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Conference noted::equitation

Title:	Equine Notes Conference
Notice:	Topics List=4, Horses 4Sale/Wanted=150, Equip 4Sale/Wanted=151
Moderator:	MTADMS::COBURNIO

Created:	Tue Feb 11 1986
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2080
Total number of notes:	22383

530.0. "Agressive Horse Problem" by MSDOA1::SHERRILL () Mon Mar 21 1988 18:42

    
    I am a new horse owner..I have purchased in the past two
    months two beautiful animals - both geldings, one is 7 years
    old - he is a spotted app; the other gelding is 16 years old-
    a red roan racking horse in great shape.
    
    I am having a real problem now with the 7 year-old app - he chases
    my other horse around the field and attacks him- the other horse
    simply wants to be left alone to munch, but my app won't leave him
    alone - I have tried an electric fence between the two, but the app
    breaks through every time. I have had the app (Poncho) checked to
    see if he was "proud cut" , but the vet says he has normal levels
    for a gelding..he is just extremely agressive and cannot seem to
    tolerate another horse in the same field - the problem has been
    going on for a month now. The vet suggested vitamin B-1 for Poncho
    but this has no effect - he is still very agressive - I now have
    Poncho in a stall, but I don't want to keep him there forever. Any
    suggestions would be really appreciated - I want to keep both of
    them, they are very enjoyable to ride.

T.R	Title	User	Date	Lines
530.1	How about this?	USMRM2::PMARKELL	`Tue Mar 22 1988 11:26`	8
	Without knowing what your pasture situation is, I can only try and suggest that you put up a board fence 4 rails high. Many breeding farms who must enclose stallions do this. The top rail will come up under the horses cheek and makes a pretty formidable barrier. This should solve the problem. It seems that the appaloosa is very territorial and with such a fence enclosure he should relax and let his neighbor alone.
530.2		SEQUEL::GREGG	`Tue Mar 22 1988 13:36`	5
	I agree with .1 - The only other way I can think of it to turn them out at differant times. I do not like this but if the Appy is agressive with biteing only you can try a bib. This may give your other horse a chance to graze a while longer without being bothered. Has the Appy ever been in with other horses?
530.3	there is hope!	TIS::RAY	`Tue Mar 22 1988 14:09`	8
	I had a similar problem with two horses that I had at one time. They were turned out in separate pastures as a result, but could communicate over the fence. After riding the horses together for about a year they grew more tolerant of each other, and eventually we tried turning them out together again (after pulling hind shoes on both horses - the second horse would lash out at the aggressive horse). There was a lot of chasing for a few days, but they finally calmed down, and eventually became great buddies!
530.4	Thanks for the help	MSDOA2::SHERRILL	`Wed Mar 23 1988 10:09`	14
	Thanks for the suggestions...I don't have a lot of history on the app..but I suspect he was gelded only recently to try to cure the agressive behavior. I am going to try the tall fence approach, and we are riding them together now, and they seem to get along pretty well that way. .3 gives me some hope that the app will settle down eventually. I will keep trying. They seem to be communicating through the stall door pretty well this week, so maybe they will become more tolerant. Thanks again.
530.5	don't get discouraged	USWAV1::GARST	`Mon May 02 1988 12:37`	14
	We purchased two horses a few years ago that were "strangers" to each other and experienced problems for about 4 months. The younger horse suffered many cuts, bites and hits. Don't give up though - our two horses have grown to be best of friends...even though we considered having to sell one if things didn't straighten out. (The VET was beginning to know my voice on the phone by memory.) We found fencing them off from each other just postponed the time they needed to get to know each other. We also checked the food we were giving them and selected one with not as high a protein level to help calm them down a bit. We weren't riding enough to work off the extra energies. Well, good luck.