by Kate Manning

Created on: August 20, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

For many owners, their horses become their children. Only sometimes horses have a tendency to act like children! Behavior problems can be spawned from a great number of things. From one day acting differently to highly aggressive or stand offish behavior from the day you get him. Here are some various behavioral problems a horse may develop.

Aggression toward people.

This can mean a great deal of things; Kicking, biting, turning their backs on, pining their ears at and general disrespect that involves walking over and/or through, people. It does not necessarily mean that the horse is unfriendly and mean. It could be a much deeper reaction to previous treatment or impressions this horse has only been exposed to. If he has lived a life of rough treatment, it is not surprising that some horses, like people, will take an aggressive approach in response to it. Others will become shy and afraid. If in fact the horse has been at the same home all it's life and has not been mistreated, yet still act this way, it can be a result from a natural show of dominance (especially with stallions), and so to say putting everyone else in their place, including the people! However, a lot of times, it will be lack of discipline. Although it is easy to spoil and baby' horses, at the same time it will breed this disrespectful attitude, because they are never corrected for their negative actions. They must learn to appreciate their owners and not bite the hand that feeds them - literally!

Aggression to other horses.
When out with other horses, there will occasionally be one horse who picks or bullies others. Whether they are stallions, geldings, mares, fillies, this is almost always a display of dominance. Since horses are herd animals, there is usually a leader or alpha of the herd. In the wild there is an alpha mare and one stallion per herd. Of course, at the farm it is unlikely that studs will be turned out with females, but that may explain the likes of one more aggressive mare in a bunch. Other causes could stem from previous experiences. Horses who have previously been the underdog may take it out on a new herd, or one who has always been dominant will want to challenge any potential competition. Horses have a pecking order or a totem pole of the dominant ones at the top right down to the weaker ones at the bottom. Other aggression a horse will show to another, will come from one-off arguments, disagreements or if one feels threatened by another. Fillies and mares may act stand-offish

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