aggressive around food, please help!

Hanchen5

Hanchen5

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Sep 8, 2002
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Hi,
I have had my 16.2hh Tb type gelding for nearly 3 years, when i brought him i was warned that he kicked out when eating hard feed but i took him on anyway.
Basicaly what he does is that when hes eating his hard feed he kicks out with his back legs constantly and will throw his head around with his ears back snapping at the air, although he doesnt bite. He also kics sometimes when hes being rugged up. He isnt too bad if hes the only horse in the block but if there is another one then he is terrible. I have got used to this over the years and have only been kicked once. Yelling at him doesnt work, nor does ignoring him or reassuring him. I am off to uni next sept and a friend will be doing him in the mornings but i dont want her to get hurt. I think hes defending his food, although he shouldnt have to bother as hes the field boss and no one will take him on as they are all too scared of him. Has anyone got any ideas as to why he acts this way and what i can do to help him?
Thankyou,
Hannah
 
Hi, this is our expereince...

My daughter's 138 cm Irish pony is one of these. She's perfectly mannered 110% of the time everywhere except when you put a hard feed down in front of her. Her ears go back, makes really evil faces, she kicks out really hard with both barrels against the wall alongside her nearest stablemate (who frankly couldn't care less and doesn't hassle her). I'm seriously considering putting rubber mats on the wall to protect her as she has cut her heels several times. She stands on 3 legs with her front leg right up like she's begging in anticipation and excitment of food arriving (which can look quite cute when she's begging for ice cream at shows!). Although she has never struck out with a foreleg, we're very careful.

I was astounded when I first saw her behaviour. With our other ponies I can pick out there feet, change rugs, pull manes if necessary while they are eating.

I tried talking to her nicely- it didn't work. Shouted at her a couple of times - it didn't work. Now we have just accepted its her 'thing' and leave her to get on with it, once the bowl is empty she's sweet as pie again. The children just don't go in with her a feeding time.

I decided there were worse things in life to live with.

I've been intending to stand with her and hold the bowl while she being fed but as a busy working Mum I haven't have enough time to do this over a consistent period. It might work though.

Sara Jane
 
Yes holding the bowl at feed times can work well. However, you must establish a bond/mutual respect for each other. So I would go back to basics and ensure all is well in every day handling and that you can do anything to your horse (within reason) and they trust and accept you. Then start by feeding small quanities and often, so they don't get so wound up by the thought of food and it gives you a chance to be there whilst they eat and finish eating. But whatever you do do not put yourself in any danger and seek professional help if needs be.

Our Cob gets very very excited by any form of food, but now he has learnt that he must be polite and wait for the food to be put down before he can start to feed. He is also the field boss, or to be more precise the field thug, eventhough he is the youngest, but I can do whatever I need to and this includes feeding and also removing his feed without him ever questioning me.

The TB gets almost besides himself with gleee at the sight of food and can bearly control himself, but again he is learning by using gentle pressure and work outside of the stable on personal space, that he must be calm and not crowd you when he sees the food.

Good luck and be careful.
 
thankyou for your advice and i read the article and found it quite interesting. He is generally a reasonably well tempered horse but he does have his habbits. He also kicks in the field when i am getting him in or if i go in to see him and another horse comes near us, i dont take food into the field but this does still happens. He often tries to bite the horse next door and snaps the air around me although he has never bitten me yet! he has kicked a hole in the wall before of a wooden stable so is in a concrete one. Hes a bit of a funny horse and alot of people wont handle him, with even less wanting to ride him! He gets plenty of hay at night and dinner and breakfast, the fileds are lrg with about 5 other horses for company during the day and he is filed boss and no one challenges him. He does respect me and my space, i have done alot of groundwork with him last year as he was stabled for 6 months due to a leq injury. He now trusts me to lead him past scary objects on hacks ect....
He is better if i hold his feed bowl and talk to him while he eats but not much.
Hannah
 
i hate to say it, but:

It might help if you can somehow put him out with some horse that is more dominant than him.

When our horses get too confident and become a bit aggressive towards either ourselves or the other horses, we move them around a bit and stick them in a pasture with a proven dominant horse.

We are actually doing it right now with a 6 yr old mare. She was becomig quite ornry at feed time to the other horses - she'd chace them, kick, all sorts. We decide to stick her up in "MEGAN's" pasture because we know Megan will not allow such behavior ;)

It has acutally worked. The 6 yr old has calmed down and been put in her place.

Use caution as your horse may get hurt, but also remember that they are horses and this is the "natural" way
 
thank you for the suggestion but that is really not a goodi idea. A stallion once got loose in his field and goodie (my horse) tried to take him on,
That is one of my worst memories, seeing goodie my horse being pinned to the ground by the shire stallion.....his back is scared now...
There is only one more dominant horse at our yard who goodie doesnt go out with, they had a huge fight and goodie got a bad kick and was on box rest with a nice vet bill.
He will not admit defeat and hes getting on a bit now so i have to be careful who hes turned out with. He is in some respects a bit riggy.....
Hannah
 
Yes, I see, you have experience in this :D LIke I said, it works sometimes with some horses. Your horse must be quite sure of himself!! Well, I wish you best of luck. More vet bills is never a good thing!!
 
Most of what's already been said has about covered this topic--but there are a small, small percentage of horses who act up when they're eating because it HURTS. For various reasons--ulcers most common. It's not probable, but if you have a horse who is only antsy and upset when eating high-content food, it's worth thinking about.
 
Hmm, I'm talking about things that are more difficult to diagnose than teeth. Ulcers have to be diagnosed by guess or with an--endoscope? Something-scope :) Also allergies that cause discomfort but not major allergic reactions are very difficult to diagnose. Such things can make horses very unhappy while eating, though they're fine otherwise.
 
i dont think hes in pain, hes pretty good eating hay and is fine eating his hard feed if there arent more horses around, it does seem more aggression and defence of food rather than pain, but thanx for the suggestion, I am going to do some ground work with him this weekend and see how he responds, thankyou
Hannah
 
I had similar problems with Zig Zag, she was very aggresive at feeding times towards me and other animals, I used to just give her the feed and walk away and leave her. But as you may or may not be aware I got into this holisitic horse care this year and have come to reaslise that the aggression was actually her insecurity around me - put up with it for 3 years and now we have a wonderful bond (we did before but it is stronger and with 100% trust now) I can do anything to her whilst she is eating, although she is still nasty to other horses is food is around, but I think now that is her insecurity and her protecting her food !!!

Cassie was very agressive in general in the stable when she came to me, so I did hold the bucket for her and stroke and talk to her whilst feeding - she too is good now. Similarly she was terrible to rug - initially because she was frightened having never seen a rug before, but nowadays it is really because she is trying to be dominent over me and see what she can get away with - I have noticed this in the field as well. I guess I should be pleased that they see me as part of the herd but it can be unnerving when you have a horse try to dominate you in the field and I am still trying to work on a solution for this one. Zig Zag is top mare when its just them in the field and Cassie is competing with me for second place if I go out there, she will try to herd and bully me to keep me away from Zig Zag - I don't allow it although I don't hit her - currently I am having to put a head collar on lead her to ZIggs and then let he go and get Ziggs - all a pain but I am determine to stay the Top Dog in the field!!!:D
 
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