I have a 20 month old stallion half arab half rocky mountain that is only a stallion because he has not dropped. He has never shown this type of aggression before and I am at a loss of what to do.
I have been making the move from IA to TX pretty much since he has been born so I have not been able to put alot of work into him. A man and his son that boarded with me in IA did work with him a little bit and were even able to saddle and sit on him, but were the type of people that thought it was ok to let him be dominant.
The other day I was working with him, I first let him out of his enclosure so he could kick up his heels and get his energy out and let him do this on his own for around a half hour. He got himself good and sweaty and, I thought, worn out. When I attached the lead rope to him and began leading him around, cooling him off a bit, I noticed he was acting a little more pushy than normal. Then out of nowhere he just began rearing and pawing, one after the other. I had learned that forward and sideways will stop this action and to my dismay, it didnt work. I put my body right in behind is front shoulder and started turning him to stop this wild behavior and he actually got up on me, like a head lock, with both legs on my shoulders and around my neck, my adrenaline at that moment kept me on my feet until I swiveled out from under him, but again, he started rearing toward me, striking with his front legs. It did not seem overly aggressive, as he was not trying to bite and he was not lunging forward. I ended up letting go of the lead rope and scaring him off so I could exit the arena. He ran around a bit and kicked and bucked. Then he trotted up to me, very dominantly, and I grabbed the lead rope again, to lead him back to his enclosure and up he went again, over and over. I tryed jerking it down and making an annoying loud noise and it did not phase him at all. I ended up having to lead him while I was on one side of the fence and he was on the other.
Please help.. I have never dealt with this kind of behavior and was too shaken up to be able to make any kind of correction with him, now I am afraid to get back in the arena with him again and have this all happen again with harsher results to me. I was only bruised from him jumping onto me and was lucky to no get striked in the face.
Tags: Correct, horse, onto, rearing