Better words couldn't be spoken in my mind as well! Happy Horse, you need to become a leader as does your daughter. Now I have seen that you posted asking for suggestions, first is first as Kiola has said- you are the leader! What ever that takes for you to become and remain! Quit worrying about this horse being your friend for a bit and get him on tract as a horse! Your friendship and trusting will never develope without everyone knowing where they stand, and that is you come first! The horse follows.
When this guy goes "after or charges" at another horse with you on the other end of the lead- one check to make sure you have a halter and lead that is stought and safe, next make sure it is in some form or fashion a usable peice of equipment to help solve the problem, rather it be putting a chain over the nose, under the chin, a bridle with a bit, a type of "pull" halter which as most of you probibly don't know is a type of hackamore that is used in training a stallion or horse that leads you around, it is a peice of metal in the shape of the nose that has has its own headstall and fits nicely over the halter, around the nose and with one good bump usually gets a horse attention without causing much hurt- it is just not forgiving in its shape and can be used alone or with a halter.
Anyway- somehow, when that haffie decides to take his attention from you to another horse, you need to re-direct his attention to you. That may not be as easy as it sounds. You can use other things to help to... for instance when you jerk the lead and tell him quit or whatever you say, you can progress to backing him up if he doesn't listen. Once his ears tune in and his attitude seems to get better, you lead him off without a blink. Don't dwell on what he does wrong. Another thing you can do, is put him in a round pen, lead the other horse by, even tie the other horse up close by and work his butt off in the rp everytime he even thinks about being aggresive towards the other horse, get after him, make him work. Round pens are too many times misused by horse owners, when you have a horse in a round pen, they are to concentrate on you and what you are asking and to achieve the best results, you can't be lazy!
Here's another approach, you lead him by that other horse and every time he looks sideways and acts like a turd you first say- look, you want to be a turd, go lay in the pasture. Just joking! No, you get a small crop if needed and everytime he looks sideways you make him back and give him a good tap, actually a snap. I don't tap much.
There is a difference when starting a colt rather than re-training a horses bad behavior. A colt you would ask, or tap, ask, or tap, then you would tell. A horse with your issues, you don't ask- you tell! You praise when done correctly, but don't ask for him to quit, you tell him to quit!
If you do this correctly and put some effort into it, soon he will quit and you will notice his very thoughts and then you will be able to ask him not to and he will listen. At that point you can envolve your daughter to teach her how to go about this and help her with him so no one gets hurt. If you are not willing to smack your horse or get aggresive towards his misbehavior- go get some proffesional help for one! And than you can decide rather this horse will fit for your needs or you need to get something not so aggresive. But remember, you have allowed this to become what it is, believe it or not. You at some point, let your guard down and your horse has picked up that he can one day be in charge of his destiny! So- no matter what you have for a horse- you need to figure out where 'you go wrong' and work on fixing that!
Sorry to sound so crude and rude- but this is problem that NEEDS to be dealt with properly before someone gets hurt! Horses don't know that they are 8 times our size and can hurt us easily, so they have to be taught that you are the alfa horse in the herd when you are around! And his attention should be focused on you unless other wise noted by you!
OK- hope this helps. Just remember- make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy! Horses will soon figure it out! Don't be aggresive one day and not allow any bad attitude and the next day because it is cold and you want to get inside give in. Be tough. Get the job done.
Good luck.
If what I said did not offend you and you wish to ask in more detail how to deal with his reaction or anything you might have a problem with, I will be here to help if I can!
Be safe and use your horsemanship skills at ALL times!
Sincerely,
Dawn
--- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "kiolak" <kiolak@...> wrote:
>
> Hello "Happy Horse" (I would prefer to address you by your real name, as this seems odd to me...),
>
> Seems to me that you have a problem with respect. If your horse, that you have owned for 3 years now does not obey you on the end of the leadline, how do you ever expect to have respect under saddle?
>
> I have resisted answering you, because I am trying to be more helpful and positive lately in my suggestions - but really and truly, there is no sugar coating your situation.
>
> I am sorry... but this is probably not what you want to hear. This is not your horses problem, but rather your own. You have not established who it is that is calling the shots. There is NO WAY that your horse should be able to, or should be allowed to charge at another horse while you are the one under control - be that under saddle or on the ground. To be honest, it angers me a bit that you would put your daughter in harms way...
>
> Please get some professional help. Stop blaming the horse. They only do as they are allowed to do.
> Sorry again, but if you think that "peaceful trail rides" just automatically happen, you would be wrong. If you are not able to train your horse to be respectful of you (number one, as that is where the problem starts) then you NEED to find someone who can help you.
>
> Now maybe, just maybe I have misread your post. Maybe I am adding details that are not there. Maybe you are not giving the whole picture. If there is more, then the only way you are going to get an honest and helpful answer is by divuldging the whole story, detail by detail. Please, if there is more to what you are asking and more to the story, fill us all in.
>
> Really, all of us here wish to see every Haflinger and their owner do well together. There is online help through this group. Others will disagree with what I have said, and that is fine too. You need to find the answer with the solution that makes the most sense to you. Mine may not be your answer, or what you want to hear. So often people would prefer to hear it is the horses fault. Then they can wash their hands of it. I personally think this is the easy way out.
>
> I sincerely hope that you will look towards your own abilities before writing your horse off as being an aggressive horse. Some horses simply need stronger leaders than others. Find "real life" help - ASAP - before you or your daughter are hurt. I know you most likely feel I am a terrible person for saying that... but sometimes the truth hurts - although not nearly as much as what will hurt should your horse be "allowed" to continue to do as he pleases.
>
> Your Haffiefriend,
> ~Kiola~
> Brier, WA
>
>
> --- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, "hppyhorse" <happyhorseranch@> wrote:
> >
> > I am just giving this a little 'bump'. I REALLY need some ideas!
> >
> > Our seven year old haffie gelding, Cappie, has started charging our fell pony gelding, Laddie. He has always been top man with our other horses but, recently, he seems to have focused most of his aggression toward Laddie. For example, Cappie will bolt from his lead to charge at poor Laddie. We do not know when he was gelded but we bought him as a 4 yo gelding.
> > We would like to do trails together but with this huge issue, that idea is out of the question.
> > Please share suggestions or similar experiences.
> > Thank you,
> > Happy Horse
> >
>
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