Would you class her as dangerous?

LaurenBay

LaurenBay

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My yard friends and I recently had a conversation after reading a post on the HHO Facebook page, regarding a dangerous Horse.

We were talking about what we would class as a dangerous Horse and it got me thinking about my Horse. So I would be interested in hearing your views. I am very on the fence to be honest.

Ridden wise she is lovely, no issues there. However she can turn nasty on the ground. Most of the time she is a poppet, but when it comes to something she doesn't want to do, she will kick, and what's worse is she will back up into you and kick. I've had a few near misses, she has kicked another lady though who was trying to straighten out her rug (luckily she wasn't too hurt)

Mainly the problems arise when bringing in (she doesn't want to come in) and when on the lunge (When she has had enough)

Curious to see what you think.
 
LaurenBay said:
My yard friends and I recently had a conversation after reading a post on the HHO Facebook page, regarding a dangerous Horse.

We were talking about what we would class as a dangerous Horse and it got me thinking about my Horse. So I would be interested in hearing your views. I am very on the fence to be honest.

Ridden wise she is lovely, no issues there. However she can turn nasty on the ground. Most of the time she is a poppet, but when it comes to something she doesn't want to do, she will kick, and what's worse is she will back up into you and kick. I've had a few near misses, she has kicked another lady though who was trying to straighten out her rug (luckily she wasn't too hurt)

Mainly the problems arise when bringing in (she doesn't want to come in) and when on the lunge (When she has had enough)

Curious to see what you think.
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I'm afraid I would not tolerate that behaviour from any horse. What do you do when she displays the behaviour? What have you done in terms of ground training with her? She obviously does not respect humans for whatever reason.
 
I'm with Wagtail. There are a lot of ways of impressing on her you are leader without adding fear to the mix, you don't have to be a bully to be a leader but she has to respect people who don't mean her any harm.
 
Not something I'd put up with, but if you're happy to manage her and don't expect other people to deal with it then fair enough. If I had something like that I certainly wouldn't be letting anyone else risk getting kicked, it's never very pleasant getting knocked about by horses, worse still when it's someone elses.
 
Personally I think this behaviour is completely unacceptable. you've had a few "near misses" and she's actually kicked someone who was straightening her rug. what about if she had caught the woman on the head and left her dead or brain injured? Can you guarantee that you will continue to have "near misses"? We all know that horses are unpredictable and we take some risk when we handle and ride them but it strikes me that your horse is predictable, ask her to do something she doesn't want to do and you risk getting kicked. Sorry, this is a problem that needs dealing with and although you may be prepared to take the risk, you certainly shouldn't be asking anyone else to take it
 
Reminds me of many years ago we knew this chap who was conned into buying a horse. It must have been doped when he saw it first as it soon showed itself as a downright unpleasant and spiteful animal. The first yard he put it in asked him to remove it after two weeks as it had been terrorising the other horses in the field and they all huddled together at the opposite end of the field trembling in fear. The guy tried to ride it and it threw him off and actually reared up on him, tipping him off backwards once, then turned round to try and stamp on him. He took it to another yard and was again told to remove it. Eventually he was forced to have it destroyed. They thought it actually derived pleasure from terrorising other horses.

They are just like people in a way and you will occasionally get "bad one". This one defintiely exhibited psychopathic tendencies. If it were human it would have been a serial killer or sadist or something.
 
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Wagtail said:
I'm afraid I would not tolerate that behaviour from any horse.
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^^^ that, although I'd class it as extremely bad-mannered and in need of sorting out rather than dangerous in itself. The situations that you are putting yourself and others in because you have not dealt with it are dangerous.
 
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She is very well mannered on the ground apart from the above. Keeps out of my space, leads well etc. I can do anything with her and I trust her.

In the winter she comes to call, as soon as it warms up she doesn't want to come in, she won't run away, but will turn her bum on you with her ears flat back. The first time she did this I swung the leadrope at her bum to send her on, that is when she kicked. I've taken a whip with me too and she will kick and back up.

What I do is walk in a big circle around her, she will constantly move so her bum is to you, after about a minute she will walk to me and let me catch her. This is been going on for 3 years.

Once headcollar is on she is a sweetheart and won't put a foot out of line.
 
Personally I think you have an accident waiting to happen.........

It may be possible to correct but you need specialist horse behaviourist advice.
 
LaurenBay said:
She is very well mannered on the ground apart from the above. Keeps out of my space, leads well etc. I can do anything with her and I trust her.

In the winter she comes to call, as soon as it warms up she doesn't want to come in, she won't run away, but will turn her bum on you with her ears flat back. The first time she did this I swung the leadrope at her bum to send her on, that is when she kicked. I've taken a whip with me too and she will kick and back up.

What I do is walk in a big circle around her, she will constantly move so her bum is to you, after about a minute she will walk to me and let me catch her. This is been going on for 3 years.

Once headcollar is on she is a sweetheart and won't put a foot out of line.
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I once had a livery horse do that thing in the field when she didn't want to be caught. It was horrible and very scary. She would place herself next to the fence and then just keep doing a turn on the forehand whenever you tried to go to her head and kick out at you. The way I cured her was to go and get the lunge whip as I could use it on her but be a safe distance away from her back feet. I would then just keep driving her, all over the field, never letting her get her head down (it was knackering!). When she started licking and chewing I would go and catch her. I only had to do this on two occasions to completely cure her. Horse was 20 years old and had done it as long as her owner could remember.
 
Wagtail said:
I once had a livery horse do that thing in the field when she didn't want to be caught. It was horrible and very scary. She would place herself next to the fence and then just keep doing a turn on the forehand whenever you tried to go to her head and kick out at you. The way I cured her was to go and get the lunge whip as I could use it on her but be a safe distance away from her back feet. I would then just keep driving her, all over the field, never letting her get her head down (it was knackering!). When she started licking and chewing I would go and catch her. I only had to do this on two occasions to completely cure her. Horse was 20 years old and had done it as long as her owner could remember.
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This is how I cured our non catcher it took a few times and was exhausting .
 
I am the only one that deals with her and everyone at my yard is aware.

She doesn't just turn on you, she has just learnt that she can intimidate in this way. I don't think it is an attack as such. Just very stubborn.

She was wild until 2, and then passed from pillar to post for 3 years. I have had her 3 years and she has always done this.
 
Wagtail said:
I once had a livery horse do that thing in the field when she didn't want to be caught. It was horrible and very scary. She would place herself next to the fence and then just keep doing a turn on the forehand whenever you tried to go to her head and kick out at you. The way I cured her was to go and get the lunge whip as I could use it on her but be a safe distance away from her back feet. I would then just keep driving her, all over the field, never letting her get her head down (it was knackering!). When she started licking and chewing I would go and catch her. I only had to do this on two occasions to completely cure her. Horse was 20 years old and had done it as long as her owner could remember.
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This^^^......with bells on.
 
I once had a horse which was difficult to catch (but never a kicker) and I had to use this technique, and it took 4 hours the first time. Best if it's not in a 20 acre field to chase it around in! Be sure to bring some food and drink for yourself as it can take a long time, and NEVER give up until you have caught the horse.
 
I personally wouldn't class her as *dangerous* but I would class her as unruly, strong willed and without any apparent respect for anyone. I wouldn't stand for it and would be teaching her that the way she's behaving is uncalled for and not to be tolerated. I would firstly look at her management and her feeding regime to see what could be changed.
 
Thats the problem, this is the only thing she does, in every other way I can't fault her, she is going better than ever!

I will try the lunge whip again.

I have also tried the catching, treating and letting go method.
 
No - kicking and biting are not something I tolerate in a horse, especially when you are on a livery yard and there are others to think of.
 
I wouldn't class her as a dangerous horse but would say that her behaviour would be unacceptable on most yards. I had a horse on my yard who would kick at you if you tried to adjust his rugs whilst he was eating - he was fine the rest of the time so I left him alone when he had his feed.
 
LaurenBay said:
She doesn't just turn on you, she has just learnt that she can intimidate in this way. I don't think it is an attack as such.
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You said in your original post that she will back up and kick. That is an attack.

Doesn't matter what excuses you make - in most people's book that is dangerous behaviour, even if it only happens 1% of the time.
 
She is fine around her food. In fact she has never as so much put an ear back on the yard.

She won't charge at you or anything so I wouldn't say she is danger to anyone else (unless of course you want to catch her) people go in and out then field all the time turning out/bringing in their own Horses or to poo pick, in fact I've always had compliments about how laid back and sweet she is in the field.

It's just when she thinks she is coming in. Again she won't chargeor anything, just turn her bum on you, and keep doing it until she gives in. She kicks when you swing something at her bum or use a whip.

Last summer when I used to circle her, it was very rare she did actually kick out. I didn't allow her to eat, just kept walking until she stopped turning.
 
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