Help please!

[Beth G]

I have a friend that has a 3 1/2 year old mare. She is very aggressive with people and other horses. She has bitten her, kicked her and even charged her and knocked her down. She is nice occasionally. Does anyone have any suggestions on how she should deal with her? Any help would be very much appreciated!! Thank you!

 

[txminipinto]

Has she been palpated for any reproductive issues? Occassionally, a mare can be aggressive due to cysts on ovaries. Regumate may help her as well. I know nothing of your friend, but she's going to have to get very assertive with her to correct this behavior.

 

[Reble]

Her mare is not excepting her as the boss.

If she believes there is no health problems this might help.

In a herd situation, yes she is the Alpha mare, telling them what and when to do things.

If she has an area to lunge or round pen, with lunge whip, she needs to be worked.

After getting her to walk or trot, tell her to stand and see what she does.

If she turns her butt make her work, she will catch on all you want is her to stand facing you.

Once she stops and faces her, she is starting to except her.

Than slowly go up to her and pet her, lots of praise.

I am sure others on here will have some good ideals.

 

[Beth G]

Thanks so much, I will have her check into it!

 

[JAX]

I agree with both posters so far, hormonal issues, behaviorial issues, but would also like to add possibly treating for ulcers for a couple of weeks and if that helps then planning on keeping up with treatment for another month at least. Sometimes ulcers can cause aggression with no other signs. I promise I have seen it before.

 

[midnight star stables]

I would also add having a blood test done, just to make sure everything is normal there too. Hormonal issues and ulcers, as mentioned, are other areas I would pay close attention to and rule out first.

When possible health issues are ruled out, I completely agree about behavioral. Also, is the mare equally aggressive to all humans, or just your friend?

Keep us posted, hopefully it is something she can fix easily.

 

[Beth G]

Thanks for your help everyone, I will pass on all the info. She seems to be more aggressive with her than her husband, but just recently started behaving badly for him also.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Check and make sure its no health reasons and once everything is cleared start getting the mare trained right away. Highly recommend Clinton Anderson's fundamentals series.

 

[supaspot]

is this your friends first horse ?? a couple of years ago a lady asked me for help with her mare , the mare was biting and chasing her out of the field , she was difficult to catch and when you did catch her she wouldnt lead properly , her husband tried and she was only very slightly better , it got to the point where they were very scared of her , as she lives several hours away I suggested that she come and stay with me for a week ..I can honestly say that mare never did a mean thing , she was nervous when touched around her tummy but I found she was full of matts and the skin was sore I clipped it off and she was fine after that , a second horse came with her , she was a bundle of nerves and had no confidence

I never had any problems at all with either horse , it was the owner who wasnt asserting herself as boss , I did help her and give advice on handling and she did improve , I took her and her mares to some shows but she was never confident on her own and didnt want the mares to go back home ...she eventually sold both mares to me , I sold her a gentle gelding and she was so much happier

 

[Carolyn R]

So many things can be the cause.

Not feeling up to parr, stress, dominence, reestablishment within the herd.... I will be honest nd say horses will be horses and given that that there is sufficient space for them to establish their pecking order, sometimes one just needs to sit back and let them work it out. Running in and correcting them WILL show them you are in charge, HOWEVER, it will do no good when you are not around (I am just using the word "you" figuratively, I know it is not your horse).

It is extremely important that, when introducing and housing horses together hat they have more than adequate space.

I also sent you a PM.

 

[targetsmom]

Do a forum search on "aggression" - I just posted about this recently in our mare. With our mare it came on suddenly and seemed to be relieved with Regumate, suggesting a hormonal issue or issues with her ovary. Once we figured that out (took awhile) we had the vet give her a longer-lasting shot which does the same thing as Regumate (i.e. is progesterone) and he just sent blood to test for "inhibins" which is a marker for an ovarian tumor. That worked out to be cheaper and less stress on the mare than an ultrasound, which was our other choice. If the mare is nice some of the time then it might be a health or hormonal issue like ours was.

We also had our mare tested for Lyme Disease (and results are not definitive!) and are treating her for ulcers.

Good luck!