Conference noted::equitation

    Could you tell us a little more about the animal?  For instance,
    how old is he?  What breed?
    
    I know someone who may be appropriate to help you.
    
    Gwen
    

    He's a thorobred, 11 yr old. 

    
    
    Instead of spending a lot of money on training, I'd see how
    he acts after being gelded.  My stallion is very docile but
    I would imagine he could get difficult if he learned from
    someone else that he's capable of it.  I had another of
    mine gelded at 3 years of age.  Within two months he was
    an entirely different horse.
    
    If he doesn't settle down after being gelded, then you will
    want to send him off to a trainer.
    
    Just a suggestion....
    
    

    Our fellow was gelded at 10 and he was a puppy dog for handling as a
    stallion.  It took him about a year before he really gave up "the
    thoughts".  Now we have had younger ones done and they have also taken
    a year or so.  THEY ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS...give him time.
    
    Good luck
    

    We bought a gelding, big 17.2 hand TB for my then 14 year old daughter.
    We tried him for a week and he was a lamb. Then we found out that this
    animal was mean, bully and allowed himself a little much. He used to
    escape and stand still to catch him. It was a game. 
    My daughter worked with him for six months, a skinny little thing, and
    after six months you could not recognize him. He knew who the boss was,
    most of the times, and knew we would take care of him. From then on my
    daughter has no longer problems. He mostly misbehaved, when a trainer
    beat him. Therefore, we spoke with him with authority. When he would
    not school, we let him galopp through the orchards for a while, then he
    was wonderful. He was one kind of a big black wonderful little boy.
    With beating we got nowhere, a 14 year old girl could get the most out
    of him.
    You have to find out first, what will work, how does he respond to what
    training.
    Good luck - Ruth

    Well, gelding certainly has made him a different animal!  He's *so*
    much happier.  I brought him to my farm about two weeks after the
    surgery, and he was still just a little feisty, but nothing major.  I
    was able, also, to correct the striking-out problem.  He was still
    doing this whenever he went nose to nose with another horse.  Yeah, I
    know, they all do to some extent, but he was really putting muscle into
    it!  ANyway, I led him up to a stall with another horse in it, and let
    them sniff through the bars.  Sure enough, he struck out immediately,
    but I was there with my dressage whip, and smacked him as he was doing
    it.  He got the connection, and has not done any striking out since.
    
    He now shares a paddock with my Welch cob, and they are inseperable --
    except at feeding time, of course.  He's really a happier horse now. 
    As a stallion, he never got to socialize with other horses, of course,
    so he hasn't had company since he was a yearling.  ANd he seems to love
    it now.  I really does my heart good to see him able to just be a horse
    now.
    
    
     -ellie

    Smacking him with a dressage whip corrected the striking-out problem?
    Interesting. I may try that with my mare. I brought my TB gelding
    home to live 3 weeks ago, and she is awful with him. When sniffing
    noses she squeals loudly and strikes out with a front foot. I had
    hoped to eventually turn them out together, but I'm not so sure at
    this point. They are in adjoining paddocks, with a dividing fence
    between. I'd like to ultimately take that fence down as with this
    set up only one horse has access to the barn/stalls while the other
    is out with only a corner of trees for shelter should a storm come
    up when no one is home. She is settling down a little now, but
    she's a real classic b*tch (if you'll pardon the expression). I'm
    scared she'll kick him and do some real damage. I had hoped that
    just leaving them be would to work things out would settle her,
    but perhaps a bit of a well-timed reprimand would help?? I believe
    she is like this because she is associating his arrival with
    having been bred..at the farm where she was bred the stud was
    brought to her and they were turned out together. As for the
    gelding, he's exceptionally mild manner and pays absolutely no
    attention to her foolishness, he just seems to want to be pals.
    

    My horse struck me once, shortly after I'd gotten him.  Fortunately, I
    was carrying my whip at the time.  I struck him immediately across the
    front legs -- they were still in the air.  Although I know he had
    struck before, he has never done so again.
    
    Mary

    
    I have a young horse off the track.  He used to have no respect for me
    when being led.  When I stopped, he would keep going, and run me over!
    So one day I walked him with a jumping bat in my hand.  I stopped, he
    didn't, he got slapped in the chest with the bat, he said "Oh, my!".
    
    Never been a problem since.

    I think I might have misled you?? This horse NEVER does this to
    ME, only to the horse she is exchanging sniffs with. She is very
    easy to handle for humans, very well mannered in hand. I believe
    her striking at the gelding to be an instinctive reaction rather
    than a attempt at nastiness, although I could be wrong. She's 
    not a nasty horse by any means. This is why I am wondering if it's
    best to instigate the situation while standing by with a crop
    or if it would be best to just leave them be and hope they work
    it out over time. 

    My mare will do this all the time when greeting a new horse.  I think
    this is her way of telling the other horse that she is the boss.  I
    don't see her doing this in a threating sense, but more of a playful
    manner.  She's the type that will run around the field all day with the 
    babies and play, rather than just stand there.  The only time she ever
    did this to me was when she was under the influence of steroids and I 
    was giving her antibiotics.....her behind was a bit tender.
    
    
    RE: .11 Linda- I LOVE your personal name!!!!!

    When I reprimanded my ex-stallion for this, it was because he had been
    directing this at people!  I've never thought of it as anything unusual
    between horses.  In fact I expect it when two horses meet for the first
    time -- you know, sniff, sniff, snort, then all at once screech,
    strikeout, ears back, and lash tail  seems to be the algorithm. 8^)
    
    No, I just needed a way to make him exhibit the behavior, and knew this
    would do it.  And, in case there's question, I used the dressage whip
    on the leg he struck out with.  The mechanism here was to be able to
    correct the unwanted behavior *immediately* and also in such a way that
    left no doubt about what was being corrected.  For instance, if I had
    used the whip anywhere else, there really would be no way he could tell
    what I was correcting.  I mean, how would the horse have known whether I
    was correcting the striking out or the screeching, or even the laid
    back ears?
    
    Gee, got on a soapbox there, huh?  Well, I do think it's too easy to
    assume that the horse knows what's being corrected. 
    
    -ellie

    I wasn't misled...simply stating that, at least in the case of my
    horse, smacking him once cured him of behavior that had, unfortunately,
    been tolerated by his breeders.
    
    Mary