Training Tips

QUESTION: Dear Sylvia, I hope you can help me with a problem I have with my four-year-old 15.3 quarter horse. I bought him last year from a lady I knew, he wasn't broke, so he went straight to the trainers for two weeks. Trainer said he was doing great and I can bring him home. (I did that because I wanted to work with him as well. I just wanted the trainer to kick start him for me.) He did great for me all summer long. Trail rode him everyday with no problems. However, he always pinned his ears back at me but I though it was because he was scared and insecure. (He is the only horse here, but he has cows nearby for company. first time he saw the cows, he broke the fence and ran off; we caught him and it took him 3 days to get used of the cows. I had to lock him in the stall where he could still see the cows but not run away.)

So winter came, and I live in Michigan and this past winter was a harsh one. I barely rode him but tried to still do something with him everyday, lead, brush, feet work neck flexes, lowering of the head. But everyday just got worse. He would chase me out of the pasture, rear up at me, bite me, bite me, bite. He got so bad I COULD NOT lead him, he would turn to rear. I tried everything to stop this behavior. I was going to sell him because he was too dangerous.

But then... spring came and I started to take him out and work with him more and he totally changed. So I took him back to the trainers and we both could not believe it was the same horse. He was behaving so well. She said he was the fastest horse to pick up on her methods than any horse she trained before!

Here is the problem. She left him in a round pen the whole two weeks. She did not do anything with him for three days because she had to take a horse down state because it was deathly ill. She got back and heard he was charging people when they walked by the pen. He would run right into the pen at a full sprint, crashed right into the sides, ears pinned back and on a mission to hurt! But he only did it when people were on the outside so he knew he wouldn't get in trouble. She talked to three other trainers and they all said he was a ticking time bomb, and surprised I haven't gotten hurt by him yet. She said he is just a mean horse by nature and that is not a trainable thing to break. She said he would be a fine horse but he can never have any time off because he just gets too angry and annoyed.

So please, please help me. I love the horse to death and I am so upset to see him go. He never gave me any problems yet! (I now have him home). He pins his ears back more now. And I was there every time she worked with him and she did not to anything traumatizing. He did do very well.

So is this just a mean horse? Should I sell him? She suggest laying him down for 20 to 30 minutes and sitting on him and petting him. Would this change him?

Thank you so much for reading this long question. Please let me know what you think. I am completely torn about this horse.

REPLY: This is a tough question indeed. My first instinct is that this horse needs to be turned out into a herd of horses, preferably with a strong lead mare there that knows how to put "bratty" horses in their place. I've seen horses like this/like you described and an awful lot of them have not been properly socialized by other horses and taught acceptable/non acceptable behavior, and they can turn into brats, every direction. I have a feeling that might be what you are dealing with there. Horses simply do not grow up properly being kept away from a natural herd set up, as those are the key formative years for them to learn proper herd/horse behavior, and to be quite honest, humans cannot teach them this -- it must be taught by other horses. The brattiest (and hence most dangerous) horses I've run across always seem to be the "orphan" horse situation where they were raised by humans, in some way or another, and not kept within a herd with other horses. I myself would want to dump this horse into a strong herd set up where he would instantly be taken down many pegs in pecking order. It's going to be stressful on him for a bit, because somehow he thinks, even at his young age, that he's the leader of all around him, but within a strong well-balanced herd set up, he so would not be, due to his young age. I think he's missed that in his development, and if he doesn't get that soon, I fear there may be no positive outcome in the end.

I don't know if laying him down will help, but I think the core issue needs to be: get him with a herd as soon as possible and let them start schooling him on what's proper behavior and what is not. Well balanced horses know! And they'll teach him fast. The stronger the lead mare type horse placed around him, the better.

Put your safety first, always. If things don't change enough, even after following the above, think about getting rid of him and getting yourself a safer horse. No one horse is ever worth you or someone else getting seriously injured. Food for thought.