Horse Problem - Aggressive Horse When Touched - Horse gets aggressive when touched

First off, I have a 19-year-old gelding, which I've had for the past five years, who (I hope) was not "proud cut"; something I'll have checked via the blood test you recommended. Secondly, he seems to have a split personality: on the trail he's THE perfect horse who responds positively to everything, totally cooperative, and very willing when dealing with all cross country riding challenges (streams, rivers, trees, terrain, etc); however, at home in his paddock he assumes the Mr. Hyde personality and is inclined to be aggressive, putting his ears back and attempting to bite, when approached with a lead and halter, and touched anywhere on his body (short of his cheeks and chin). This only happens with personal encounters. There's NO aggressiveness when I walk the pastures with him following me (which he does out of heart by running up to me, tagging along like a curious puppy), feeding him (very positive like a puppy jumping up and down waiting for his meal to be served), cleaning his stall with him in it, dealing with farriers and vets, and arena exercises.

I have tried the John Lyon's approach of laying my hands on him very gently and showing him unlimited kindness, with assertive correction when he becomes too bold or mean in spirit.

I'm at a loss trying to determine why the bold character at home when simply touched and extremely cooperative on the trail. I'm also amazed at the different input from others I heard regarding his type of behavior from putting him on the ground beating him into submission to simply putting him down (neither of which are the answers in my book).

I'm not green and have been dealing with horses for the past forty years, but this one I just can't get my hands around (no pun intended). Do you have any ides beyond the blood (testicle) analysis for proud-cut?

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this.

But first...as for the aggressive space invasion (we'll call it here), I would follow this route, similar to what I teach in this problem here: Horse Aggressive at Feeding time

When he acts aggressive, he gets "sent." Exactly like a lead mare in a herd would do with him. If you haven't already, I would also highly advise round penning this guy the step by step way I teach here: Effective Round Penning Techniques

My Whispering Way Round Pen Leadership DVD also teaches the art of natural horsemanship round penning visually. To learn more about and order that video: CLICK HERE

That exercise will better establish you as the leader of his herd, and him as the "follower." He wouldn't DREAM of biting out at the "lead mare" of his herd when approached, he'd rather die first, so that round pen exercise, for a start, will set that hierarchy better in his mind. To understand a little more about natural horsemanship and how we use that to apply prey animal psychology to training horses the NH way, read this link on my site because it will help you to understand all the "why's" these methods work: What Is Natural Horsemanship?

After you've done the round penning, halter him with a natural horsemanship halter with 12-foot lead (I sell them here: CLICK HERE - very, very crucial training tool I won't work without, it is that important for superior communication when training.) After haltering, work on using these bonding/relaxing techniques for a start if you can: Horse Whispering "Tricks of the Trade" - To relax horse, build trust & bond them to us

After that, one of the first exercises I would want to work on with a horse like this is this one (because it will further reinforce that you are the leader in charge of his feet): Leading Problems - Horse runs over human/How to teach horse back-up cue on ground

That particular exercise is going to go a long, long way physically & mentally with that horse, you'll see! Horses follow a prey/herd animal instinct that goes like this: he who moves the other's feet is higher on the pecking order and therefore worthy of being leader. He's learned to move others' feet on the ground, hence perceives himself "herd leader" there. Time to take back that leadership via moving his feet when he acts up like that. That on-line backing/come forward exercise implants in his brain deeper that you are the leader in charge of moving his feet and he'll relax and let go of thinking he needs to do anything about that. And, in the process, he'll learn that the follower spot is actually a far more relaxed and rewarding place to be.

After that, I would suggest diving in and working on desensitizing him to some things, because once these are accomplished, he's going to let go of those "touching issues" completely.

Do this one first: Wand-Training Fear - Horse fears training wand with plastic/How to desensitize

And another link along the same lines there: Spooky Horse - Horse spooks at things in saddle - how to desensitize spooky horse

Believe it or not, the root of your horse's aggressiveness is: fear, I think. "Don't touch me, I'm afraid of that!" is his stance and he plays out the warning aggressively, rather than via flight. Do that desensitizing with plastic in your hand like I show there, then plastic on the end of the wand, in that order, if you can, but get creative there, listening to what works best with that particular horse; and it's going to get him past touching issues because you'll be raising his fear bar there. Horses that are aggressive like that are simply "fight, not flight" horses, but the root cause is the same for a horse who spooks away at the same things/issues usually.

After all that, I'd raise his bar even higher by doing this tarp desensitizing: Tarp Desensitizing - Horse is afraid of plastic tarps

Trust me, all the above routes will go a long, long way for you there! The long way is the short way here; the time you take to back up and do all the above, will transform your horse there and have him more compliant on the ground and respecting you (and others) better from then on. And he'll lose his aggression.

All of the above (and much, much more) is taught in my Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System DVD set. Usually it helps to see this natural horsemanship art taught visually, to really understand how it is all done. You can get that DVD set here: CLICK HERE

I had dealt me a 20-something-year-old horse exactly like that which I was called in to fix a couple of years ago, reminds me of yours there, so...know: a horse is never too old to learn/change! That horse got fixed going the exact route I'm showing you there. Incidentally, biting is not tolerated. Follow the 3 second rule and act fast when/if he attempts to bite, but have it involve moving his feet, preferably backwards. And use a loud "shhhh" sound when sending him back (jerking the lead rope down repeatedly if he's on line when he tries to bite and walking into him, which will send him scooting backwards). The shhhh sound is very effective in their brains to mean "stop it!" eventually. You have 3 seconds to do this after the bite or bite attempt; after that 3 seconds it means absolutely nothing to the horse, so don't go there after the 3 second window has passed.

Try all of the above and let me know how it goes. Keep the faith. You're on the right track stopping and asking for some directions. This is the kind of horse I love getting in demo clinics, because they sometimes make the most dramatic change with these methods, attesting to the power of the natural horsemanship approach!

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