Believe me this is not as unusual an issue as you may think.
The problem is how to deal with a horse, who is otherwise gentle and friendly with a wonderful temperament but is very aggressive at feeding time. When it comes time for food perhaps your horse will rear up, paw the ground, bite and push you, and anything else he can think of. As an owner, such behaviour can leave you perplexed as under normal circumstances your lovely horse might never ever normally show any signs of bad behavior. So what can you do under such circumstances to deal with the situation?
Well, it just so happens that there are things you can do, so if you have experienced such behavior - read on!
First off let’s be sure that you understand why your horse may be acting like this. Because this behavior is related to food it is possible that your horse has at some time not been fed enough and has had to compete for his food with other horses. If he was left hungry for considerable periods of time and then when fed had to compete with larger stronger horses he may not have been able to get his fair share and so had to fight for what he got. This behavior around food has stayed with him, despite the fact that he now gets more than enough to eat and doesn’t have to compete for it.
Remember that horses are creatures of habit and even if the circumstances change they will still act the same because it’s what they have learnt to do – he doesn’t realize that he doesn’t have to compete for the food available and that you are always going to feed him what he needs, so he still thinks he has to get in there and take it.
What you should never do is treat the problem with force, like hitting him when he gets like this. If the suspected cause is correct, hitting him would reinforce his need to be dominant to get his food, so you need to try something different.
The other thing I want to say right now is that I am assuming that you have followed my earlier advice (that you can find in other articles of mine) and have not been feeding your horse as rewards for correct behavior and most certainly not from your pocket. If you have- stop it right now! It doesn’t take any horse long to learn that if you reach into your pocket and a treat comes out, that they can expect one anytime you are with them. If this happens, then when you don’t have anything to give them they may bite you, so I never feed any horse as a reward. If I take a carrot or apple out to the horse its already in my hand when I walk up to them and I do not do it every time so that no habit can be formed.
So the first thing with your horse that behaves aggressively at meal times. is to always feed him on his own (at least until the problem is has been resolved). I would also suggest that you start feeding him more frequently but in smaller amounts – perhaps every 1-2 hours during the day, for a few days (but whatever you do, don’t exceed his proper daily amount of food just split it into lots of small portions).
This may encourage him to start seeing food as something that arrives regularly so that there is no need to fight for it. Don’t make any drama about feeding him each time – make it seem like all part of the normal routine. Try this for 3-4 days and see what happens. If it has no effect you an also try following.
I am going to tackle the rearing part first as this is potentially the most dangerous. Have your heard of hobbles? I’m sure you have, this is simply a way of tying the horses legs together so that they can’t move around as freely. Now – this is not cruel and doesn’t hurt them (and they are very unlikely to fall over either) so don’t be afraid of this because its also usually a very quick cure for a lot of different training problems and they learn from it fast. You don’t need special hobbles, good thick rope will do if you are up to the job. I appreciate that some people may not feel able or strong enough to do this, and as I don’t know how calm your horse is normally and if he’s ok with you handling his legs, I can’t help you decide if you will be able to do this safely so I will leave this to you to decide. The reason for suggesting the hobbles first is that the next thing most trainers try is a long swishy whip that is used to scare/surprise/shock your horse out of the unacceptable behavior rather than to hurt him, and I don’t know how you feel about this.
So I want you to hobble his front legs before you put the food anywhere near him (or before he can smell it – don’t even get it out until he’s hobbled). Hobbling him will simply make your horse feel insecure. Hobble and leave him in a confined area not in an open yard or field. Then feed him where he is. He may attempt to rear but is likely to be unsuccessful, so all you are really doing is making it uncomfortable for him. Hobbling will also inhibit his movements when he tries to shove you or bite you, so you should be safer like this too.
Just try it out and see how it goes. You must put them on every time you feed him, so a little patience will be required. Remove them when he has finished all his food and you have taken the feeding container away. Repeat the exact same procedure every time you feed him for the next few days. He may react very quickly and calm down or he may take a bit longer.
If you find that he can still rear you’ll need to hobble both front and rear legs, and you may even have to tie the front hobbles to the back, which is a spider hobble. But try just the front legs first and see how that goes.
Roger Bourdon has written a number of books dedicated to horseback riding, horses and the health of horses. His site http://www.anyhorsebackriding.com is dedicated to lovers of horses. It contains plenty of free information in newsletters, articles and contains loads of resources all about horses. Products such as books and DVD’s are also available for purchase
Tags: agression, horse, horse behavior, horse training
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