What would you class as dangerous?

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I have just seen an ad for a horse on part loan which said the horse could be a bit silly when you first get on but ok if lunged first and not dangerous. Just interested what different people would class as dangerous and how different peoples interpretations are?
 
I'd consider it to mean behaviour that was either very severe or inconsistent. If a horse always displays the same dangerous behaviour in the same situation, you can deal with it, or work round it; for me the most dangerous horse is one that behaves unpredictably.
 
An animal with no regard for its own safety or that of its rider/handler. If it bolts, rears vertical, serial bucking with the intention of actually wanting to deck it's rider or displaying any aggression on the ground.
 
vieshot said:
An animal with no regard for its own safety or that of its rider/handler. If it bolts, rears vertical, serial bucking with the intention of actually wanting to deck it's rider or displaying any aggression on the ground.
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I used to ride one with no sense of self preservation. Used to spook at literally nothing and just turn and run into the road, or up a near vertical bank. Something wrong in her head for sure.
 
My old mare was dangerous when I got her. Couldn't go into the stable with her she would do everything to hurt you & she meant it! Even when tied up she would charge double barrel do anything to attack you I couldnt get near her back legs without her kicking out until she made contact or I moved out of her space
She got so much better until she was just a moody mare but as a comparison I went from brushing her back legs with a brush screwed to a long wooden pole to sitting on the floor brushing her legs

for her It was all about self preservation & her space
I still have the scars as reminders
 
Any horse or pony that will unpredictably behave in a manner likely to cause injury to its rider or handler. so bolters, rearers, aggressive attacks when loose or in a stable.
I consider my butter wouldnt melt 90% of the time gelding as dangerous as he unpredictably attacks you, feet and teeth, in his field sweet and fussy one minute knocking you out and biting hard a second later. As such he is carefully managed and will be PTS if I cant take care of him or his behaviour escalates. Meantime he is secure from passers by and unaware visitors
 
For me a dangerous horse covers varies things;

When ridden after all checks have been done to rule out anything, serial rearer or bolter.

On the ground anything that basically tries to kill you and again a bolter after escaping field and a complete escape artists that cant be kept in unless its Alcatraz
 
Theocat said:
I'd consider it to mean behaviour that was either very severe or inconsistent. If a horse always displays the same dangerous behaviour in the same situation, you can deal with it, or work round it; for me the most dangerous horse is one that behaves unpredictably.
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This exactly. I've only ever known one horse like this, and it was terrifying as in between his dangerous moments he didn't put a foot wrong, you never knew when it was coming or what if anything would set it off. Fortunately he was pts before he seriously hurt anyone.
 
I think as others have said all horses can be dangerous in the wrong hands or if the mood takes them.

I have sometimes described my mares previous behaviour as verging on dangerous although maybe that is too extreme for what she was. She was extremely nappy, explosive and reactive to everything and anything. As I could only hack her on the roads this made the behaviour more dangerous to the people around her. She would buck, bronc, spin and take off, reverse into things (an ambulance once!), leap and generally throw herself around. Even with someone on the ground leading her she was extremely difficult, would strike out, walk through you, kick etc.

She was more then I could manage but someone else may not have found her a problem.

A truly dangerous horse (which I don't believe mine is/was) that really means to hurt, is aggressive or has extreme ridden behaviour should IMO be PTS unless they can be safely retired in a field.
 
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unpredictability, trying to hurt you/ get you off and lack of self preservation.

I actually have a serial rearer - he's not dangerous at all (IMHO) he goes up as he's evasion to pressure, he goes up pretty high (judging by the shocked faces of people who witness him doing it), but he's balanced, calm, he knows how far he can go and never feels out of control/ like he might go over, I fallen off him twice in five years and sat through 1000's of rears in that time - I now know (most of the time) his triggers and can work round them rather than pushing him to the point of a tantrum and he knows there isn;t much point in doing it as it doesn't get him out of doing what I'm asking!!
 
Something that has no self preservation for its own safety... True bolters and not just 'runners', anything that will go over backwards and an Animal that will savage its handler. GT has been described as dangerous before as he is/was a notorious runner but he is never going to hurt himself or go into walls or through fences. We had a breaker on the other hand a few years back who still haunts us, he was a true bolter and would go through fences and in to walls so yes I would deem him as dangerous. It's all a matter of perception and a riders ability to cope.

My dangerous funnily enough is different to my sisters and again to my mums :)
 
Would you say that my mare is dangerous then. She bolts on hacks with no warning she goes tense stops spins and bolts and is impossible to stop. I think it depends on the horse and rider a very experienced rider on a hard to ride horse might not be dangerous but a novice on a hard to ride horse would make the horse dangerous.
 
Any horse can be "made" dangerous through bad or inept handling, but the one that really got me was the one that was born dangerous. I have worked with lots of foals, but with this one you started from page one every day. He had an overdeveloped flight response to the point he would end up richochating of the yard rails with no sense of his own safety.

I had him euthanized at six months of age, as there was just no going forward with him and he was always going to be dangerous. It was a sad outcome, but there was no way I was going to pass the problem on to someone else and an unhandlable horse is just not something I was prepared to keep.

A number of years ago I had a bit to do with a stallion that had a reputation as being "dangerous". Sadly he had been kept as many stallions are in complete isolation, and as a show horse he had been hit just once to often. He would come at you teeth bared just incase you were going to get him. The solution was a water pistol and company. The water pistol, for when he overstepped the line and plenty of paddock time where he could see other horses. We also found out that he hated being stabled ( to the point of stress colic) so once he got treated like a horse, he behaved like one. Happy ending there.
 
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For me it is the ones who do something for no reason or have no self preservation whatsoever.
I used to ride this really sweet little ID, she was small and rather athletic for a purebred ID. She could jump, do beautiful flatwork, a joy on the ground, but she would for absolutely no reason go bolt upright. We got told to leave a showing class because she kept going up and the judge told is she was dangerous. (fair point!)
Another one was one we were trying to break, all fine, for example leaning over her and you would be like that for a minute and she would be relaxed, then 'Bam' everyone around her would be scattered. Scary stuff!
I always think that if you have a horse that looks after itself (without aggression) you can pretty much do ok, it is the ones that would run 'through' fences instead of trying to jump them, or throw themselves into traffic that I just couldn't live with these days.
 
surreygirl17 said:
I used to ride one with no sense of self preservation. Used to spook at literally nothing and just turn and run into the road, or up a near vertical bank. Something wrong in her head for sure.
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This is totally what our horse did. He's spin into cars and when I banned him from the road he'd throw himself on the floor shaking. His eyes were the problem. He's happy again now.

We had two at work I'd consider dangerous both gone thank god. One would just fly at you across the box with teeth feet anything. I found out he was with us having been chucked out of his old yard for breaking someone's legs attacking them! Horrible horse!
The other was beautiful because I didn't have to ride it! I often wondered If he'd be ok with me as we built up a real friendship and I was able to do anything with him whereas others couldn't even catch him in the stable. He used to rear but whilst up sort of leap up and flip backwards at speed- it wasn't just over balancing it looked a very careful move but lethal! (Hence the reason I never got on!)
 
depends as much on the rider and situation as the horse TBH.
CS rears and really means it and will keep going up until forced to stop....but he doesnt scare me and we work round it/with it/in spite of it so for me he isnt a danger.

He probably would be with someone more easily upset or less determined though as he would escalate it.

Equally i ride a pony for someone who is VERY food aggressive and hard to catch. He's ok with us because we know the routine and know how to get round him but for a novice or someone easily intimidated he would attack them no question.

I know a lot of very top competition horses that would dangerous if kept on a basic DIY yard and surrounded by loads of different people of different skill levels but are fine on a secluded yard of very experienced people who will overlook it for the talent under saddle.

All it often needs is the right owner/rider to allow the horse to gel better an then they are just quirky rather than dangeous but it works the other way round too.
 
Depends who describes it. Compared to many ponies she's ridden, daughter's horse is a dream to ride but was described by a previous owner as 'dangerous, very spooky, frightened of own shadow and totally unsuitable for a 14 year old to ride'. Said horse takes confidence from a confident daughter who is used to dealing with naughty nappy ponies (often asked to ride them for other people), she just isn't spooky for daughter and compared to her rather enthusiastic NF is lovely to ride so much easier works in an outline rather than hauling on the forehand with and stops at first time of asking rather than a haul on the brakes, only slight issue if not ridden regularly is getting her out of field as she's reluctant to leave field mates so can pull away when led but daughter now rides her out and stand no nonsense sits any little bucks and bunny hops which get less each time because she knows daughter will stand no nonsense.
 
I would agree with most of the other posters here who have said a horse which has no regard for it's own safety, is unpredictable or viscous towards people, I would class as dangerous.

I have only met a couple of truly dangerous horses. One was on a yard I worked at, who was unpredictable to handle and so dangerous to ride he was totally unrideable in the end. He would attack the person leading him, he would attack you in the field, he was very aggressive to other horses and would rear over backwards. He caused himself permanent damage and broke several bones of his owner. His owner preserved a lot longer than most would have but unfortunately his end was always going to be the same and he was pts before he caused himself or anyone else any more injuries :(.

The problems which caused his issues were never really discovered and it was the unpredictability of him that was so dangerous, as it was so easy to become complacent when they behave well for x amount of time.

I think Topaz would be a good example of a horse that could have been classed as dangerous in the wrong hands. She is incredibly sensitive and so will over-react and explode if situations become too much for her. We understood her that she wasn't being 'nasty' but just couldn't cope with the situation, so we have spent a long time slowly taking her out and expanding her comfort zones.
The only time she was really very dangerous was when I attempted to hunt her and she bolted. However it wasn't a bolt for no reason, and we have worked with her, so that we managed 2 years after that first attempt, to take her out with the hounds and she could cope :) which meant that she was beautifully behaved all ride.

All horses have the capacity to be dangerous and to cause life altering injuries and I don't think we should ever really forget that, but I don't think there are actually that many horses that cannot be handled safely but more that have become dangerous due to how they have been handled, if you know what I mean.
 
I have a horse that rears and boxes that i dont think is dangerous if you know he does it. Its when he can go months with out any problems. Then all of a sudden he explodes no reason just because he can that is far more dangerous imo.
 
On individual horses, I think the best example I've had recently was a girl asking if it was okay to wear a gumshield when competing at higher levels of dressage. Simple me asks why on earth she'd need a gumshield, so the girl explains how her horse rears often and throws its head back and hits her in the face, so she's started to worry about her teeth and thinks a gum shield would make her feel safer! I couldn't answer that one so I kept quiet, but other people were very helpful in telling her what gumshield she could buy and helping her check rules. So that's how I learned there's no rules against gumshields in dressage.
 
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