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Re: [RC] agressive horse - desertrydr1The key here, I think, is your statement that the boss mare always protected him. Now that he's on his own with no one to protect him, he doesn't know what to do, so he just tries to keep other horses out of his comfort zone. He's not at the top of the pecking order, or he wouldn't feel the need to actually kick out at other horses. He's basically insecure!
First, I think it's important to put a red ribbon in his tail any time you're riding with horses he's NOT best buds with. The potential to kick is there, and I've seen a case on a ride where a gal had her leg severely broken by a kicking horse as she started to pass.
Next, you have to RIDE him all the time. You have to be aware of what's going on around him, and his reactions to it. You have to be the alpha mare. In part this is to give him security, let him know that you are looking out for him, and nothing will hurt him because you won't let it. The other reason is that, as the alpha mare, you are telling him that in certain circumstances, ie., under saddle, aggressive behavior is not allowed and not tolerated. Warn people when their horses get too close to him. Make them move away, or position your horse away from theirs. It's important that he feels somewhat protected by your actions. The minute he moves an ear in another horse's direction he is worried. Give him something else to think about. Make him do something different that requires him to concentrate on you and your directions. Circles, backing up, lateral work, anything to take his mind off the other horse(s). If he does ANYTHING more aggressive than moving an ear in the other horse's direction, growl at him with whatever signal you use to indicate extreme dissatisfaction. I use "AANNHH AANNHH." This is a LONG drawn-out process with no quick fixes. I know, as I dealt with it for about 8 years with my Anglo-Arab mare. She got to the point where most of the time she didn't pay much attention to other horses, but I ALWAYS had to be right inside her brain because the minute my attention wandered, she felt it and worried. I wouldn't take him to a ride until you have gotten things more or less under control, which means until he's paying attention to you and not other horses all the time at home. At the ride, all the training goes out the window, at least for the first few times at the start. You should be willing to start out in the back of the pack and keep YOUR race brain under control so you can protect your horse. It's not easy to reform a horse that kicks because he's afraid. There are confidence building exercises you can do, the police trainer who wrote a book about Spookproofing your horse (haven't read it, just paged through it) looked interesting. You may have to find a way to do arena work with this horse, in order to get him in the habit of obedience in a controlled environment. Not a big Parelli fan (PLEASE let's not start the Parelli discussion again) but many natural horsemanship exercises are designed to give you just the type of mastery over your horse that you need in a kicker situation. I view the exercises as PART of an overall training program. Best of luck, jeri
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