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Horse Problem - Aggressive Stallion  - Stallion is aggressive on ground

 

 


 

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QUESTION: Hi Sylvia, I just recently found your web site looking for horse training videos for my stallion. I live in Puerto Rico and it's been hard to find a trainer in natural horsemanship here. I have an 8-year-old stallion that is a cryptorchid, he gets very aggressive with other horses and with me if there are other horses in site. He normally will be crazy to come out of his stall (gets exercise Saturday and/or Sundays) and is hard to lead unless you give him a couple of hard yanks. When you tie him up, he'll start pacing and scuffing the ground and if other horses are around he will get aggressive with me. This is all ground work because as soon as you ride him he's calm. I try to exercise him before I get on by lunging him, but as soon as he can he'll bolt, unless we're in the round pen or another enclosed area. I've been trying to find a video that can help me with these things but normally nothing is mentioned about aggressive horses. If you have any video or suggestion please let me know. I am starting to get scared of him. Help!

REPLY: Hi. Thanks for writing. First...I wanted to say that any stallion that is kept stalled is going to go ballistic when you take them out. All of them. Always. Stalls are very harmful (mentally & physically) ways to keep horses, but even moreso for stallions. Let me direct you to a link on my site that goes into more detail about that issue/stalling horses (just normal horses, but the problem is worse with stallions, I assure you):

This horse needs to be pastured at all times, and that will help you there a lot for a start because you won't be dealing all the time with pent-up energy that bottles dangerously. If your present boarding situation doesn't allow for pasturing, I would highly recommend looking for another boarding facility that will allow your horse to be pastured, living life outdoors 24/7, more naturally.

Also...I would definitely advise having the surgery done as soon as possible to correct the cryptorchid issue (more about cryptorchid horses here), or you WILL have problems of aggression with this horse probably forever. Having the operation won't turn it around overnight necessarily (because now it is learned behavior), but it will diminish the problem over time, plus will allow you to train him more easily and more safely once the hormones work their way out of his system. Until then...you ARE dealing with a stallion, and that can be dangerous. I want to direct you to another link on my site that goes into the subject of owning (technically what you have there) a stallion, so you can see that what you are dealing with there is very dangerous -- too dangerous!:

Stallions are serious business and should only be handled/trained by highly qualified professional trainers, in my opinion (and in most respected natural horsemanship trainer opinions).

But I would advise getting the operation to correct him into a gelding, pasture him, then get busy working with him. I would suggest starting the training with round penning, which you can read step by step how to do that the natural horsemanship way here:

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

But be careful there! Stallions can sometimes challenge (instead of flight response). That video should be able to help you a lot there, I think, for a start.

Round penning is a good place to start for the very bottom of building (or rebuilding) a horse's foundation the natural horsemanship way. That's where I start with most horses myself. It sets you up as leader of their "herd" and them finding comfort in being the follower, for a start (it also fixes hard to catch horses, etc.).

For the next steps after that, to fast track you there, I would suggest applying horse whispering/natural horsemanship training techniques in a very clear step-by-step program, which you can learn more about in my DVD set, the Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System, and you can order that here: CLICK HERE

After watching the videos, and after learning and applying the methods, you, as the horse's primary teacher, will have taught the horse:

  • How to be bonded to you more deeply so that the horse trusts you to the max and they will be far more willing to do whatever you ask, even when they are in doubt;
  • That you both have a "bonding place" (a "safety zone") to come back to always, from then on, if the horse is ever upset or afraid, on the ground (or later, in the saddle); we plant a one-rein stop in the foundation of every horse, on the ground first, so that in the saddle, it is automatic. This keeps you safer and the horse more rational, and feeling supported, bonded, connected more deeply emotionally to you.
  • How to relax the horse when they are tense about something before they are called upon to react negatively.
  • How to have the horse yield easily, in any direction when asked -- they'll learn how to yield properly to pressure to receive the release of pressure. All horses learn from the release of pressure what it is you want, not from the pressure itself;
  • How to progress bonding to even deeper levels to the point of downright intimacy; makes a horse feel like they never had it so good being with you!
  • How to move the horse from the rear, and learning to do that rationally, which is so important to teach a horse to do before you ever ride them, and which you'll be using for a lot of other things like trailer loading, going in and out of a gate, into a stall, and so many other places/situations; this also teaches a horse that you are in charge of their feet.
  • How to address effectively any fears (and the horse's reactions to them) that you flush out in their behavior at any given time; my program focuses greatly on finding the fears before they find you and fixing them -- safely on the ground first! Even lay folks can do this. It's all about: safety. This then builds a far more rational, confident, happy, trusting horse, because, in essence, you have effectively raised the horse's "fear/anxiety bar." And you will have taught the horse simultaneously in the process, how to turn to you for nurturance support when/if they are ever afraid or upset.
  • How to do all this first on the ground, then later in the saddle, in that order.
  • How to keep you safe and the horse safe at all times, throughout all of this --- always my biggest training focus.

This video set will help you to lay down an even stronger, more solid and trusting foundation under your horse that will then serve you well, tremendously, actually, when you do step up into the saddle. By the time you complete the steps, you will have a transformed horse. The final steps are in the saddle and those exercises will more deeply plant into your horse's foundation the one-rein stop/the "safety zone," and more, that will turn the horse into a far, far more rational, trusting, happier -- and safer -- horse in saddle as well.

And you can do this yourself if you just back up and learn a few things yourself there. This video set will get you there the fastest with your horse, which is why I'm recommending this route. It's designed for anyone on any level, horse or human, to get professional trainer-like results.

And incidentally...my Whispering Way Complete Training Package contains all my videos and training tools that you need to train or retrain your horse yourself the natural horsemanship Whispering Way. You can check out/order the Whispering Way Complete Training Package on my web site here: CLICK HERE

I'm a very strong believer that every horse owner is their horse's primary teacher/trainer whether they realize it or not. Every time you are with your horse, that horse is learning something. You just want to make sure the horse is learning what you want them to learn, not what you don't want them to learn! My natural horsemanship training techniques are gentle, effective, and powerful. Works with every horse every time!

But it's real important to back up and break down all teaching steps in a way that you are releasing baby-gives, allowing the horse to feel the release for the right answers incrementally, so that they learn that's really what you want.

But unless you get the hormone problem fixed via the proper gelding procedure now (vets can go in to get that testicle, is done all the time!) AND turn him out to pasture 24/7, instead of stalling him, you're still going to have a problem forever, I fear.

Hope this helps and good luck to you there!

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