Hi
I haven't posted for a while as my riding has kind of ground to a halt - my instructor left and I can only get group lessons now which aren't going too well. This is a non-riding related question though; what is the best way to deal with aggressive horses? I was out walking yesterday, following a public footpath which went through a field with a couple of horses on the other side. As we went through it they came over to us - so I was thinking "ah, nice horses". At that point one came straight for me, bit me hard on the arm and kept biting. We were backing away from them but they just followed, ears back, eyes rolling, biting at coats, trousers etc. Not fun. Fortunately after a couple of minutes the owner noticed what was happening and came and chased them off. As soon as her back was turned they were straight back for us again so she came back and took them out of the field.
I've been trying to work out if it was anything I did to provoke them but we were just ignoring them. What is the best way to deal with a situation like that (bearing in mind I'm still not that confident about horses) - I thought of shouting / being aggressive but was worried it might see that of more of a challenge and get worse. What should I have done?
(To top it all off I then had a group lesson on a horse that seemed to want to do everything possible to remove me from his back - including doing a very good impression of a rocking horse on the spot by throwing his back and front legs all over the place. I know that it was probably because it was cold and windy and he'd been freshly clipped, he was testing me out etc and "that's just horses", but my confidence levels in horses are a little low at the moment!)
Thanks
N
I haven't posted for a while as my riding has kind of ground to a halt - my instructor left and I can only get group lessons now which aren't going too well. This is a non-riding related question though; what is the best way to deal with aggressive horses? I was out walking yesterday, following a public footpath which went through a field with a couple of horses on the other side. As we went through it they came over to us - so I was thinking "ah, nice horses". At that point one came straight for me, bit me hard on the arm and kept biting. We were backing away from them but they just followed, ears back, eyes rolling, biting at coats, trousers etc. Not fun. Fortunately after a couple of minutes the owner noticed what was happening and came and chased them off. As soon as her back was turned they were straight back for us again so she came back and took them out of the field.
I've been trying to work out if it was anything I did to provoke them but we were just ignoring them. What is the best way to deal with a situation like that (bearing in mind I'm still not that confident about horses) - I thought of shouting / being aggressive but was worried it might see that of more of a challenge and get worse. What should I have done?
(To top it all off I then had a group lesson on a horse that seemed to want to do everything possible to remove me from his back - including doing a very good impression of a rocking horse on the spot by throwing his back and front legs all over the place. I know that it was probably because it was cold and windy and he'd been freshly clipped, he was testing me out etc and "that's just horses", but my confidence levels in horses are a little low at the moment!)
Thanks
N