Agressive horse

Question
QUESTION: Hello, i am 18 years old i have owned horses since i was 7, i have trained 4 of my own horses, 2 from start to finish. but i have never came across a horse like this one, we got him as a two year old, the only time he had ever been handled was when he was tranquilized in the pasture to get castrated. he is very agressive not all the time but he will chase people out of the pen try to run and kick at you, rear up at you when you are cutting twine. i know how to work with a horse that has had no contact with people before. i am just not sure how to help this one i have never dealt with an agressive horse like this, i was wondering if there was anything you knew on how to work with him where he wont get aggressive or a safer way of doing it? he is not always aggresive sometimes he will come within 10 feet of you and look curious then walk off with no signs of aggression. i have noticed he gets aggresive mostly with men. i have tried driving him around the pen but he either just gets aggresive and trys to dominate me or the pen is just to large to chase him around in, i have a round pen but there is no way of getting him to is considering no-one can get within 10 feet of him. any sujestions. sending him to a certified trainer is out of the question because there is no way of getting him into a trailer and trainers around this area are extremely expensive.

ANSWER: Hi Ashely!

Your horse has no respect for the human.  He is not bad, it is just what he has learned.  No human has offered him the kind of deal he understands or wants to accept.  He is only doing what he thinks he needs to do to survive.  So far his plan is working out pretty good for him.  

You have to make the commitment to stay longer.  You have to understand how to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult for this horse.  He is only two!  Don't let him chase you out of the pasture!  It is YOUR pasture!  So far he has been able to move the human and make the rules.  I can't blame him.  He has no leader!  I would start by not allowing anyone else in the pasture, period.  Your colt gets aggressive and they run.  It just reinforces all of the wrong behaviors.  Get a flag, make one, buy one, I don't care, just carry it with you.  Carry your rope halter too!  Get a good one with a 12' tree line lead.  They are not expensive.  Head out in the pasture, if your colt approaches you to drive you off...SEND HIM AWAY from YOU!!! Do what it takes to send him off.  If he approached me with an aggressive attitude, I would be give him a bite with the end of my lead rope.  I would spin it overhand and if he chose to  move into the pressure, he would get a pretty serious "whack".  You can do the same with your flag.  Don't CREATE a fight.  If he steps up to you with a softness, fine!  Rub him.  If he even LOOKS at you with aggression, even from a long way away, turn up the pressure and drive him off.  Granted your job is a lot more difficult in a large pasture.  I would use my  saddle horse to help me out here.  You need to learn what real quality horsemanship is about before you try this. I don't want you to get into trouble.  You will just be in very good shape after driving this colt around a huge pasture and getting him to hook on so, eat a good breakfast before you go out!  Once you have entered up, DO NOT QUIT until you get a good positive change.  You may have to be out in that pasture all day and half the night, but if that is what it takes, so be it.  What is going on now is not working.

Keep the pressure up until your horse faces up on you.  Then step toward him.  If he can stay with your, rub him.  Getting your hands on him is one step closer to getting him haltered and then getting into the round pen.  If he is aggressive, send him off.  Keep up this pattern until he faces up on you.  You will want to draw him in and get him to follow you softly.  You will want to be able to rub him and finally halter him.  Look through some of my past answers on hooking on, colt starting etc...I may have written things in such a way that it will make more sense to you.  Also, reading other answers will help fill in some of the blanks for you.  If on day one you can get your colt to face up on you and stand respectfully and softly as you rub his neck...good enough, call it a day.  Do this every day until he steps toward you with softness and respect.  It will depend on your feel and timing how quickly you get to the haltering process.  I've written some pretty extensive answers on the haltering process here so look those up also.  

Ashley, you are now the lead mare in this colts little world.  You need to be the leader he can trust and follow.  You will have to earn his respect by showing him YOU know the way and you will NOT be pushed around.  When he is soft, you get softer, when he is aggressive, you show him that there will be NO getting by you!  Always be looking for the "trys" out of your horse.  NEVER miss them.  Reward the smallest effort and the slightest try out of your horse.  This is how he learns to trust you and to look to you for support.  Never betray this trust.  Don't create a fight, you will never win.  

Here is the homework that will save you and your horse:

"Ground Work" DVD by Buck Brannaman
"Ground Work" Book by Buck Brannaman
"Back to the Beginning" DVD by Ray Hunt
"Turning Loose" DVD by Ray Hunt

Check out Colt Starting Clinics by Buck Brannaman and Ricky Quinn.  They will ride this colt for you and in four day he will be packing a snaffle bit, carrying a rider, moving all gates both ways of the pen, backing soft and starting to turn around.  You will also be watching every minute and these guys WANT you to learn how to do this on your own!  Four days with Ricky will cost you $450.  It is well worth it.  So, do you homework, save your pennies and attend a clinic.  Keep asking me questions, stay in touch, I'll help.  AND, enjoy this.  Look at all this colt will teach you about being a REAL hand with horses.  He is not a cupcake.  It is the tough horses that teach US!  You can do it!

Smiles!  Denise

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

QUESTION: thank you for your help, sorry i did not say this before if i try to drive him he is aggresive in a way that is dangerous. as in trying to strike, kick, bite you. and he will if you dont move out of the way. i was wondering if using another horse would be safer for me to be able to drive him, he is not aggressive with other horses. i understand what you are saying by dont let him chase me, but even if i have a plastic bag, rope anything to drive him away he is very dangerous.

Answer
Hi again Ashley:

Yes, aggression IS dangerous!  This behavior has gone on for too long.  You don't allow the colt to get close enough to you to bite, kick or strike you.  You head off the behavior before this happens.

The problem here Ashley and I have to be blunt, you have trained the horse to disrespect you. I can't sugar coat this for you.  I'm going to say what I have to say to you to get a change in you and to keep you safe.  You have to stay and do what it takes to change this horses mind. To get this done YOU will have to make some huge changes in yourself!  I'm not sure if you are up for it.  You sound pretty timid and the horse can sense this.  Horses know when you know and they know when you don't know.  You see danger, I see a troubled horse that does not know his place in the world and is going to end up in a slaughter yard.

DO NOT use, ride another horse out in the pasture with this colt.  The horse can not give you courage.  Your fear and not having the proper skills will get the both of you into a wreck.  This is something only a very skilled hand with a very well trained saddle horse can accomplish.  Given where this two year old colt is, I know you are lacking the skills and education to have a saddle horse that is up to the challenge of working another horse.  Do not try it.  Let me give you an example of what would need to be done with a saddle horse to get a change in your colt...I'm telling you this to SHOW you that you do not have the skills necessary to pull this off.  With a good horse, you would ride out and ROPE your colt, you would have to dally off and have enough presence to give your horse the courage to hang in if the colt charged at you.  You would have to have the ability with your coils to whack the colt properly and with a feel and timing that made him understand that bad behavior will not be tolerated.  If you can't do this from the ground you will NEVER be able to pull this off on an unseasoned horse, period.  

Here is all I can do for you Ashley...Do you understand what "presence" is?  Have you ever been around a person and felt respect for them almost to the point of fear?  Someone you knew in your heart and in your gut would do the best for you, but if you crossed them you would be scrubbing toilets with your own toothbrush for the next 6 months!  THAT is "presence"!  This is what you have to show your colt.  If it were me, I would do WHAT IT TOOK to change the behavior, period.  If I had to go out in the pasture with a baseball bat in one hand and barbed wire in the other, I would do it.  I would pick a day and never, ever allow the behavior again.  The horse would NOT have a choice.  I would never accept aggression.  This would require that I use good FEEL and TIMING.  If I am going to have to really hit a horse, my timing would be spot on.  I would allow the horse to run into the pressure.  Horses are not dumb!  I'm pretty sure that if the colt was running toward me and I was spinning my lass rope with a great basin honda on the end and he got a serious WHACK from that hard metal honda, I'm pretty sure he would think about that for a minute.  If he stepped toward me again and looked aggressive and he got STUNG again, believe you me he would start putting things together.  I can spin a pretty big loop with my rope.  It keeps the horse a safe distance from me and stings bad when they get hit.  

The difficulty here is that I think you are in over your head.  The first time you ran away from this colt, he knew he had the upper hand.  You haven't changed yourself enough to get the job done.  Part of the problem is that you have never learned how to educate a tough horse and you don't have the kind of help you need to get past this one.  I'm not sure what area of the country you are in, but I would get to a Buck Brannaman or Ricky Quinn clinic.  If you let me know where you are, I might have a friend in the area that would come and help you.  Go to my website, my contact information is there.  You can e-mail me so you don't have to broadcast your private information here in this public forum.  I'll try and find someone that will help you.  I LOVE this kind of a challenge.  I have very skilled friends that feel the same way.  Let me know what you want to do and if you want the help, I'll do my best to find it for you.

For now Ashley, stay out of the pasture.  Lets get you some good help.  Be safe. Denise