Muzzles

Question
QUESTION: Hi, iam 34yrs old
  I have pretty good horse experince
  I board so to fix it they muzzled him
  he always out in a very very large pasture
I Have a 5 yr old Arab !   Well all was good till about a month ago when some new horses came. hes in a herd o8 or 9 horses.He is not real agressive( he doesnt kick ) !  he pins ears and chases them  and the more they trot around he loves it. sometimes hes just pesty and trots after them with his ears up and the new ones run from him.  he is not the top horse in the field. he will chase the others when its time to come in. the top horses do that too and even might kick also!
well they dont want my horse being so pesty that the new ones dont have any peice so they muzzled him. I dont think it solves the problem!  they have two big round feeders.
I think its normal horse behavior?  i dont want the muzzle on him and feel that it could make matters worse.  what else can i do to keep the owner happy?

ANSWER: Tough one.  I would not muzzle him.  He is doing absolutely normal behavior.  Read my site on head behavior.  He is doing the horses a favor as well, moving helps keep the herd in shape, teaches horses how to move keeps the herd structure.  The lead horse allows it and it does not appear to hurt anything.  How would a muzzle help this?  Is he pushing them off food or playing and showing him dominace?

PS: all horses kick you may not see it, but if a lower horse backs up to him he may bite first but he will kick if challenged by a lower horse.  this is normal herd behavior.

Is he new to herd?  Is this a new problem?  Anytime a new horse is put in herd this happens, they have to figure out their place, work it out and in a few days or week, it will go back to normal.

Not sure if this helps,

Rick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry For all this writing but i am at my witts end. I feel as if he wants to move up rank and is empowered when they run from him and sometimes its more of a game. ears up and stuff and just troting behind making them move.  He was bold enuff to nip a top horse in the lower hinny when the top horse wasnt looking. that horse turned around and my horse knew he in deep poo. and my horse got chased and bit. rightfully so. he was testing his place.  do u think this is my horse trying to move up rank in the herd?

ANSWER: Read my site on herd behavior.  All horses try and move up all the time, it is their nature, it ensure only the strongest survive and are in charge.  The same reason they test us everyday, it is simple horse behavior that most don't understand.

Of course he is playing sometime, that is how a horse learns and gets smarter and up higher.  Once he finds his place he should stop, but some don't.  The others horses will learn to stay out of his way except to play and or to challenge him so they are higher.

Don't blame him or other horses, they are just being a horse, it is never personal for horses, only people.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your help! I am not mad at my horse iam just having a hard time convincing people that it isnt that abnormal what hes doing. I really dont want the muzzle! he had it on for a few days. i took it off after i thought we agreed he wasnt that bad in the huge huge field and the owner admitted there was enfuff room for the other horses to get away. PS. the herd switches to a small pasture at nite. they say he is much more agressive at the gate in the small pasture.  So now they have seperated him by himself at nite. Aslo she put the muzzle back on him in the day. they still run from him. me rolls eyes.   i guess maye i should move?  See there is this female first time horse person down at this barn who Complains to the owner that my horse chases her horse. her horse os bottom of totum pole. nothing i can do. Can a muzzle make him more aggresive?

Answer
I dont think it will make him more aggressive, what will make him more aggressive is people running from him.  Does not sound like a lot of horse sense out there.  At night is when he needs a buddy.  I would find a higher horse and put in the small pasture with him, the higher horse may teach him a few lessons and put him in check, plus he will not be alone.  Horses can't relax or sleep by themselves, so it causes other problems, this is better than a stall.  If you have a round pen, and another owner would agree, I would put him in the round pen with lower horse and let him chase him until the lower horse had enough or your horse got tired.  

The worst thing to teach a horse is that people are scared of him.  Tell everyone to carry a plastic bag or rock and if your horse charges them or get aggressive to chase him or hit him with a rock (not in the head), the more different people move his feet the less he be so aggressive to people.  If people keep running from him, he is learning to be aggressive and will only get worse.

I can tell if someone leads my horse one time.  He will be totally different and I can tell he is testing me since he got away with stuff from someone else.  I like it if people are mean or aggressive to my horse and make them run away.  It teaches them to only come to me and not be a pain to others.  Tell people to chase him or swing a lead rope and pop him if he does not move from them with asked.