herd kept at home, I am always careful about going into the field and make sure that I have an 'escape route'. I never offer treats in the field.
So I might not have gone into the field but if I had I would not have expected that kind of behaviour. It does sound very strange and if I were his owner, I would want to get to the bottom of this sudden change in behaviour but that is not your concern OP, yours is to decide whether you want this horse on your land and if you do under what conditions.
I do hope your injury heals soon, it must have all been very frightening.
 
Dear OP
How terrifying. I have personal experience of this type of behaviour. You are very wise to ask for it to be moved to another field, or move yours.
Because I have experienced this, I never go into a field except my small ponies, without a stick. Infact, I rarely go into a stable with a strange horse, even if their owner's there!!
 
There was a Friesian mare livery at the riding stables where I lived and she used to attack people (including me, luckily she was tied and I was near her head, she was kicking out with her back feet like crazy), she ended up putting a child in hospital, horrible horse. I heard there is a line of Friesians in the UK that are a bit nuts and dangerous, wonder if he is one of them!
 
Were you wearing perfume or different deodarant or anything like that?
Is he definitely gelded properly no chance of being a rig?

But yes keep him separate for now. I agree i would want vet check and bloods- it could be a neuro problem eg tumor.
 
Sounds like he was being possessive over you touching your own horse or about your own horse getting attention.

Horrible for you.

Could he be a rig? 4yo, approaching maturity, that kind of thing?
For him to carry on after you got out of the field is beyond normal.

I'd stay away until your friend can get to the bottom of what the cause is.
 
Thank you for the replies! I agree that a vet should have a look at him, my friend did say today that she was going to get him checked over so I hope she will go ahead and do this.

I still can't get my head around what happened. Clearly something is very wrong for such a sudden change in behaviour. :confused:

Dogrose - that is very interesting about the line of Friesians that you mentioned. I'm going to try to find out a bit more about that.
 
how old is the gelding?

mine developed odd behaviour about 9 months before he was pts from something neurological. he went from being totally mild mannered to one day he trampled my friend in the field and grew insanely attached to one of her geldings and would go mental if she was seeing to him.

this behaviour did stop after she gave him back to me in the oct, and he was totally placid, but then developed serious neuro issues the last week im may last year.

he was 15.
 
If it were my place I'd ask my friend to move the horse to a different yard altogether. Lets face it he could have killed you. And what did you do 'wrong' ? Simply walk into a field. It's just not worth the hassle. What if he does jump the gate next time? Increasingly likely if he is alone in the field. Very very scary situation, and one I'm sure you don't want a repeat of!
 
Are there any mares in season at the yard, or has a new mare arrived? This behaviour could be dominance caused by in season mares. I have seen it before in a gelding. In that case, a new mare had arrived in a separate paddock and come into season The gelding seriously attacked his field companion that he had been with for ages and has had to be kept separated. Do not go into the field again - you could have been killed.
 
Gosh that is very scary to read CaraT. thank goodness you were wearing a hat. Agree with all those who say dont go in the field with that horse again and TBH moving him to another yard sounds a good idea as if he can jump fences there is no saying he won't do that and chase you or someone else, elsewhere on the yard. Glad you are OK.
 
It is not a matter of jealously it is a matter of him being the boss. Your horse came to you and he didn't like this so he reacted as a boss horse would if a member of his herd is going to be taken.

I would certainly go into the field with a good quality lunge whip and by golly, teddy and dolly, he would get such a larruping he would nt want to come near me with bossy thoughts in his head.

This horse is obviously needs some lessons in manners, odds on he is bargey and undisciplined in the stable.

I do not care if there are changes in hormones or someone is wearing a perfume called 'Eu de la Cheval' he has no right to attack.
 
Foxhunter49 said:
It is not a matter of jealously it is a matter of him being the boss. Your horse came to you and he didn't like this so he reacted as a boss horse would if a member of his herd is going to be taken.

I would certainly go into the field with a good quality lunge whip and by golly, teddy and dolly, he would get such a larruping he would nt want to come near me with bossy thoughts in his head.

This horse is obviously needs some lessons in manners, odds on he is bargey and undisciplined in the stable.

I do not care if there are changes in hormones or someone is wearing a perfume called 'Eu de la Cheval' he has no right to attack.
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Agree with fox hunter.

A big horse like him cannot be allowed to rampage around like that!
 
Foxhunter I'm afraid I have to disagree.

OP DO NOT go into the field and beat this horse with a lunge whip. There's a world of difference between a bit bargy, and something seriously attacking you.
 
Patterdale said:
Foxhunter I'm afraid I have to disagree.

OP DO NOT go into the field and beat this horse with a lunge whip. There's a world of difference between a bit bargy, and something seriously attacking you.
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This ^^

Some horses will just react worse to being hit even if to discipline and you are putting yourself in danger !!

Allow the owner to deal with her own horse and until its sorted i would steer clear from said horse and field. Dont turn yours out with him as you are just asking for trouble

Glad you are okay though, must have scary :( x
 
Jesus wish I hadn't read this now, I was terrified walking through a field with two horses in yesterday, the followed me everywhere! I have to do it every day :(
 
I know she's your friend but... Its not your horse, not your responsability. I would ask her to move it asap. It's seriously dangerous behaviour that horse was displaying to you and like the other posts where would you have gone if it had manged to jump the gate? Its up th the owner to sort this problem out. Hope your arm feels a bit better.
 
If I absolutely had to go into the field I would carry a whip just in case, but I wouldn't just go in and wallop it, mainly because its not her horse! It sounds riggy to me.
 
I think it is a bit extreme to ask your friend to move the horse immediately but I would certainly insist she had it checked out by a vet as this is not normal behaviour.

Keep your horse separate and make a decision on moving it once the vet has been.

What is the horse like usually in field/stable/being worked?

Hope you are feeling better soon.:)
 
A stick or lunge whip will probably antagonise it more. I just wouldn't go in to it anymore and I'm afraid if it were in my field it would have to go as I wouldn't want to give it another chance to get me!

If you absolutely have to go in with him I probably would take a whip or piece of blue pipe if you have some just incase, but much safer not to enter in the first place. If it was a bull you wouldn't even think about it, and a horse could do nearly as much damage!

I have been attacked and knocked down by a home bred crabby mare. She only did it once in her lifetime, but it was terrifying. If you doubt what an attacking horse can do look on the "Buck - the real horse whisperer" thread on here. There's a link on about page 8 or 9 to a video on YouTube of a (albeit nutty) stallion attacking a man. There's no contest.
 
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How awful. Something similar happened to my mum few years ago, she had a horse on lwvtb of a friend.

We had this horse a few weeks & he had been perfect he was turned out with a couple of others, but we went out daily poo picking etc with him no problems at all.

One day mum went out into the field like she had done everyday since having him & while she was in the corner of this field he came over & suddenly turned into a different horse. He double barreled her in the back, but before he done anymore damage to her she managed to get herself through the fence. We didn't give it a second thought the horse went straight back & it turned out he was a rig :(
 
How terrifying for you. If I were you I wouldn't be going anywhere near him and insist your friend gets him checked out ASAP. Next time it could be worse.
 
We've got a young mare in with ours, who's very unpredictable, and occasionally attacks. I'd definitely not advise showing this horse a whip, or even throwing clods of mud at him. Our problem mare just comes back at you ten times worse if you go for her, so it's not worth the risk.

I don't really know what to suggest, in fact I'll be watching this thread for advice myself.
 
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