Dealing with the bully horse

[RedHorses]

Don’t be too concerned. Your horse is worried about because he knows you can’t protect him. Now.

If the BO plans to return the other two horses to the group it would be worth asking if you can do some ground work with the bully first. Just you moving the horse around a paddock or ring with body language, voice, and a flag or longe whip. If you’re uncertain about working him loose start with in hand work. This will allow you to get some respect from the bully horse and learn the body language you need to keep him away from yours while you are bringing yours in.

When you walk past bully’s paddock does he come over to the fence? If he does you could send him away and show your horse you’ll protect him. If he doesn’t a brief halt, back, turn on forehand, walk, halt, turn on forehand other way with your horse could help remind him that he is to be paying attention to you. An alert ear and eye on the other horse is fine, but most of his focus should be what you are doing with him.

There is a paddock sharing a fence line with the sand ring where I board and last summer one of the horses in the paddock started charging at us as I rode along the fence. After some yelling and whacking the fence with my whip I now only need to growl “Giiit!” or his name at him when he looks like he’s thinking about trying it. My horse was a bit worried about the horse, the yelling and the whip at first but he quickly learned that he wasn’t in trouble. I had to make the other horse my priority for a few rides so that he didn’t surprise me.

[KBC]

@RedHorses

When you walk past bully’s paddock does he come over to the fence? If he does you could send him away and show your horse you’ll protect him. If he doesn’t a brief halt, back, turn on forehand, walk, halt, turn on forehand other way with your horse could help remind him that he is to be paying attention to you. An alert ear and eye on the other horse is fine, but most of his focus should be what you are doing with him.

Yup, I realize that I need to do more work with my guy, and this will give us a great opportunity, I need to be more assertive with both of them.

[Postandrails]

If the BO leaves the bully away from his herd for long enough, you shouldn’t have a problem when he rejoins the group. He needs to be out for long enough that he feels like the new horse joining an established herd when he goes back in. He’ll quickly re-establish himself as herd leader, but your horse won’t be the new guy by then.

I’ve seen this work plenty of times.

[Weezer]

I read this with great interest as I’m dealing with a slight bully issue as I’m introducing a new horse to my small herd. One thing I did to prepare is set up a second water trough in the middle of the field so it can be accessed without a horse being cornered. If BO tries to reintroduce the bully horse to the pasture, they should first set up a trough in the area where your guy felt safe.

[KBC]

@Weezer

I read this with great interest as I’m dealing with a slight bully issue as I’m introducing a new horse to my small herd. One thing I did to prepare is set up a second water trough in the middle of the field so it can be accessed without a horse being cornered. If BO tries to reintroduce the bully horse to the pasture, they should first set up a trough in the area where your guy felt safe.

They are ahead of the game there, already installed.

[Pippigirl]

One thing you might consider for the future is get yourself one of those training ropes (for lack of a better word, the ones people use for groundwork) that has a leather popper on the end. When the bully horse approaches he/she may back off if you swing the rope at them and connect with the leather popper. This way you may not need to carry anything extra (crop, etc…) when catching your horse.
Edited to add…desensitize your horse to the swinging rope first

[leheath]

We have one bully gelding at my boarding facility and he just cannot be out with the herd. They have tried multiple times, with multiple herd configurations, and he just bullies any horses that aren’t the lead mare or younger geldings who can get out of his way and/or hold their own. He is one of the BOs retired horses, so he lives in a pen by himself with others around him.

I would agree with the other suggestions for ground work with your horse so you can be safe out in the field when retrieving him. I own both the lead mare and a mid-rank gelding who live in a herd of 4-10 horses. Because the lead mare is mine, she is respectful and knows that I am in charge when I’m in the field, and I will not tolerate her pushing my gelding around when I’m there. They both can be interacting with me as long as they both focus on me and not each other and they abide by those rules with very minimal, occasional reminders! However, my gelding is also comfortable with ropes and whips being used to defend our space from others, so if the herd dynamics change and there is another bossy horse out there, I will still be safe getting my gelding in to ride.

[KBC]

I realize that I have some work to do on my own leadership skills here, and I will certainly be more assertive with my guy, and with Mr Bully.

The thing that shocks me, and makes it harder, is the extreme reaction of my boy, and the distance over which this happens, but we’ll work it out

[leheath]

@KBC

The thing that shocks me, and makes it harder, is the extreme reaction of my boy, and the distance over which this happens, but we’ll work it out

Honestly, I’d have been shocked too as his reaction sounds much more extreme than I would expect given the circumstances you describe. I am relieved for both of you that the BO has removed the offending gelding from the field.

[Elliot12]

I used to bring a dressage whip with me when retrieving mine from pasture. Shaking it & growling at horses that would try to “storm the gate”- after a while -just the growl would deter them. I often carry the whip though-just in case.

[jonem004]

I’ve had this problem with my 16.3hh STALLION!
He’s still a baby, 4 this spring. He knows I’m bigger than him, but last year he wasn’t completely convinced that I was bigger than every horse. When being led past some particular stalls he would pin his ears and try to strike or kick at the horse inside. It really made him look like an aggressive jerk! The guys that did turnout were treating it as such and correcting him, which was escalating the situation.

I did turnout myself for a few weeks and noticed he was really triggered by this one B-mare, because she would pin ears and snake her head over the stall door and threaten him. I growled at her and made her get back because horses aren’t allowed to do that to ME and all of a sudden my boy calmed right down! He’d walk right past her or any stall if I was in the middle and he knew he wasn’t going to get his booty bit.
We all thought he was growing up into a big mean monster stallion and he was really just a big ol chicken!

All this is to say that you really do need your horse to have confidence in your ability to protect them. They need that to trust you as a leader on or off their back. I wouldn’t go out in that, or any field, without at least a nice long dressage whip. A 3ft extension of your Will keeps everyone safer.