At the agistment where I ride, my friend Kate rides a horse called Benji, she has only been riding him about 4 weeks.
Benji when tied up in the tacking up area being groomed or whatever, when another horse comes near him on the other side of the fence he likes to bite or try to kick them (this is even worse usually if there is food involved even if the horse can't reach his food).
Kate doesn't have a dually halter to school him with so the owner of the agistment told her to stare him in the eyes and hit him he she has too. I want to help her...
When I don't have a dually I use my hand gently on the boney part of the horses nose (where the dually rope is) and ask them to back up. This usually works for me.
What should I tell Kate? I don't know about looking a horse in the eyes (which asks them to go away) when they are tied to a post? Help please...
Ok, first of all you know that none of us (not you I suspect!) are going to support hitting the horse. Second, its difficult to picture the set up but can you tack him up away from the fence? Is he getting the reward he wants i.e. he pulls faces, goes to bite etc as the horse is going past so the horse going past keeps going so benji believes he was successful in sending the the other horse away. Do you see what I mean? Not all horses get on with each other, is it the same horses he does this with, is he worse with some than others? can you turn him round the other way so he sees them with the other eye/side (you'd be amazed what this can do sometimes!) Sorry to bombard you with questions but we need a bit more information I think :-) In answer to your question re: applying gently pressure to mimic a dually on the boney part of the nose: I have no problem with that. Re: looking in the eyes, well, this is the same person that says hit him so to be honest, I wouldn't take much notice of what s/he is saying but be careful, there is a culture in the horseworld (here in the UK anyway)that I cannot fathom, where complete strangers seem to think its perfectly ok to walk up to your horse and hit it - they wouldn't walk up to your dog and do that and yet they will hit a horse they don't know - quite incredible.
A few more questions to add, does Benji share the field with the horses he's trying to bite and kick out at?
With you saying he is worse when food is involved it sounds like he's trying to be boss, that's why I ask if he shares the field with these horses. Is there a hierarchy between the horses?
Re looking at their eyes, I've always used eye contact, but what you have to remember is that the eyes show expression as do the muscles around the eyes. you know the expression 'gave me a daggered look' we know that the eyes are glaring, fixed and usually there is a frown on the face. A horse would interpret this as go away. However, if you look at your horses eyes and you're smiling, your eyes gleam and smile too,horses do not take this smile eye contact as go away and will stand at ease with you, if you look carefully at your horse when smiling and looking at their eyes they will acknowledge you this Could be with a slow blink, a slight nod of the head or a twitch on the ear.
I agree with Vicci to move him away or turn him around, if anything to try and break the pattern. Remember he will hear the horses coming before we do, so in his head he might already be preparing himself to take action as they get closer. It's difficult when it's not your horse and you're sharing a yard.
x
There are 3 fenced in areas about 10 meters square, benji will be in one and they may be horses on either side, sometimes 2 in one area, sometimes loose or tied to twine with a lead rope.
They share the same 60 acre paddock, I believe there is some kind of hierarchy in the paddock (my horse is at the bottom *:(*) and it doesn't matter which horse. It's almost like he gets offended if they look at him funny or something. He doesn't even have to be looking at him, he just sort of randomly lashes out (bites/kicks).
I'm just worried about Kate getting hurt and want to tell her how to communicate with Benji that his behaviour isn't good for their partnership.
Sounds like he's not happy. There was a horse like that at the last riding stables we went to, all he needed was a friend. I used to go out the back into the field with him and just be there, not expecting anything from him at all. I'd say it took around 10 hours over several weeks for him to decide to come to me, once he made that step his whole attitude changed, not only with me but to others and horses around him. He went from a horse that no one was allowed near because he kicked and bit, even staff had to approaching and tack up in twos - to being friendly horse that anyone tall enough could tack up.
I'd suggest that she takes a bit of time out in the field, not necessarily in the field, but at the edges and keep making 'kind' eye contact then taking the eyes away. He'll understand that she's there for him with nothing expected of him and it will help break the pattern that he currently has. If she keeps quite too as he swill starts to approach, when he's happy he'll come.
Mel x
I recently had a case where the horse had been labelled 'bad tempered/dangerous' etc. he was nothing of the sort, but he did have to defend himself from being bullied and the 'reputation' that he had built up which of course made everyone behave defensive towards him so the poor boy never got any peace and the girl who owned him was constantly having to deal with peoples negativity. Without seeing his behaviour its difficult to tell whats going on but I suspect it may be just the wrong livery yard (agistment) for him. As Mel says, he needs a friend, both human and equine. The one I worked with: I recommended moving him to a different yard (not something I do lightly) but the transformation was remarkable in both horse and human and they really did live happily ever after :-)