[Racket]

My gelding was just brought back from a week of training and when we returned home, there was a new horse. We board our horse at a barn and the pasture has usually about 3-4 horses per pasture. The other horse is a TB, just like mine but he's in his later twenties.
We watched as they squealed and jumped just to make sure they were ok with one another before leaving.
We came back 2 days later and the barn owners told us our horse attacked Ben, the new TB.
We checked him out, and I found a couple of patches of hair missing from bites (they were small) and there was some hair missing from a kick mark. No blood or limping. AND he didn't attack the other horse who is also in his twenties.
They said they've never seen a horse act as aggressive as Racket did to Ben, and he's NEVER done what they were telling me (they were in the racing business before). But, his attitude hasn't really changed, he is yelling ALL the time but hasn't changed under saddle.
Is this aggression or maybe they were just two horses that didn't click?

[rageandglory]

that's a tough one to answer unless having seen it for yourself tho it sounds fairly normal to me. of course, what one person sees as aggressive, another might see as just general introductions. horse pecking order establishment can get pretty busy sometimes but not so often does anybody get seriously hurt. if a situation was truly dangerous, and sometimes it IS, more than a bit of hair would be missing. perhaps to go see for yourself what your horse is doing might help clarify it for you. also, if there IS an issue between one horse and another, seperating them if possible almost always works. it is possible that any two horses won't get along.

[miss machine]

In my experience, my horse did attack another. I witnessed the event and it was very dramatic. The attacked horse had few injuries and didn't seem that badly injured. This is the only problem I've had with my horse since. I wouldn't go so far as to say the attack didn't happen, I wouldn't have believed my horse has the ability to attack too if I hadn't seen it. But, I also wouldn't go so far as to say your horse will become vicious.

[Andaletta]

sounds to me like (not picking at you) you didnt introduce them slowly, it is important to do this to ensure nothing serious happens..

When a new horse comes into the herd there is always going to be some dominance issues.. The dominant horse will want to put this new horse in its place along the pecking order but the new horse will want to be the dominant horse. So there will be fights untill one of them backs down.

If you cant introduce slowly then you will have to just see how things go.. If it gets any worse i would remove the new horse from the pasture and put him out with someone else or by himself for a bit

[Racket]

Thanks, I understand but the horses were introduced before they were let into pasture. They were fine, just some sniffing and a little squealing.
But the owner came today and said my horse is being moved to another pasture on Saturday (this is the pasture where the burly, hot tempered horses go), whether I like it or not, or I can just leave.
Thats what he said and it was quite rude.
But, now everyone has 'blacklisted' us and my horse is now seen as viscious.

[Savy]

Originally Posted by Racket

My gelding was just brought back from a week of training and when we returned home, there was a new horse. We board our horse at a barn and the pasture has usually about 3-4 horses per pasture. The other horse is a TB, just like mine but he's in his later twenties.
We watched as they squealed and jumped just to make sure they were ok with one another before leaving.
We came back 2 days later and the barn owners told us our horse attacked Ben, the new TB.
We checked him out, and I found a couple of patches of hair missing from bites (they were small) and there was some hair missing from a kick mark. No blood or limping. AND he didn't attack the other horse who is also in his twenties.
They said they've never seen a horse act as aggressive as Racket did to Ben, and he's NEVER done what they were telling me (they were in the racing business before). But, his attitude hasn't really changed, he is yelling ALL the time but hasn't changed under saddle.
Is this aggression or maybe they were just two horses that didn't click?

i've seen something like this before. my horse beauty was above an old arab in the pecking order. beauty would nip the arab when it got to close to her or when she wanted it to move. well, most of the time, the arab ignored beauty, so beauty and her horse buddy, a mustang, went after her.....not real bad, just bad enough for the owner to get mad at me...

[Bruce Wiley]

A group/herd of horses will watch and ask these questions.
Who is this horse and what is his intentions?
The dominate one will react this way to another horse as a threat, an intruder until submission & dominate is establish once again in the herd.
Horses are more comfortbable when they know their place & rank in the herd.
Beside, we see this in other areas... like when out on a trail ride and there is that one that is throwing out threats to other horses.
These horses want to be in front, or they don't want another horse near them.They display warnings to the other horses... like those looks, shoulder movments, penned back ears, and other body language to convince the others horses of their dominate's.
It sounds like, this aggression was normal behavior in this kind of setting & his attuide went back to normal after returning home.

They are only being horses and this is how they communicate, interact with each other.
I hope this helps.

[Racket]

Originally Posted by Bruce Wiley

They are only being horses and this is how they communicate, interact with each other.
I hope this helps.

I understand, I first thought the same thing: They were establishing a pecking order.
But, the owners had to get inbetween to stop him and get the other horse out. And they've been raising/breeding/training TBs for over 20 years. They said that was the worst they've ever seen.
Also, why is he yelling so much? He calls out at least 3 times on our way out of pasture and twice when coming back. This is new behaviour.

[rageandglory]

how long had he been at this facility before he went out for training?

[Bruce Wiley]

Originally Posted by Racket

I understand, I first thought the same thing: They were establishing a pecking order.
But, the owners had to get inbetween to stop him and get the other horse out. And they've been raising/breeding/training TBs for over 20 years. They said that was the worst they've ever seen.
Also, why is he yelling so much? He calls out at least 3 times on our way out of pasture and twice when coming back. This is new behaviour.

It bother me when I hear about some people with 20 years of experience with horses and you hear how they handle situations like this and these are novice's mistakes in handling fighting horses.
Many of these people have years of poor quality horse learning, knowlegde.
They think they are correct,and know what they're to doing.
I don't doubt it was a bad thing to see but all they have to do is to keep living and they may see even more and will have to say thats the worse I have ever seen.
Please don't repeat their mistake, trying to get in between horses to stop them from fighting.
They were lucky this time and this could have turn into a big & nasty lost of limps,injuries or even death.
If they have been involved with horses, I would think they should know better and would know how to transfer the fight into something more productive, correct like cracking a whip, throwing water at them or banging a water pale, shaking a blanket.
Using any objects to make sounds, noise to create movement and this would aid in getting their attention to move, seperate.

Him calling out could be many things...him seeking a friend, buddy there or
his call of warning & expression of dominate to other horses.
I hope this helps.