My very sweet 14 month old gelding kicked me in his stall last night. He generally is a really sweet guy. I put his food in his bucket and then walked from the dutch door to the inside door (my stalls are pretty big 12 x15 so there’s lots of room). He turned his rear end to me backed up and proceeded to kick me rather hard. It was mean spirited to say the least. I am pretty sore but will live. But what has caused this all of a sudden? I am afraid to feed him now. He came after me about a week ago but I shrugged it off - similar situation, in his stall at feeding time. Any advice? What should I do here? I am new at the youngster thing and things have been going well with this guy. He’s been on the farm since January.
Yes. You need to put junior to work. That means it’s time for him to start with some light round penning, longing, and walking. If he engages in disrespectful behavior you “jerk a knot in his ass” to teach him that you are the Great Alpha and he is to respect your authority.
What you’re seeing very normal male equine behavior. Just because he lost his huevos does not mean he lost his instincts. He’s a young, male teenager. Treat him accordingly.
G.
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A friend’s long yearling tried that with me. I went to dump his feed for her and he turned his butt to me. Thankfully, I was faster in turning and my boot back-kicked him in the ribs ---- Just like his dam would have done.
Little bugger stood in the corner as I stared him down. I slowly backed up and dumped his feed, not taking my eyes off him. Only after I backed out the door, did he go to his feed to eat.
He never did that again and was a nice complacent horse from then on.
So as G above said: Get after him.
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OK - tough love is in order for sure. Just making sure that there is nothing wrong with him physically. Work it is!
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This 14 month old (who is a yearling, not a weaning) doesn’t need to be put in a round pen or lunged. He simply needs to be taught manners. I don’t disagree that a good sized round pen can be useful for this, with the right handler, but I’m not sure the OP is that right handler. There’s nothing that can be done there right now that can’t be done in that large stall.
This might have come as a surprise to you, but I guarantee he’s been building up to last week’s incident, and since he wasn’t given any good reason why that was a REALLY BAD IDEA, he knew he could do it again.
I would really find someone to come help you. Having missed the signs he has been working up to this, it would be in both your and his best interest to have someone help you see all that.
Always put a halter and lead rope on him to handle him for now. I almost guarantee he’s also going to be trying to lighten his front end and use his front feet when things aren’t to his liking. Carry a dressage whip or at least a crop. I would make the lead rope something long - lunge line if you can handle the extra length, but at least a 12’ rope not the standard 9’. Why? Because if you have to get after him, he needs room to get a way without escaping.
Feeding time - carry that whip. He does not get to come so that part of the stall while you have the feed bucket and are in there, as a first step. So be sure you’ve got some time for this. You walk in, if he comes towards you, that whip gets waiving around. Fast, so it makes noises. The only rule is you cannot hit his head, anywhere. So if he keeps coming, the whip has to be chest level. You can walk towards him to back him off, but don’t back up or otherwise move away from him - he wins if you do. Go back to the feeding station only when he’s stopped. I agree that for starters, he doesn’t get to eat until you leave the stall. Eventually he can come to the feed bucket while you are there, but he has to earn that. And when he does, it has to be politely - no ears pinned and nose wrinkled.
This IS normal young horse behavior. It just started months ago and you didn’t notice the signs.
Odds are he doesn’t lead very well either, so check that. Start, stop, turn into you and away from you on turns, the instant you ask, no lagging behind you, no pulling you along.
If you make a mistake and he does turn to kick, even if he doesn’t actually do it, then you need to be the biggest baddest loudest thing he’s ever seen, yelling and screaming and waiving your arms and running at him. If you happen to have a halter or feed bucket in your hand, slinging that at his butt would be a good idea. He needs to think you could kill him. He doesn’t currently realize you have that power, but when he does, respect gets huge.
You’ve got to watch his teeth too - teeth on arms or your back would be a fun game for him.
But the goal really isn’t to just do nothing until he makes a mistake and then lay into him. He needs actual training, in controlled situation, hence the halter and lead all the time for now. He needs to learn to move out of your space when you ask, and stay out until you invite him in again. He needs to learn to face you when you ask, which serves the goal of getting his hind end pointed away from you. This includes stall time - he needs to face you 100% of the time, at least for now.
All these things require reading his language and reacting appropriately, whether that’s praise, or laying off the asking (which is a form of praise), or continuing to ask, or shutting down a thought of kicking or biting.
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YES to all of the above.
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Amen ^^. Young horses aren’t pets. They are a lot bigger with dangerous consequences if not handled correctly with consistent PROPER handling. If you haven’t raised a youngster before, I’d advise working with a pro for several sessions/months. It’s not just being “the boss”, tho that is a component. It’s truly understanding your role and knowing how the horse thinks, as well. You’ll both be happier and safer knowing the boundaries.
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My adorable 7 month old kicked me in the knee when I first brought him home. Next phone call was to an amazing handler, who came two times a month and installed the best manners you could imagine. We also worked on loading. All of this work at a young age resulted in an amazingly easy to handle, well-mannered and respectful boy. If you can find someone who does this, and does it well, they are worth their weight in gold.
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Was the earlier incident also related to food/feeding time? You may be dealing with early stages of territorialness/aggression RE:food. If the prior event wasn’t food related, then maybe it’s not - but the expectation is the same.
Young horses test. This very likely didn’t come out of the blue, so I recommend brushing up on your attentiveness to his body language. Start paying attention to what he’s broadcasting before it escalates like this again - and then in conjunction with this, get after him when he’s being disrespectful. A long (cotton) lead line, halter, gloves, and whip are all useful tools. Start enforcing that he doesn’t get to be disrespectful/bossy/domineering.
My yearling hasn’t run into this stage but one of her herd mates has - to the point that she would try kicking anyone who came into the field to collect any of the horses. This was a dominance thing on her end. I got permission to reprimand the behaviors and got after her at the first signs of her trying to “pull rank”. She’s much more respectful now. It did not take very long for her to learn that bad behavior had unpleasant consequences and the expectation is that she has to yield to people and be polite.
Absolutely lay down the law here. It does no one any good for a horse to grow up thinking they can get away with these behaviors (that ultimately, can be very dangerous). If you aren’t confident in your ability to be diligent and observant and correctly interpret equine body language, get an expert in immediately. Heading this off at this juncture - as a 14mo old - is much preferred to a 3 yo who has developed an established habit of kicking people.
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There is nothing wrong with teaching a young horse manners in a round pen or on a longe. I said “light.” That suggests you don’t “run him 'till he drops.” You walk him until he behaves. At a young age it’s actually easier to do this than it is at an older age. His attention span is short and so are the sessions. But the Object of the Exercise is to teach a life lesson that wills stay with him until he dies. Don’t wreck yourself or the horse while teaching it, but TEACH IT!!!
G.
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Lots of good advice already- On youtube there’s a couple videos of itty bitty foals who have figured out how to boss the
big horses around with their hind legs kicking violently, and all the big horses stand back and allow the itty bitty to steal their food. It’s funny only because the foal isn’t but weeks old. They learned fast how to bully. And once it worked they used it on everything- horse or human. Mother mare failed to correct this.
I bought one of these spoiled foals as a yearling. Everybody and every other horse babied her and laughed at her antics.
She felt entitled cause nobody ever corrected her. Til me. We had a few Come To Jesus meetings. She was thick headed until suddenly she realized the gig is up. This trick doesn’t work anymore. For a long time she gave me the side eye telling me she could still revert back to dominance. But she eventually became the well mannered youngster she could have been much earlier if someone had intervened and corrected her.
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You’ve gotten really excellent advice. I’m going to add just one thing.
Make sure, whatever you do as far as discipline, that he does not see it as a game. Make it obvious that it is not a game. Even if you have to be quite harsh for a short period of time. My very studdish gelding is insanely playful and just taking a swing at him as a reprimand for biting makes him come right back at you. If you watch horses play, they play ROUGH. So in order to be the dominant one you do have to move to their level of force to get a point across.
I STRONGLY suggest getting some professional help so you can see where the line really is.
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Thanks everyone for your kind advice. Yes, junior needs to go to camp. That’s pretty clear. Made two calls this morning. Hoping we can find an appropriate “camp” for him to learn some manners without hurting mama - who pays his bills.
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This! Very well written and clear.
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Have you not been handling him? Youngsters are no different than adult horses in how you handle them. Firmness , kindness, discipline if needed and give them every opportunity to pick the right choice.
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And while you are sorting out all the good advice given by everyone above, please consider wearing a helmet while you are working around him. Just until you and he are both on the same page :yes:.
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Excellent suggestion for the helmet :yes:
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I disagree with two things here, OP:
1.) I don’t think this has anything to do with the horse’s gender, and
2.) I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with round pens, but I’d be careful to include little mini-lessons in obedience throughout the day, rather than creating a separate category called “work” that occurs in specific places and at particular times. Your little terror needs to realize that all good things in life come from you, and that getting what he wants depends on earning your good will. He’ll catch on to this very quickly if he’s given a lesson in compliance before every meal, or before he’s allowed to go out and play every morning.
God knows it’s time consuming, but I’d suggest budgeting in the time to make corrections and train manners every time you handle the little guy. If you’re pressed for time you’ll be much more likely to let things slide, and that can get very confusing for youngsters.
My two cents and nothing more. 
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Totally agree - Every interaction is training. If he’s allowed to lag behind when being led, he’s winning his game. If he ignores you when asked to pick up a foot, he’s winning his game. If he tosses his head when you take the halter off, he wins. If he doesn’t move over when you ask him to, so you just go around instead, he wins.
You don’t need a round pen to do that, you just need to add a few minutes to every normal daily interaction, leading him in and out of the stall, standing to have his feet picked out, standing tied to be groomed, leading into and out of the pasture, all Horse 101 things. And it’s so much kinder to start teaching preferred behavior while you are both relaxed, then to have to discipline him because he did something you don’t want because you never taught him that’s unacceptable. Teach him how to move out of your space when asked, instead of waiting for him not to and then “jerking a knot in his ass”.
That’s what I mean by not needing a round pen, or lunging (which I think this guy is not ready for, not if he’s currently willing to turn and fire). A big stall is totally fine. Daily handling is totally fine. If you wanted to start teaching him the basics of lunging, which starts with getting very good with closer in-hand work - walk on, halt, don’t turn shoulders or haunches into or away from you - at a distance that increases in terms of 1’ at a time for starters, that’s even more opportunity for little polite behavior lessons. Don’t need a round pen for that, unless you’re afraid of him getting loose (in which case, go back to better behavior in a stall :D).
Of course if you are working on things, and he’s actively coming into your space despite your request not to (which is different from standing there ignoring you), then for your safety, a little CTJ moment is perfectly warranted. Then let him stand back there for a minute and think about what happened.
They need to be learning what TO do, so that what NOT to do doesn’t turn into “ok you don’t want me striking at you, then how about I turn and kick instead!” moment.
I’m glad to hear a trainer of some sort of being looked into. It doesn’t sound like there’s anything really serious going on here, the yearling has just decided he’s gotten away with enough little things that he’s starting to escalate, and hopefully nothing is so ingrained now that it will be hard to reverse.
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I agree. His problems sound totally fixable - especially if the OP gets on it right away.
I think your approach is spot on, JB - and not just because it works in the short term. Teaching young horses that interactions with humans can be just as subtle and nuanced as interactions with other horses pays off in the long run too, because it develops the kind of mind you need for successful, angst-free training in pretty much anything.
A horse with the simple habit of paying attention - absolutely priceless.
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