Yesterday I noticed some disturbing behavior as I let the horses out of the barn. We have a method of doing it that works pretty well for us, which has us releasing each horse mostly in the opposite order of herd position. In our herd, the order is:
1) Moonshine
2) Romeo
3) Valentine
4) Cash
At the moment, Romeo doesn’t have a stall (we hope to finish his new stall Saturday) so I take out a bale of hay and Romeo follows, without returning to the barn. Next goes Cash. He usually doesn’t want to leave the barn so he sniffs the ground, nibbles on stray pieces of hay, tries to get past me to explore the parts of the barn behind me, etc. But eventually he exits and then it’s Valentine’s turn. Valentine isn’t very aggressive at all but as he slowly exits the barn, it usually gives Cash enough momentum to leave too. Lastly it’s Moonshine, and she doesn’t stand for any lazy horsing around. By the time she gets to exit her stall I can tell she’s annoyed at having to wait so long for the others and each time she shoes them out to the hay.
Since each of the horses seems to have to fight for their position to enjoy the days ration of hay each and every day (even though the result is always the same – according to herd position), we split the hay ration into four equal parts, spaced well enough from each other so as to minimize sneak attacks. They play this little game that is not unlike musical chairs until I suppose they tire of chasing each other in circles and settle down to their own piles. On this particular day, I was putting out the hay and Mikki was letting out the horses. Figuring I had a few minutes before Cash would exit the barn, I gave the go-ahead signal to Mikki as I cut the twine on the bale. Romeo munched away as I carried Cash’s flakes to a location an ample distance from Romeo. But this time, Cash exits the barn right away and comes galloping up the hill to where I stand. This isn’t unusual. They’re often a little spunky after being in the barn all night and it was nice and cool out. But this time was different. Cash showed clear signs of agression – towards me! He came right at me, tried to push me aside and then spun around as if to kick me. Fortunately I was paying attention and yelled and jumped out of the way. I couldn’t believe it. I threw his hay down and he ran at me again. To be honest, it was a little intimidating…scary even. I am no match of a 1,000 pound horse.
So of course I’m wondering why he changed on this day; why he saw me as a threat to his food. Is it because he grows weary at constantly being on the bottom of the pecking order? I’m trying to think like a horse but I don’t know what I could have done to position myself as a challenger or as weak. He’s been fine since but I realize we’ll have to be especially careful to watch for this behavior going forward. It’s disheartening, though, because Cash has never been aggressive with us or the others.
Have you experienced this kind of food aggression?
Horses just love to keep you on your toes, don’t they? You may never learn what prompted today’s behavior change, and tomorrow everything may be back to normal — just stay alert!
I do have one suggestion, though. I’d put out 5 stacks of hay — that way there’s always an extra & it seems to minimize the “musical chairs” that my horses play with their hay.
Agree with the extra stack of hay suggestion. Works for our 7 horses, who have various ages and physical conditions/ailments. Also, we found that putting the lead horse out first and the others in descending order reduces the opportunities for contests for position. The only time that doesn’t work is when 1 of 2 nearly equal horses tries to move up in the order. Safety rule # 1 in our barn is never get caught between 2 large animals or between a large animal and a hard place.
I absolutely agree with the extra pile or two of hay. That is good practice when feeding multiple horses.
I have noticed my horse is very hungry these days (we are also in middle TN) and I think the cold weather is a trigger for them to eat more. Although he is rather plump right now and is eating every single scrap I have to ration his hay due to risk of laminitis (many people think that horses can’t founder on hay, but they can). He follows me around with the hay and any buckets I have but isn’t pushy or aggressive. I’d make sure your horses weight is being maintained with your feeding schedule and amounts and don’t be fooled by their winter coats hiding weight loss.
I have 3 horses and I like to make 5 or 6 small piles of hay, when possible. The lead mare chases the others away but there’s always another pile nearby to move on to.
Feeding off the ground is most natural but if there is sand you must use psillium regularly to avoid impaction in the intestines.
oh my what a wonderful video of your 4 i just watched. it was lovely. I still have my first horse. 26 years later.
i’m wondering what did you do after the aggression episode. has it happened since? my first thought is when this happened did you make yourself as big as you can be and stand your ground? or got out of the way? Depending on my take of the situation, i probably would have haltered the vagrant and brought her in the ring for a few lessons on ground manners. just enough to remind her that she can’t do that to you.
Hope it doesn’t happen again. and they are just getting their kicks from the weather and lost his head.
glad to have found your blog. More videos of them romping purty please…
jo
When I feed the hay, I actually make ‘strings’ of hay all over, just to keep them really busy, grazing more like they would in the wild rather then piles.
We haven’t had food aggression, but we have had the same type of aggression with two of our horses, each did it once. One time was my mare. I was in the walk in/out large stall and she pinned me against the wall, purposely. She did that about 6 months or so after I had gotten her. I’m happy to report that she’s never behaved aggressively to me again and I’ve had her now for 3.5 years.
The other time was my youngest daughter’s horse. She actually kicked our eldest daughter (17) in the chin, took her completely by surprise. She was simply ticked off that my daughter didn’t let her go quickly enough (she was on a lead rope and being lead to a pasture they all love to romp in). She’s never done it again, but it certainly made us all realise that you can never, EVER let your guard down around a horse.
I have my 1st horse! Yay! But I discovered food aggression. The hard way ouch he left his hoof print on my leg. He’s a 4 month old Mustang X who was recently weaned from his mom. He’s been by himself in a round pen for 6 weeks maybe within view of his mom & company. (& yes he’s movingto a new home ) They grain & hay in the morning & in the evening we take a grass walk & back to his room (round pen) & I bring his dinner. Needless to say he’s on probation. Its my 1st knowledge of f.a. Any thoughts?
I also agree with the providing extra hay piles. I also have a mare that is very agressive towards me when I feed her, whether it is hay or grain. I usualy make her put her ears foward and pet her before giving her the food. I thought this would stop the agresstion, but after 2 years it has showed no sign of accompishment. Anything else I could possibly try?
We purchased a beautiful gelding about 6 months ago. We introduced him for 6 weeks to our blind horse via one on one side of the round pen and one on the other. Also we grazed him and her together. In a flash after showing no signs of aggression, he kicked her to death which we witnessed. It was a horrible experience. But we decided to give him a chance since he likes to play dominance games but responded well to our workout routine. Now yesterday we get a call from the new stable that when the barn help took food out and put it under the fence, he ran up to the fence and turned his butt and kicked out at her with both barrels. He just missed her head. He also did it to another helper who was giving hay over the fence to the horses. Also when the gal was in the paddock for a few minutes, he spotted her and charged down the hill at her. We do natural horsemanship with him but he was fully trained when we got him. We feel that this type of aggression is way off the richter scale when it involves humans. We are trying to decide if we should sell him with full disclosure of his behaviors and stress that children ( that is who we work with most) should not be involved with this horse. He is a mystery. We have down horsemanship classes and he was fine for that. Please help thanks
what can we do with a new horse that kicked to death our older blind horse, and now is aggressively going after the barn help that feeds him? Kicked with both feet after seeking her and her husband out on three occaissions. He gives no warnings to when he is going to change his mood.