[QUOTE=NancyM;4240115]
Well I think that you need to plan out exactly the behaviour that you expect from him at feed time, show him what you want, and expect him to comply with your expectations. DO NOT bring a whip into his stall and start striking him with it, this will only urge him to protect himself MORE, from you, making you a threat to him. Instead, show him how you want him to behave, and reward him. This puts the two of you on the same side, not in opposition to each other. [/QUOTE]
No worries here. I do not believe in instigating a thing. I carry it and only present it if I feel I need to keep him off of me. I never go after him or strike him. I use it more of like a “STOP”. I then speak to him quietly and will drop his grain when his ears come forward. I then leave and do not mess with him b/c I don’t see the point. He eats in peace and quiet.
I also agree that removing the feed, or not giving it to him at all as punishment will not be understood by the horse. He must be shown what you expect in terms of behaviour at feed time, and he is expected to comply. If this has not been done previously in his training, it is up to you to do it now. Good luck, it sounds like the horse just needs some direction in terms of what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable in terms of behaviour at feed time.
I’m in agreement here too. I don’t remove the feed at all. What I don’t do is drop grain if he’s overly aggressive. I quietly walk by his stall with bucket so it’s never been presented to him. Once he’s quiet, I’ll then drop it. I also do not feed the others until he gets his grain first as I don’t want to create any additional issues here. I can tell you that he is getting a little better. He’s better with hay and in fact he has had ears forward with hay. It’s just the grain bucket. I even swap out bucket sizes and colors so he can’t associate a particular bucket with grain. The latest trick I’ve come up with is to present him a carrot/treat to eat (which he’s good about) and once he’s happy about the carrot/treat I drop his grain and go. No ears back on that trick so far!
Thank-you all for the advice. 
