REPLY: Hi. Thanks for writing. Well...since children are concerned there, my first reaction is to suggest getting rid of him since it doesn't sound like he is (or ever will be maybe?) totally safe around children. Horses like this...usually the problem was caused by being starved down at some time in their past (not enough food, not enough to go around), so they get on "survival of the fittest" mode. Instinctively. It's a very common behavior problem in horses who were starved at some time. Picture a dwindling water hole in deepest Africa and how animals will fight over the last drop, even to the death, and that's what happens in horses who have been starved down at some point (before you got him). It's not an easy behavior to undo fast because they have a sensory memory of starvation, now playing out as a behavior problem.

The other problem you have there is how you are feeding horses their supplement feed (I'm assuming they have grass/hay access aside from this feeding time, so they're not really "starving" hungry per se). But the problem with horses is: they are 100% a pecking order, herd animal. There is a #1, #2, #3 & #4, pecking order hierarchy, etc. And #1 pecking order horse, according to their herd "rules" (all horses) gets first access to food resources. So...when you place buckets out without restraining each horse individually, even though you've spaced them out like that, if he finishes his food first, it is complete instinct for him to go and take away the food resources of those below him in pecking order. And the lower pecking order horse IS going to move aside and allow this. That's basic herd instinct, to their core. So...your feeding practices are going against what is basic inborn instinct in them. And we want to work with a horse's instincts, not against them. A better way to feed a group their supplement is to tie or stall each separately for the duration of them eating their grain, then there are no pecking order fighting issues going on. Our domestic-kept horses shouldn't have to fight over food, so we need to set up our feeding practices so that they don't have to fall back on primal instinct to fight over food, a basic need. The stronger, higher pecking order horse will always win that game, and that's just herd instinct.

Your new horse, aside from having clearly an aggressive-toward-humans behavior problem that is not acceptable, of course, is also neurotic about probably having to control all the food resources there, my guess. So...maybe he won't even wait until he's finished his own doled-out grain, but he's probably going to be frantically rushing to others' buckets, so he can control all of it, and he is going to use aggression, because that's what a higher pecking order horse usually does, to move away a lower pecking order horse, to dominate the resources. And this again goes back to: in the past he was probably in a starved-down situation and this is what he has learned to survive.

So...part of this problem is of course, his own (from being starved down usually) toxic aggressive behavior now that he doesn't even shut off toward humans, but the present feeding practices there are only making matters worse. You could turn this around via what you saw in my web site Q&A section on "aggressive at feeding time" issues, but what the deal breaker is there for me, in my opinion: there are children present regularly. This type of horse is NOT going to stop that aggression towards a child or if the child happens to be in his path. They don't discriminate there, they are on blind-aggression-about-food mode, and no child has the assertive ability to stop it. A trained adult could--you'd have to get really tough there to SEND THE HORSE AWAY when he does that until he learns how to behave properly (you being the "lead mare" of the herd), but honestly...no child could do this. There is an exercise you, the experienced-with-horses adult can do to set up the problem, flushing it out completely and affording you the schooling opportunity to teach him right from wrong there, but in a structured, controlled way, and I'm going to direct you to the link on my site to show you how you can structure that lesson (because you might not have seen this link):

Stopping Horse-to-Horse Aggression - How can I stop one horse from biting another?

What bothers me hearing there, though, is...the fact that he "attacks" you, the human, with teeth barred, even on the opposite side of the fence from you when food is present (I'm assuming that's the main/only time he's showing that level of aggression). This is an extremely dangerous horse in this category, then, who clearly has never been taught to respect humans in general and needs a lot more training before he's safe. The fact that he's 5 is good news to me though, for the long run. Five is "still a kid" horse to me. And in the wild, there's no way a 5 year old horse would be highest in pecking order usually, as he is "a kid" still. They're really not developmentally & emotionally adults until 7 & older. So, they are usually easier to turn around in the respect category when so young.

So....sometimes it's just a case of a "spoiled kid" kind of thing going on, but unfortunately, they're not human kids, they're horse kids, big & with teeth and dangerous when on aggressive mode like that. I don't tolerate for one second a horse on aggressive mode in the presence of humans. I would be in there immediately with my 12' lead rope spinning at them, smacking the ground hard with it, along with maybe my extendable training wand with plastic tied to the end waving toward them, all designed to SEND THEM AWAY when they show any aggression like that whatsoever. And this is language horses are born understanding--the "send away" banishment from the herd when misbehaving. The lead mare of a herd does this every day, as she's in charge of raising the youngsters to be obedient and get along with others. In the banished time-out spot, they rethink their behavior and figure out what type of behavior is acceptable. But your new horse might not know any of this, never been taught. It's not too late to change him, but it's going to take consistency on the human population part there to NEVER tolerate this aggressive behavior and send him away when he "goes there" and only let him back in to eat when he's quieter/non aggressive. Again, those links in my Q&A section of my web site, under "aggressive at feeding time," go over all that. How long would it take?: weeks to months possibly, but consistency in never allowing the behavior at all is key!

But the problem there, with your situation....you said you can't be there every day to handle that (horses need consistency, especially in the reschooling phase or it just doesn't work) and unless someone can do that for you when you're not there...he's going to stay in that present aggressive-at-feeding-time very dangerous spot. And...no, I don't think he sounds safe right now to have around kids. So...sounds like he should go? The well-being of kids is far more important than one particular messed up horse. You would probably kick yourself later if a child got hurt by this horse. So...sounds like: he just doesn't fit into your place/program there. Not worth the stress and danger risk probably!

If you do decide to keep him, aside from being consistent in never letting him come in with aggressive stance at feeding time, I would want to get busy fast in retraining him overall. I would start with round penning, to better establish you, the human, as the real leader of the herd & I teach round penning here:

Effective Round Penning Techniques

After that, I would plug him into my Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System training program, which would help him every direction. The importance of getting busy with all that is about: not just spending time showing him what he's not allowed to do, but getting busy showing him, training him, to know what IS allowed to do, rebuilding into his foundation our own "herd expectations." Clearly no one has taught him this in his past and he needs to be taught that!

But there is nothing wrong with passing him along now to a home who might be better equipped to handle all that, with no vulnerable children around while he's being retrained. Kids have got to come first, I think!

That's my two cents worth! :-) Hope it helps!