:( What the hell was that? Horse attacked other horse hacking

P

poiuytrewq

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 April 2008
Messages
21,498
Location
Cotswolds
Visit site
Little back ground. Horse is a 16yo TB I'v had him on loan for about 6/8 weeks. He's lovely and things have been going really well. He was turned ou with my big grey horse and firdt introductions to everyone at home has been very peaceful, lost big grey last week, since he has been out with my ponies, they are tiny- 10-11.2hh and 18-38 years old, relevant because it shows temprement.

His only down fall is he's not great with big vehicles, this has been acceptable as I hack with another horse and can duck in behind it or alone I stick round the farm more and so don't meet traffic. I knew this before I had him. I know the owners and his long term Y/O well and this horse has been on my radar for years. I've seen it hacking out etc and helped at the yard a bit over winter at no point have I ever heard or seen anything bad about him, the opposite in fact and this has been much my experince.

Halo first slipped a few weeks ago, arranged to hack with a friend from another yard who boxed over and unloaded on the main yard. My horse was tied up and started getting a bt revved as soon as friend unloaded, fair enough i thought, Ziggy used to get a bit excited at visiting horses arriving.
He then started roaring when i got on. friend and i were a bit :oops: and decided to get going. As we walked out of the gate onto the road my initial (as in split second) thought was that mine spooked sideways but all hell broke loose, the noise was mad and he literally chased my friend backwards double barrelling.
I obviously booted him forwards and we both jumped off realising he had got friends poor horse a few times. I just chucked him in the stable where he was totally normal and stoof eating a hay net while we dealt with her horse who was very sore and shocked.
I was mortifield and shocked at this, I paid for a vet to come and check/give pain killers and thank god the horse and my friend were ok.

So I put this down to a one off, decided for some weird reason he had taken a dislike to that horse and although a pain Its deal-able with, we are not on the same yard and rarely hack together so not the very end of the world. I wouldnt ever risk taking him with them again.

So for the past two weeks we have carried on a s normal, he's been out alone a bit as my neightbour who is my most often riding partner hurt her foot but we have ridden together a few times last week and today, skipped yesterday as i felt rough.
Today, she rode onto my yard as normal and I got on and off we went, about 100 yards from home mine started getting a bit fruity seeming and I instantly knew what was coming, yelled at neighbour to "MOVE" but before I knew it he'd gone again, no where near to the same extent and knowing more this time i almost pulled his head off yanking him round to get his arse end away from them. This time i ended up on the road :oops:
Got back on and hacked out as normal, however i have to admit i was then nervy incase it heppened again, so every time his ears pricked and he looked at said horse I'd be booting him on, also realised as we had to pass two other unknown riders on a narrow road that he could just do it to a horse we passed.

I'm gutted, really gutted. I'm glad i got back on him and we had a decent ride but can/should I trust him again? We are not talking a lifted hind or a flick of a back leg to comething thats come too close, he attacked two horses.
The first time was an accident, the second a real shock but a third would be my fault.
What would you do? why would a horse who's been foot perfect at his old address act like this so randomly out of the blue and now with a horse he knows?

I dont want to send him back but my neighbours in her 70's and the height he is kicking is thigh level. I also pass children sometimes etc.
 
I'm sorry that would be a big no from me. a horse attacking another in the field is one thing but a horse doing it under saddle is quite another in my book. If he's perfect in every way and I owned him it may be something with lots of groundwork that could be sorted but for a loan horse I'm afraid I would be sending him back however sad it is.
 
My friends horse was like this. He got me or my horse a couple of times, but I did try not to get that close to him when hacking (the first time we were going through mud, so my horse rushed and ended up too close. He kicked my knee that time and I was very lucky that I escaped with a nasty bruise!).

Was he hacked with others at his last home? He could just be feeling a bit unsettled, it could be the time of year, or anything really, but I don't think you can trust him again. It can be managed (my friend managed hers for years) but do you want the bother?
 
Horse has a screw loose somewhere, and can’t be trusted. If this is new behaviour I’d be thinking brain tumour or some such. You could discuss all this with a vet, but with him being so unpredictable it’s a heck of a chance to take keeping him on.

Anyhow, someone and/or a horse is going to get killed as he is.
 
It would be a PTS job for me. That's just not something you mess about with.

I was on the receiving end of something similar a few weeks ago, not nearly as bad but the horse backed up and double barrelled Rocky and kicked me in the leg. I was very lucky it didn't smash my shin as that's where I had a big old bruise and cut!
 
I've never ever known a horse do this, and utterly out of no where. As i say the first time i put down to a new unknown horse but he and friends bimble along together, hers is a bit looky and often bumps into us and theres never been so much as a flinch.

As I say this wasn't a back leg flick, he reversed purposely at speed into a horse who wasnt even that close.
I guess I'll have to speak to the owners :(
 
I think you also have to think carefully about liability / insurance. As this is now known behavior, if you had to pass someone on a bridleway and there was an issue the insurance might not cover you.
I'd also be nervy that it might escalate to cyclists / dog walkers etc.

It's very unusual if completely out of nowhere and fully out of character - what is he like if you lead a horse close past his stable?

If the owner is genuinely surprised then I would think some sort of brain injury / tumor. I had a mare that having been broken and ridden away sweetly started throwing herself over backwards at us (when long reining) - knocked herself out cold on the metal school gate one time (my friend and I thought she was dead). then eventually got up, shook and reared over again
Vet thought tumor was the cause then.

So sorry for you.
 
poiuytrewq said:
I've never ever known a horse do this, and utterly out of no where. As i say the first time i put down to a new unknown horse but he and friends bimble along together, hers is a bit looky and often bumps into us and theres never been so much as a flinch.

As I say this wasn't a back leg flick, he reversed purposely at speed into a horse who wasnt even that close.
I guess I'll have to speak to the owners :(
Click to expand...
if this is new, I'd very much separate him from the ponies. if he were mine, he would be on a one way ticket, sorry x
 
Polos Mum said:
I think you also have to think carefully about liability / insurance. As this is now known behavior, if you had to pass someone on a bridleway and there was an issue the insurance might not cover you.
I'd also be nervy that it might escalate to cyclists / dog walkers etc.

It's very unusual if completely out of nowhere and fully out of character - what is he like if you lead a horse close past his stable?

If the owner is genuinely surprised then I would think some sort of brain injury / tumor. I had a mare that having been broken and ridden away sweetly started throwing herself over backwards at us (when long reining) - knocked herself out cold on the metal school gate one time (my friend and I thought she was dead). then eventually got up, shook and reared over again
Vet thought tumor was the cause then.

So sorry for you.
Click to expand...
This is my fear, later in the ride we passed two riders and It then struck me that they were closer even with us all in single file than my neighbours horse had been 5 minutes previously.
 
If this is completely new behaviour then I would suggest it’s illness related unfortunately. Random question though - were both horses your horse attacked the same colour? Only because my old pony (13.2 chestnut mare w. attitude) hated grey ponies (darker grey only, lighter grey/white did not give the same reaction) She very much wanted to kill the other pony and was stopped by a RI shouting at her (and me!) and I was big enough to stop her but we had to be very careful about bringing in the same area and I have no doubt she would have been double barrelling if grey had been behind instead of in front. That said, this was a stroppy mare not a usually quiet gelding. You have my sympathy as that’s a very difficult situation to be in.
 
poiuytrewq said:
Yes, beautifully i hear, and that's from a third party who borrowed him to hunt for a season a few years ago.
Click to expand...
It's so interesting. I've known of a few hunt horses who were impeccably behaved on the field. But once they retired wouldn't tolerate another horse close to them. For some I think it may almost be a form of PTSD.
 
IrishMilo said:
It would be a PTS job for me. That's just not something you mess about with.

I was on the receiving end of something similar a few weeks ago, not nearly as bad but the horse backed up and double barrelled Rocky and kicked me in the leg. I was very lucky it didn't smash my shin as that's where I had a big old bruise and cut!
Click to expand...
This.
There are just some things that are at the limit and this horse could seriously injure or kill someone.
You could spend a lot of time and money investigating/ managing this but it is life consuming.
I’ve come across 2 similar to this and both were PTS in the end. Fairly sure it was pain related but getting to the bottom of it was impossible
 
It would be going back. Sorry to say that I couldn’t have a horse that would do that. I got a compound fracture of my shin from a horse running backwards firing with both barrels and shod. I wouldn’t knowingly inflict a horse such as that on anyone.

Faran prefers his personal space, he is fine with horses he knows but in arenas and warm ups if a horse passes too close you know it. His stems from being knocked over as a foal. However the more we do in company the better he gets. He doesn’t chase after other horses to get them though. He just pulls faces and dances with the tail swishing.

I just couldn’t forgive myself if he did what yours is doing and a horse had to be PTS 😓
 
I knew a horse that would do this, and in some way it was related to being at home rather than out. She would kick at others on the yard, and once ran backwards the whole length of the yard to boot my horse - they were tied a long distance apart. She would also do it on a hack near home, just as we approached the yard entrance. But not for the rest of the hack. I didn't then and still don't understand why - a territorial thing, a mare thing, goodness knows. She felt threatened on/near the yard (even a long way from a horse) but not when quite close out hacking? She wasn't mine, and I don't think I could have tolerated having one like it - a couple of times she did real damage. And I don't think that mindset can be changed, in this case at least she was mighty determined once that 'thing' was in her head.

Sorry OP, sounds like a real shame.
 
Coblet is a miserable git in the field and will occasionally snake a neck and raise a front leg to another horse that comes a bit too close by his feed bucket or a pile of hay, but that comes from years of being kept poor and hungry so is largely resource guarding. he's also very protective of my daughter and I whilst we in the field also and doesn't like his field mates to come too close! But when he was under saddle, horses could ride close by and even bump into him without so much as an flattened ear.
 
poiuytrewq said:
Little back ground. Horse is a 16yo TB I'v had him on loan for about 6/8 weeks. He's lovely and things have been going really well. He was turned ou with my big grey horse and firdt introductions to everyone at home has been very peaceful, lost big grey last week, since he has been out with my ponies, they are tiny- 10-11.2hh and 18-38 years old, relevant because it shows temprement.

His only down fall is he's not great with big vehicles, this has been acceptable as I hack with another horse and can duck in behind it or alone I stick round the farm more and so don't meet traffic. I knew this before I had him. I know the owners and his long term Y/O well and this horse has been on my radar for years. I've seen it hacking out etc and helped at the yard a bit over winter at no point have I ever heard or seen anything bad about him, the opposite in fact and this has been much my experince.

Halo first slipped a few weeks ago, arranged to hack with a friend from another yard who boxed over and unloaded on the main yard. My horse was tied up and started getting a bt revved as soon as friend unloaded, fair enough i thought, Ziggy used to get a bit excited at visiting horses arriving.
He then started roaring when i got on. friend and i were a bit :oops: and decided to get going. As we walked out of the gate onto the road my initial (as in split second) thought was that mine spooked sideways but all hell broke loose, the noise was mad and he literally chased my friend backwards double barrelling.
I obviously booted him forwards and we both jumped off realising he had got friends poor horse a few times. I just chucked him in the stable where he was totally normal and stoof eating a hay net while we dealt with her horse who was very sore and shocked.
I was mortifield and shocked at this, I paid for a vet to come and check/give pain killers and thank god the horse and my friend were ok.

So I put this down to a one off, decided for some weird reason he had taken a dislike to that horse and although a pain Its deal-able with, we are not on the same yard and rarely hack together so not the very end of the world. I wouldnt ever risk taking him with them again.

So for the past two weeks we have carried on a s normal, he's been out alone a bit as my neightbour who is my most often riding partner hurt her foot but we have ridden together a few times last week and today, skipped yesterday as i felt rough.
Today, she rode onto my yard as normal and I got on and off we went, about 100 yards from home mine started getting a bit fruity seeming and I instantly knew what was coming, yelled at neighbour to "MOVE" but before I knew it he'd gone again, no where near to the same extent and knowing more this time i almost pulled his head off yanking him round to get his arse end away from them. This time i ended up on the road :oops:
Got back on and hacked out as normal, however i have to admit i was then nervy incase it heppened again, so every time his ears pricked and he looked at said horse I'd be booting him on, also realised as we had to pass two other unknown riders on a narrow road that he could just do it to a horse we passed.

I'm gutted, really gutted. I'm glad i got back on him and we had a decent ride but can/should I trust him again? We are not talking a lifted hind or a flick of a back leg to comething thats come too close, he attacked two horses.
The first time was an accident, the second a real shock but a third would be my fault.
What would you do? why would a horse who's been foot perfect at his old address act like this so randomly out of the blue and now with a horse he knows?

I dont want to send him back but my neighbours in her 70's and the height he is kicking is thigh level. I also pass children sometimes etc.
Click to expand...
Ooooh, that’s nasty, I don’t think you should risk being responsible for this horse or keeping it on site any longer. The first assault wasn’t by accident - he went for your friend’s horse - and yes, could make mincemeat of your tinies /other hacking buddies / third parties/ you & yours. I’m sure your insurance will be compromised now this is fully known, even if you never discover why.
It is nothing like stallion-testiness, certainly not in an established riding stallion of his age and experience.
I did know of a similar sounding case, ex county show hunter, made several out of character assaults and finally went berserk, bolting, and wrapping himself round some school safety railings.
He was PM’d, something had ‘burst’ in his brain, either an abscess or a tumour I think. The rider had hurled herself off (thankfully), with some broken bones.
But - the school kids could have been heading home, today there’d be traffic everywhere - aggressive, unpredictable behaviour is just not worth it, whatever is affecting your horse.
Send him home, PTS, sorry to say.
 
poiuytrewq said:
This is my fear, later in the ride we passed two riders and It then struck me that they were closer even with us all in single file than my neighbours horse had been 5 minutes previously.
Click to expand...

Yup, and if my horse got hurt and I found out you knew he could do this I would sue the arse off you for vets fees, pain and suffering etc. But mainly, how would you live with yourself if he hurt someone or killed their horse? My sisters unshod section A kicked her trak mare and broke her leg, so it can be done so easily.
 
Different colours - The first a big black the second a little chestnut.

I did suggset pain but fiend just pointed out wouldnt he just fire me or run off or something rather than go out of his way to attack. Anyhow with all I've just been through withbthe other horse investigation wise etc I'm not able to start another goose chase. I've only had him weeks, I can't emotinally deal with another going wrong right now, but even more I cant deal with injuring someone so I'm bowing out.

I'm so sad. This time a fortnight ago I had two horses actually in work at home. In the space of a week there will be none. I've just offered to go out on foot with my neighbour tomorrow as she doesnt ride alone and is in the same situ as me- horses kept at home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top