Mare Suddenly Aggressive

[scrbear11]

9yo Appendix mare. Retired Jumper after multiple extensive soft tissue injuries. She’s been retired since April 2020.

As a performance horse she was kept on hormones - depo, then regumate, as that seemed to help smooth performance issues (sulky, sour) while in heat. It also enabled her to be turned out with other horses so she would tolerate more turnout time. She’s a royal B in the field and could be very aggressive to other horses, especially other mares. But really, she had been living happily in the same group of four for the last year.

I pulled her off regumate in June to attempt to save money since she wasn’t going to the shows anymore. She stayed happily off hormones in her group.

Recently, within the last week, she’s become a little more pissy being handled and in the stall. Temps are dropping, they are getting a little less turnout now, I just figured that was it. Yesterday the group was racing around the field. I saw something and went out to check the fence - I hopped the gate and got about five feet in the field. She charged me. I jumped onto the gate to keep from getting run over.

Today, my only boarder went into the field to pet her horse. It is not abnormal for my boarder to go into the field with the group and safely handle her horse. My boarder turned her back - Mare charged her and knocked her down.

Anyone have any ideas? I have spent an ungodly amount of money on vet bills for this horse. Another huge expense is not an option for her. I love her, but I will not tolerate a horse that’s aggressive to people. I cannot have that liability on my farm.

[SuzieQNutter]

There is a type of horse that is not a pet.

Sim is one of those horses. In my hands he is a lamb. He is better trained than the other horses as I do not give him an inch. I can control him with a look or my voice. I can feed him without a halter on. I can do anything with him.

I have told hubby repeatedly that this horse is not a pet.

DO NOT hand feed.

DO NOT feed without a halter on until I say so.

I do not say this once. I say this 10 times a day. He repeats it back to me. He lies when I say did you give Sim a carrot. He says no as Sim goes crunch crunch, crunch. Hubby thinks it is funny.

I walk into the laundry. Hubby has the feed bin on the washing machine. Sim has his head and neck stretched and can reach one inch above the feed bin. Hubby is putting one carrot on the feedbin, one to Sim, one in the 2nd feedbin, one to Sim, one in the 3rd feedbin one to Sim.

This is not funny. He will go you. Do not feed by hand.

He gives him carrots from the ute when he gets home. Then complains when he can’t park the ute without Sim pulling the feedbags off the back.

This goes along for 10 years, but I am always there to put Sim down a peg.

Sim does not help by being oh so cute when he looks ar you with his ears forward.

Until I go away for work for 3 weeks.

At feed time Sim charged him from 12 feet away, knocked him down and gave him a black eye and hubby is a big guy about 6 foot tall.

There is not much sympathy from me on the phone.

You are lucky. I told you he would go you if you break the rules.

He did not have a go at me. He didn’t try to kick or bite. He charged me.

I did not say he would have a go at you. I told you he would go you … and what did he do afterwards?

He backed up and said sorry.

So he didn’t really go you.

YES HE DID. HE FULL ON WENT FOR ME.

No he did not. If he fully went for you he would have charged you, spun around and double barreled you in the head and you would be dead.

DO NOT HAND FEED HIM.

DO NOT FEED WITHOUT A HALTER ON.

Which lasted about 3 weeks. Hubby has reverted back to his old ways

Now your horse. People do not realise how dangerous a horse can be. It never occurs to them that they are in danger entering a paddock.

Trying to save money does not work with horses. It will cost you more in the long run. Poverty is owning a horse. Skimp on foot care you end up with ring bone. Skimp on worming, you just feed the worms, skimp on tack you end up with problems, skimp on vaccines you end up with illness, skimp on medication and you now have a problem that is probably not fixable.

As in now only experienced horse trainers like me should handle her when she is free. Amateurs no. Having her in a paddock that others have to go in. No.

Putting her back on what you took her off may bring back a nice horse. But if she attacks someone else and they are worse off than being knocked down. You have been warned. You will be liable.

Separate her. You should be the only one who handles her. No one is allowed in with her. Not even a worker to feed or clean the paddock. That is now on you.

Up your horsemanship so you can control with or without a halter. Do not trust her with other people unless they are better than you.

Cue all the people saying do not enter the paddock without a lunge whip or poly pipe!

[sing]

Obviously need to get the vet involved. Might be dealing with an ovarian tumor.

When we had our mare spayed because of this, a few clinics would not do the surgery because they were under the impression that we just wanted the one ovary removed, and they didn’t feel like they had the ability to do that. But apparently a spay is a lot simpler and more clinics can do that.

[candyappy]

Either try putting her back on the hormones or put her down? If you don’t want to spend money on diagnosis then I don’t see any other options unless you keep her by herself.

Someone is going to get hurt. You, your boarder , a vet or farrier . I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.

Did I quote you @SuzieQNutter ? I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t criticizing your post, I was replying to the OP’s.

Gotta love the new format…

[cnd8]

Oh wow, that’s really aggressive.

[Mulligan314]

I’m in the ‘there’s no room on the property for a dangerous horse’ but also wouldn’t make that final decision until some reform work was tried. We had a mare go total sour - charging us in the field - and it took some time, and a total change in her work to fix. We stopped turning her out turned with the other horses. We always had to carry a whip when we went to go get her. I was young, but I still remember her nearly trampling my mom and me multiple times. She wasn’t retired at the time, and was still very valuable, but was definitely telling us how much she was done with the show ring. So, we did put a lot of work into her, changed up her scenery, and eventually she came back around. She was always a pretty moody mare to other horses, but never vicious to humans like she was during that time. Glad we got her back.

In a different case, we had another mare that was just plain dangerous…While she was incredibly pleasant/sweet, she had no respect for space and would bulldoze you, or WHATEVER was in the way, if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. After 10+ years of worrying that we would find someone trampled out in the field/barn, she was sent peacefully over the rainbow bridge.

So, we’ve done both: Reformed and also said it’s not worth our(or anyones) safety. I know the second is a terribly difficult choice (it took me 5 is years to finally make the decision), so I feel for you. It’s never easy, even with the dangerous ones.

[scrbear11]

I agree with you. But I do not agree with you.

This horse has never been aggressive to people before, ever. Other horses, yes, people, never. If I felt this was a simple horsemanship/training issue I would not have posted.

Her change in behavior is alarming.

[scrbear11]

Phone call into her vet. Sounds like a visit is needed.

[SuzieQNutter]

Yes hubby would have said sudden change in behaviour as well. It was just that I had been telling him it would happen and knew it wasn’t a sudden change.

Sudden change or not, every time you interact with them you are training them. Twice she has been trained that she can attack and that it is good as there were no consequences. As I said you have been warned and next time it could be worse. Advanced people only should handle her. Horse trainers, not just horse riders.

I would not be keeping her where other people need to enter the paddock to get their own horse.

[Posting_Trot]

I definitely think a vet check is appropriate. This is a pretty dramatic uptick in terms of aggression (assuming that she’s never, ever exhibited that kind of aggression towards a person before).

There could be any number of physical things going on, ranging from tumors to hormonal imbalances, mineral deficiencies, an active Lyme infection, general pain or body-soreness, etc. I hear what you’re saying that you don’t want to spend a lot of money on diagnosis and treatment, but if it’s a question of pain that can be managed, or a diet that can be re-balanced, or an infection that can be treated, there might be a relatively simply way of addressing the behavior.

If nothing comes up on the vet check, or if there’s some very difficult problem that not easy or inexpensive to treat (like a brain tumor, for example), then I think euthanasia is a kind option.

And I think you’re wise to think about the safety of your boarder as well as your own safety.

Good luck.