What comes first nerves or naughtiness?!

poiuytrewq

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I have a horse, I like him- no one else does!
When we were on livery I used to get stories of him attacking people and being very aggressive when they tried to get their horses out of the field. I admit I didn't really believe it, he is fine with me, a little highly strung at times but never ever nasty. I used to go out with them and watch but he never did anything with me around.
Then a friend had him and had similar reports off people, again she didn't believe it (we only just discussed this recently and found we both had similar stories)
Now he's in my own private field with my other horse, daughters pony and his Shetland companion. All has been great bar the odd report of aggression by my other half who is clearly a little scared of him.
More recently though I notice my daughter is becoming worried by him and this worries me!
It seems he is naughty with nervous people and this will be shown with aggression which in turn causes fear and so on, like a vicious circle.
I tell my daughter and o/h not to be scared and if they act confidently around him he will be absolutely fine but I understand this is easy for me to say.
I don't really understand why this is happening. He's never in 6 years bitten or even tried to nip me or kicked me but he can be really nasty to other people (that said id not trust him 100% as in he's not one id stand directly behind whilst he sniffed another horse!)
Anything I can do?
 
Strikes me he's a bit of a bully and can suss out who he can bully and who he can't. My horse can be like this, a complete gentleman with me and anyone who is confident and competent but can be a bit nasty if he thinks he can get away with it. I just keep nervous/novice people away from him for his and their good!
 
Clever little devils! I took him to work with me once at a yard and he was the most angelic horse out- I guess the only people who handled him there are super confident and he knew not to push it!
On the plus side I don't think anyone could steal him or one of the others as he'd try and intimidate them.
Seriously its a pain though as I haven't been away for ages due to the fact I don't like to leave him with anyone, just in case.
 
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