I agree that saying “this horse bites” is not a strong enough statement for a horse that will lunge at and bite a person. The owner had the responsibility to give another warning if she thought the person was too close and to hold her horse in such a way that it couldn’t attack, just as the person with a stallion has that responsibility to control their horse even if someone is too close. Lots of people have never been around a stallion or a horse that will lunge at and bite, so don’t know how much space they need. The dangerous animal needs to be moved away or be under better control in a social or crowd situation.
I had a horse that would try to bite only our vet (he’d done a small surgery on the mare and it took a couple years for her to forgive him) so it was my responsibility to make sure the vet didn’t get bit, not the vet’s, even though I told him she would try to bite him.
The horse should be treated the same as an unruly stallion, IMO.
