Franklin Levinson's
Horse Help Center
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Horse Chases Me
Hi
As a first time horse owner, I may have gotten more horse than I can handle. Slick is a sweet 15.2hh 5 year old quarter horse gelding who has been trained and handled. He was quiet and gentle when we first brought him home, but over the past two weeks, has gotten so rambunctious that we are getting afraid of him. He is alone and seems to be pretty insecure (we hope to have a second gelding in a few days). He likes to nip at us, has started acting up on a lead rope (front feet getting off the ground), and throws his head around when we try to halter him. Today in the field, he ran at me at a gallop - trying to play, I think, but scared me. He had his head and ears up, so it didn't seem aggressive, but I'm afraid to go around him now. Do you think another horse will help quiet him? Can a professional trainer help us get used to handling him, so he trusts our leadership?
Hi,
Horses live in community. Another horse with him should help a lot (expecially a mare). He will get herd bound with whoever the companion horse is unless you are able to step in and really become a member of his community. What I mean by this is learning his language and how to interact appropriately and bond with him as his good and wonderful 'leader.' If you do decide on a trainer, do not just give the hrose to the trainer. You must participate and get 'trained' yourself to become the right and appropriate leader for your horse. I have trained a lot of horses for well meaning folks who, as soon as the horse was returned to them, prompted the horse to have the same problems and issues because they had no real knowledge of horses. Now I do not take a horse for training, generally, unless the humans join the training as well. If a trainer only wants to take on your horse and not you, this is not good and I would not trust that trainer. There is still a lot of abuse out there towards horses. There is a lot of hard line old ways of doing things with horses. If the trainer takes you on as well, they probably will be gentle and appropriate. Generally, trainers who do not want to work with the horse's owners do so because they know the owners will see their abusive methods or they simply do not want to share what they are doing with the humans. Again, not good.
Your horse is behaving as he is basically because there is no good leader around. A good leader is not the alpha horse. It is not the dominent horse (generally that is a bully). A good leader is always compassionate, skillful, precise, confident, knowledgable, understands the language and knows to communicate effectively. A good leader is balanced and consistent. A lot of things a good leader is are the same things a good parent is as well. I have written a lot on this topic within my web site. please consider a DVD for handling nervous horses and setting boundries with horses. I have several available within my shopping corral. A decent visual learning aid would help a lot I think.
Meanwhile, be careful and please keep me posted. Good Luck.
Sincerely, Franklin