Q.Hi!
I have a 4 year old gelding QH with some issues especially when it comes to feeding time. It’s getting to the point that safety is becoming an issue with Zwie. When he is eating his feed he will position himself to kick you if you get close to him…one time he even tried to charge at me.
My dad is almost 70 years old and he cares for him while i’m at work but it just concerns me that he (dad) will get careless and get to close to him when he is eating. I have 3 other horses but they don’t act that way.
PS
We usually feed him from the other side of the fence for our safety.
-Sam P. in Weslaco, Texas
A.
Hello Sam,
You need to work on some ground work to get your horse’s respect for you and your Dad so that this behavior will stop. When you work with your horse on the ground and start becoming the horse’s leader this will go away. I had a horse that came here that was that way and after a week of some ground work she stopped and did not care if I was by her when she was eating.
When you are feeding take a Natural Horsemanship stick with you and when she paces her ears at you just ask her to stop by wiggling the stick at her (not hitting her and not chasing her away from the food) just an attitude adjustment.
Also you can put her in a halter and then feed her and then stand there and groom her and let her now that she can eat with you there and you are not going to take her food away from her. Do not do this though until you have some ground work in place so that if she was to get mad and charge you, you can stop her and back her up. Stay there petting and grooming her until she relaxes. Let her know that you are her friend and not going to threaten her and her food.
Thanks for the question.
-Chelsie Kallestd
