Kicking

Question
Hi.

I have a 3.5 year old arab/morgan gelding who I am currently training.  He is very willing and friendly and I feel we are making some headway.  He is at a boarding stable, is out all day & night (except in inclement weather) and comes in twice a day for feed.  He is on a high fat/ high fibre pellet and no supplements.  I work during the day mon-fri so his daily feeds are by the staff at the farm (all but one are very experienced horsepeople).  Today I was informed that he is kicking staff and "attacking" other boarders(people) when they enter the pasture.  He has not once displayed any aggressiveness behavior in my presence.  My friend (who also boards three horses in this pasture) said he came at her twice last night.  The first time she was with her gelding so she chalked it up to agression between the horses.  The second time she was simply walking through the pasture and he came at her with his rearend.  I have been told today that he does not want to leave the barn once feed time is over.  They have waited up to 45 minutes for him to leave on his own accord (inexperienced stablehand did not know what to do).  I have had no problems leading him out of the bard.  He never runs off when we get to the door, nor does he try to push his way back in, he simply walks off towards hay or water.

My question...(finally!!)

What the *&%^$ do I do????  He never does anything when I am there.  How can I correct something that I do not see happen?  He has kicked three people to date...(and I just found out today!!)  I do not want to get sued by someone who gets injured by him.  He is young, and it appears that he is becoming the dominant herd leader, which is fine... but he is also trying to dominate everyone else...except me.  I have had him since Dec 1st 2007 and have been taking my time with training him.  I go every evening and some nights he just gets a treat and a brush down while other nights we spend 10-30 minutes in the indoor arena lunging or working on picking up feet.  I am very calm and patient with him and he has been responding very well to my care. I have my husband come out 2-3 times a week to brush him and hold him so that he responds well to males as well as me.

How can I help him get past his aggressiveness towards the other people at the stable.  I hate to think that they may become aggressive towards him to pre-empt his strike.

What tips can you offer to help him become friendly to other humans in the pasture and when they let him out after feed time?

Answer
Christena,

What you have is a spoiled brat bully here who has become extremely, unacceptably rude and disrespectful to other people.  Just like the kids who can do no wrong in their parents' eyes and are angels at home but hellions with everyone else so is your horse.  

He will not be friendly without respect, not just for you but all humans.  You might hate to think about anyone else "spanking" your kid but unless the other people step up and insist that he respect them you are fermenting a potentially very dangerous horse.  

He would greatly benefit from some round pen work first by you then with some of the other people there to get him to realize that he has to respect them too.  

He's a baby.  Don't be afraid to discipline him.  He won't hate you, trust me.  Try to be there, but observe from a distance, when someone else walks him out.  Isist they get after him when he starts acting up.  The poor stable person who had to wait 45 min.!  Unacceptable!!  But the best thing would be, at least for a while, to request that he be handled only by the experienced people who will know how to correct him when he's misbehaving.  You have to nip this behavior in the bud.  If you can't you may have to send him of for professional work, preferably someone who does natural horsemanship training (the only way I work) to get an attitude adjustment out of him.  

Good luck, I am very concerned about this situation.  Please keep me informed of how things go/what you decide to do.  This behavior can be corrected but that's the whole point, it has to be corrected.  

Lyn