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Too young a horse for little girls.
Greetings,
I recently bought a 16 month colt, with intentions to geld for my little girls. Although he is not registered he seems to have potential. Recently he has started to biting, starting with a nibble then slowing biting. He just recently also started charging at me, running by and bucking and kicking in my direction. He does have a halter on and we do have him in a round pen. What are some good exercising to have him be less aggressive. We currently feed him twice a day with hay and also 3 way feed. I hope you can help me with this situation.
Thank you, Zeriyah
Hi Zeriyah,
I have to say something you probably don't want to hear. Buying a very young horse, which your is, a colt that is coming into sexual maturity (whether you geld him now or wait), which yours is, for your "little girls" was unwise. Even after gelding the horse, it will be 'green' and immature and until it is about 5 years old. The behavior the colt is displaying is normal. Horses of that age need very skilled handling and training. They can be extrememly dangerous, not meaning to be. He is just being a young colt. Not a good thing for young children to be around without the colt being restrained by an adult. A mature, gentle, well trained, people friendly horse would have given your little girls the chance to really interact with a horse, to be able to play with it and ride it right away. They cannot do anything with this young horse except an occasional scratch and then only if the colt is being handled by a knowledgeable adult, after the colt has been settled. The colt has great potential to seriously hurt your little girls. Do not expect a settled, calm horse for many years. This baby needs to run, jump, rear, kick out and do all those normal young horse things. Are you prepaired to allow the baby to be a baby horse or would you try to turn him into a easy going, mature, well mannerd boy now. Well, that is not going to happen. Does your place have other young horses around, or mature horses? This horse need equine company badly as well. I hope you will allow him that.
Young horse all use their mouths a lot. Stallions use them more. They joust with their mouths. It is normal. If you allow feeding treats from your hand you are setting up an extremely dangerous situation. This will make the colt more mouthy and nippy. Expect challenges a lot for a while. This again is normal. Of course you can try to tire him out by running him around the round pen. But you will probably tire before the colt. Your facility needs to be set up for training a young horse and you need the appropriate equipment and how to use it.
You are asking me to give things in an email that you should haved thought about long before this, things volumes are written about. A few tips like; be the great and appropriate leader all the time and for every step you and the horse take together, won't mean much to you. Trying to tell you how to use wands, ropes and other training aids in an email won't do either. There is no way I can teach you to lunge a horse in an email. The task you have ahead of you is very time consuming, needs skill and precision, dedication to the process and a real understanding of equine nature and how to deal with a potentially dangerous horse. The horse will get worse and not better very quickly. I suggest you get some professional, gentle trainer to help you and teach you. Or.......understand, perhaps, you have made a potentially dangerous decision with this purchase and consider a mature, safe, well trained horse your children can begin to enjoy now and not 3-4 years down the road (assuming the horse's training goes well which is not a given). I mean you no offense. This is my true and honest opinion.