Aggression toward other horses is mostly associated with sexual competition, fear, dominance, or territory (protecting the group and resources). As with aggression toward people, some horses may be pathologically aggressive toward other horses.
Horses may behave aggressively towards people if they feel threatened, or if they are trying to escape or avoid doing what the person wants them to do. They may also behave aggressively as a result of previous experience.
As long as your horse remains calm, reward him with a treat and keep telling him what a good boy he is. Reinforcing calm behavior, though a slow treatment, will help him control his fears. Horses use aggression against each other to maintain their social position in a herd, typically through threats or posturing.
Signs of Aggression
Some may stomp or paw with their feet. The horse's muzzle will tighten and the white in their eyes may show. They may threaten to bite by showing you their teeth or they may actually bite. Some will lift their hind leg as if threatening to kick.
Typically, a horse bites someone as a sign of aggression. However, in some cases, a horse can bite you in a playful manner or even as a sign of affection. Although this can seem sweet at first, any type of biting should be immediately discouraged.
When the horse reaches to bite you, look straight ahead and tap him lightly on the shin of his leg with your foot. Do NOT create pain, just surprise. You want him to associate his effort to bite with a distracting tap on his shin. No fights.
The ears laid flat against the neck, head raised and the horse may lunge at you, whites of the eyes showing, and their mouth open showing their teeth. You should avoid approaching a horse from behind. If you do, they may warn you if they're angry and want you to stay away or go away. If you ignore this, they may kick.
Stand your ground.
Use your body language and stance to let the horse know its behavior is unacceptable. Stand squarely in front of the horse and look it in the eye. This will assert that you are alpha, the horse's leader. Remain calm so that the horse will respond to your behavior in a positive manner.
If the horse needs a mild calming effect, I'll typically recommend a magnesium or herbal product with tryptophan, such as Quietex or Quiessence. There are lots of combinations of other ingredients including valerian root or Thiamine/Vitamin B1. An alternative is Mare's Magic- made of raspberry leaf extract.
Occasionally, a horse will act in a mysterious or atypical way, a personality change that may be hard to describe. Change in environment, new handlers, riders or management, all can contribute to an apparent change in personality. Physical problems can also manifest as atypical behavior.
Some of the most common are those associated with aggression (including aggression towards people), fear and phobias, sexual behavioral problems, performance problems (such as bucking), abnormal eating habits, and undesirable stall behaviors. Many behavior problems in horses are associated with confinement.
Aggression also depends on environmental context (such as scarcity of resources), social necessity (for status or to defend territory) and gender. Not surprisingly, males tend to be more physically aggressive than females. The etiology of neurobiological impairments in the aggressive population requires further study.
Examples of Precipitating Factors
The causes behind aggressive behaviour can include (but are not limited to): Fear, anxiety, stress. Unmet physical needs (hunger, silence) or emotional needs (recognition, love) Traumatic experiences.
The three aggression types comprised reactive-expressive (i.e., verbal and physical aggression), reactive-inexpressive (e.g., hostility), and proactive-relational aggression (i.e., aggression that can break human relationships, for instance, by circulating malicious rumours).
The short answer is yes. Except in extreme cases, horses are capable of trusting humans again.
A horse's head should be off limits to hitting, slapping, pinching or any other action that can cause fear or pain. To do so can cause a head shy horse and a horse that doesn't trust you.
Horses are herd animals and under natural circumstances engage in battle for leadership of their group and for mating purposes. However, stallions (dominant males) do not fight to the death, but until one of them backs down or flees.
To correct a horse that tends to lag behind when being led, you'll need a rope halter and lunge whip. Simply practice leading the horse; if the horse is resisting pressure to the lead rope, use your lunge whip to encourage them to respond to the pressure correctly by moving up.
Researchers found horses tended to move more slowly and have slower heart rates in the presence of fearful humans. Equine head carriage was lowest when horses were around fearful people and those who were tired or stressed following exercise.
Researchers confirmed that horses can smell specific odors in human sweat that reflect emotions like fear and happiness, which could open doors to a whole new way of understanding emotion transfer from human to horse, they say.