Aggressive Horse behavior, horses that rear, strike, and kick with Mike Hughes, Auburn California

[@perniesweemmer51]

Thankyou. You're really good at what you do...so refreshing to see someone effective working with zero human ego getting in the way. You're a pleasure to watch and listen to

[@Marcoeful]

Thank You :)

[@chateaupig826]

I really like this video , she's such a plump girl and you had her sorted in under an hour , calmly and with minimal fuss - very good 💕

[@longwhitemane]

Yes, she was aggressive because she was allowed to be and it taught her that if she acted "naughty" people would run away from her in all directions. But I also see that she was very confused about what was expected of her. It was neat to see her develop from a confused, aggressive horse to one that was very well behaved once she understood what was expected of her and that her tricks wouldn't work. I hope that she became the well mannered saddle horse she was meant to be. :)

[@Marcoeful]

She was aggressive because the owners let her get away with and do what ever it was she wanted to do, so I come along and ask her to just go forward for me and the video shows her reaction to being asked what to do. How ever today she is much much better and does not have that aggressive behavior any longer

[@sharongreenwood1850]

She wasn't aggressive or he would have been taken down by having her head so close to his shoulder and arm were she would have grabbed him. She was disrespectful. A horse wants a leader. If you don't lead then they will, but you won't like the way they lead.

[@markleesbruisedknee]

There is no such thing as an aggressive horse

[@cheremichael367]

@@markleesbruisedknee Lol, I was involved in rescuing mostly un- handled horses living wild many years ago, the big Pinto stallion decided that since I was so kind and feeding them- that it would be good to try and get me!! I had 'experts' who wouldn't even get out of their cars to look at him! A real expert I knew told me I had to dominate him- no hitting or pain of course, but I had to crack a stockwhip and stand my ground when he galloped towards me- with his mouth open and his ears pinned back... Have U seen a real wild stud in action against another horse? I'm very experienced and knowledgeable, but I can tell you I thought that was the end of me!! But I advanced on him and cracked the whip- I also held a long stick in my other hand, held up high, I tried to make myself look bigger, and it worked- he slid to a stop about 10 metres away from me and did a 180degree turn, running away from me, but I pursed him- still yelling and cracking that whip.. my heart still skips a beat just thinking about it...but he was a savage boy, he'd maul his own mares over food- plus he was much bigger than them.. So I never ever turned my back on him, he wasn't trustworthy, but I developed a good relationship with him, when he went to bite a mare, to steal her food (and he drew blood mate, not a little nip) I would advance toward him- saying uh uh uh in a raised voice, he'd rush back to his own food and almost say "sorry boss"...! Sorry to go on so much, but he was the most dangerous horse I'd ever had to sort... All other dangerous or difficult horses were either spoilt and trying to boss their owner/handler- like the Appy mare in this vid- or they were in pain- back or teeth- and their owners had no idea...so you are kind of right really... Cheers mate 👍☮️

[@markleesbruisedknee]

@@cheremichael367 what I mostly meant by that is the fact that most of these videos or comments calling horses aggressive is mostly just because the horse is being handled wrong or being irritated or mistreated and you can't really say wild horses are aggressive since they tend to stay away from people and animals so yeah I know horses can be stubborn though I wasn't trying to say I'm a expert or anything

[@Equisance-CatManDo]

Nicely done, Nit>>> I would describe her as overly defensive rather than aggressive

[@Marcoeful]

She is a great mare today with out any of the behavior issues. Her case was she was able to get away with those behavior issues all her life when she didn't want to do something. When you get a chance check out my members page at mikehugheshorsetraning:vhx.tv

[@kellystorch8345]

Why is it always with the appaloosas? Mine is aggressive and rude too 😢

[@stainless1981]

Mike, on problem horses, have you ever tried a chiropractor on them, to see if they're in pain? This horse's expression doesn't seem to be aggressive with the usual pinning of the ears, teeth bared etc. She seems very willing, I just wonder if she's hurting somewhere.

[@Marcoeful]

Yes I always use a Chiropractor with horses that have behavior issues. It does not good for me to work with a horse if he or she is in pain. This mare was aggressive and she would try to kick, rear, and strike when she was asked to do something she did not want to do which does make her aggressive mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv/

[@danni1993]

Great lessons, and a gorgeous horse.

[@leealexander3507]

Don't ever believe a horse can't strike if you are at his shoulder. Mine crosses the leg over from the opposite side and strikes. Just for the safety of the inexperienced, don't try an aggressive horse until you've gotten a bunch of experience with those who are not.

[@Marcoeful]

I agree, this horse was just allowed to walk all over people and that is where her behavior comes from

[@sonseere10]

The best way to prevent this behavior is to establish yourself as the 'high horse'. Round pen her. Keep her moving with energy. Change her direction. Look for that ear on you and head turned in toward you. Licking and chewing will likely be next. Then the low head. Draw her in. You have join up. It is more involved than that, but that is the gist of the process. When you were moving her around you did not give her release of pressure when she gave you the right answer. So, she did not understand what the right answer would be. Confused, she is likely to ignore you and consider you to be a 'low horse'.

[@Marcoeful]

+sonseere10 You understand there is more then one way around the barn, when you don't have a round pen there are always other exercise you can do to take the horses out of aggression,

[@mrussell3264]

Thanks Mike for people like myself who have a wild horse and no round pen this helps me, also I disagree with the person above you, I wouldn't want to release too much pressure when it's kicking and striking out!!

[@cheremichael367]

Even Monte uses halter training on aggressive horses- he invented the fantastic Dually halter... Not everyone has a round yard- and really spoilt horses can need a bit of extra dominance.. just saying...

[@ShelleyGow]

I can see you doing a great job,thanks for your help .I love your videos :-)

[@Marcoeful]

Do You Dream of Developing a Safe, Responsive, and Willing Horse Create a Trusting and Respectful Relationship Over Come You’re Fears Accomplish Your Horsemanship Goals If your answer is Yes, Join my Horsemanship Members Page And let your journey Begin, Just Click on the link below and to get Started mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv/

[@jaynemarcum5515]

I’ve always loved the Appaloosa’s , there so beautiful, the markings etc

[@haileyhamilton6763]

Hi there! I found this very helpful with my new 6 year old. She is very pushy and disrespectful on the ground, she will charge you and strike at you, so I kept getting on her to move her feet, but now she is pinning her ears and tries to bite you anywhere she can get to (mostly arm and shoulder). How can I correct this biting part?

[@Marcoeful]

Good Evening, There are several ways we can go about solving this issue with your horse and sometimes just starting from the beginning on teaching lunging work out really well and sometimes we have to get more firm or insistent with our horses. I have all kind of horse training videos in full length where every lesson is broke down into steps your horse can learn in a calm relaxed manner at mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@rachel7113]

My mare lunges at me and if I’m too close she’ll move her hind end out and rear and try to strike me. I’ve been trying to do what your doing but she’ll pull back woh all of her force and run the other direction kicking at me. She’s terrifying the crap out of me.

[@rachel7113]

She was fine a week ago, we were doing incredible progress but suddenly she’s switched back to her old naughty self and I just don’t know what to do.

[@Marcoeful]

If you are on facebook join my group page and there you can post a video of what your horse is doing so I can watch and be able to help you more.

[@kassidydalessandro2381]

Would there be anychance that I could reach out to you on advice for a horse that I've had for around a year now ? We where making steady improvements, but have been taking steps backwards to say the least. Hes a x-saddle bronc who was kept as a stud until he was 7 or 8 & bucked/used for breeding stock. He was making really good progress, got halter broke, was taking a saddle bridle, leading good, easy to catch. In the past month we have went backwards and hes starting to act more like a "bucking" horse again.. I'm at a loss on where to go to get him back in the correct direction.

[@kassidydalessandro2381]

Or even possibly advice on someone to reach out to in my area on what to do would be appreciated.

[@Marcoeful]

Good evening, Give me a call at 916-218-8136 and we can talk more about your horse

[@Livten2]

we have a miniature horse ( he is a large miniature -just under a real pony size ) and since his mother was taken away from him he bites, kicks and rears up , i am too scared to go in the paddock with him, he was such a beautiful horse and i can't find anyone who comes around to sort out horse behaviour where i live in NZ. we went to get him gelded a couple of months ago but he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia so the procedure never went ahead and we need to take him to a vet to get it down with gas but no way we could float him with the behaviour he has. i don't know what to do , i want to be able to lead him like we use to be able to but i feel i just cannont even control him to try and help him learn good behaviour again

[@Marcoeful]

E-mail me at [e-mail] and we can talk about different ways you can go about fixing his issues :)

[@Safishinepegasus8]

I can see SPROUT CLOVERLEAF IN THE BACKGROUND

[@cassimarucci6362]

I am training a 4 year old thoroughbred gelding never raced. He was gelded when he was becoming aggressive towards horses and humans. Yesterday he did good with ground work but later that day we put up a fence and today he totally freaked out about it. He was rearing and lunging towards me. A few times I didn’t know what to do other then to use my whip to get him away from me. Idk what to do he is to powerful and I don’t want to fail to train this horse

[@Marcoeful]

Good Morning, I have several videos on my members page with step by step easy to follow methods on how to solve horse aggression in a safe manner. The link is mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv . Aggressive Horse can be dangerous and it is up to us to get to the root cause of the behavior issue and solve the problem. No horse wants to be aggressive so it is normally easy to fix with my step by step easy to follow methods on my Members page where all the videos are in full. I hope to see you there, when you do join the members page also join my group page on facebook where you can post pictures, videos of you working your horse and ask questions so I can help you more. Thank You Mike

[@cassimarucci6362]

Mike Hughes omg thank you so much 😁🥳

[@madisonrose5178]

Well done 👍

[@Marcoeful]

Thank you 👍

[@postingyou]

My problem is that my horse kicks and bites. So moving head forward sets up the bite

[@Marcoeful]

So with kicking and biting horses we can have the horse further away from us out of biting and kicking range and still do the same exercise and solve the issue. mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@DestinyonDemand]

my horse just did this to me today...she always rearing when trying to teach her groundwork.

[@Marcoeful]

Try what I was doing in this video

[@susansmith885]

I have ridden & broke in all horses & ponies. Grew up on a dairy farm as oldest grandkid in the 1950's. To teach all youngsters farm life! Animals all have personalties like us OLD ONES! I Love horses the best!

[@warmbloodsx2129]

Are you ever nervous? Good work

[@Marcoeful]

Good Afternoon, Thank You, Yes i do get nervous working with some horses but we have to really keep those nerves or butterflys under control and not let them stop us from working with our horses. mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@mauimedium5559]

What would you do if you had all these behaviors with aggressive lunging/biting?

[@Marcoeful]

Good Evening, I would do the same exercises with each horse. If a round pen is available I would use round penning exercises to help get the horse through there issues

[@houstonbrown3450]

Does this work for horses that bite

[@Marcoeful]

Yes it does

[@VeRoNiKa3girl]

@@Marcoeful Any tips in what to do in that case? Should I just ignore the bitting and giving the forward cue?

[@ChristinaLoveletting]

I really need help with my horse that has major trauma and attacks with no warning. I don’t know how to help her, she pins her ears all the time - attacked the farrier with no major warning. She is an angel under saddle though. I just don’t know what to do. Her breeder said she needs a chain shack and I don’t want that. Is it needed? Please someone help me. I want the best for my horse.

[@Marcoeful]

When you get a chance give me a call at 916-218-8136 so I can talk to you more about your horse

[@chokeonthis2932]

I don't have a horse, I searched for this because agitated horses are cute lol.

[@Marcoeful]

I am hope you enjoyed the video

[@chokeonthis2932]

@@Marcoeful Yup, most definitely.

[@lulee7375]

Agitated horses are cute ???? Who are you ?? Agitated horses are scared , idiot !

[@helenastorhed8027]

What would you do if she also bites?

[@Marcoeful]

If she also bit I would have her on a longer line and do the same exercise and when she was really good I would have her stop and I would go and praise her. At that time if she tried to bite I would go back to the exercise for another 15 or 20 minutes and then have her stop and pet her again. If she continued to try to bite I would repeat the exercise until she would not bite or pin her ears as I walked up to her to pet or rub her on the neck or forehead mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@prairierobinson9624]

Iv got a identical mare , she's warmbloodxID Appaloosa . She's a beautiful horse too, well trained but has sudpffered in bad hands . I'm almost there with her. She's comes from the Scottish Borders too.

[@Marcoeful]

How is she doing mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv/

[@prairierobinson9624]

I discovered she was in pain. Her feet ahead recurrent abscess , and her back was very sore due to heavy riders and her saddle had given up supporting riders weight . Iv had the saddle reflocked and rested her. She in liberty training now with me and working in relaxation and fun, the anxiety gone and a loving relationship. She was overworked under appreciated and everything she did based on tension. Very good manners ....now ....and trusting . Still not ridden her out yet although walked her out in hand . Thank you for asking.

[@gracefaithwinsome9591]

I’m new to horses, I can lead my horse ok, the other horse that is here rears front and back, pretends to walk nicely but then runs as fast as he can from the side of me pulling hard on my body, he also bits at me. When he see’s me he gets ready happy, but he does not respect me. I don’t know what to do with the running off from my side, he has to be walked from the barn to his yard if he gets away, which I have seen him do to his owner, there are cars not to far off. Both horses are big boys.

[@angieharguess974]

a horse with good manners is not going to react like this mare. he would have had to do a lot of beating to get this reaction from a horse that respects people as herd leader. I have handled many Appaloosas both good and spoiled. spoiled ones are very dangerous and much more likely to fight than flight. the reality is that even if she was being desistized his actions would have been the same. you cannot stop until they give/relax/figure out they are not being hurt.stopping (releasing the pressure) is the reward for not overreacting. he touched her plenty and sometimes with a bit of force (increased the pressure in other people's phrases) but never in anger.

[@Marcoeful]

She was a very spoiled horse from the owners letting her get away with stuff and not doing what they were asking her to do, so I come along and start asking her to do simple thing like walk forward and she had different idea's about being ask to do things, but today she is a great horse and does not have that type of behavior any longer

[@vandieman26]

@@Marcoeful good to know

[@epiphany-ys9wk]

how do you show her she's done well?

[@Marcoeful]

After the mare did well I would stop her and pet on the head and then go back to work

[@epiphany-ys9wk]

Mike Hughes she's lucky to have you now :) thx for replying x

[@MichElle-sd6gj]

was the lady not afraid?

[@Marcoeful]

She was and that was why she had me come out and correct the issue

[@cheremichael367]

Great looking Appy- is she overweight or pregnant I wonder?? Good video 👍👍

[@taylorbullard8896]

I have a horse who I can’t even get a halter or rope on her without a MEAN kick and bite at me

[@Marcoeful]

How long have you had your horse for

[@jorgevega5797]

The appalosa have strenght caracter hard

[@Galemor1]

First off, that horse isn't aggressive, she isn't trying to bite or attack you. She used to get away, with kicking, or rearing, to scare people away. It can be from being spoiled, but also out of fear. We have to be careful, with putting labels on horses, if the horse is aggressive, then okay, but doing it for views? Or is it just that you aren't able to recognize the difference?

[@juliekibbe9221]

What if she bit also? How would that be handled?

[@Marcoeful]

I would have her a little further away from me and doing the same exercise. It took me about 3 days with this mare and then she did not rear or bite anymore

[@roseault6335]

Wow!!!

[@justme-xc1ri]

She looks like she has a hind end issue… Initially her head and expression is not showing aggression she’s just reacting in the hind into the pain which makes me think that it’s pain making her act out and then you’re correcting her creating more pain in the way that you’re corrupting her by making her go in that small circle if you notice she even hops a few times on her hind leg and it’s not because she’s kicking..Yes she should be corrected obviously but that circle is painfully small for a horse with issues

[@Marcoeful]

She didn't have hind end issues nor was she in pain. All my horses in training and demo's are always check out by a vet before any training takes place. This mare just had got her own way and was spoiled for years. Even asking her to go forward was big for her. At the end of that lessons she was great and she is a great horse today to be around and ride :) mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@earthairfirewater1]

If you would quit using the stick, she wouldn't be striking out at you. She has been abused before. You can tell it by her best language. Read the dogs the horse.

[@Marcoeful]

I am not sure what history you have had with this horse but NO she was not abused. She had issues on being asked to go forward and when asked she would kick out and rear. This is a 2 or 3 minutes video but in then end she did so much better and was calm and relaxed and going forward when asked to do so. Then next few days after this she also did really well and today she is a great horse be around and ride mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@brendareed8412]

It's a good thing that I am not going to be buying horses. I am a sucker for a pretty coat.

[@hollyandvanilla7034]

She is HUGE. gotta be at least an 8.... Maybe she's cranky because of all that extra weight shes carrying around

[@Marcoeful]

This mare became this way because she was allowed to act this way, when ever she didn't want to do something the owners would back off and let her have her way and one thing lead to another. Today she is great a no longer has those behavior issues

[@DucatiQueen]

Appaloosas are moody as shit, and talk about stubborn 😂

[@Ducedimelove]

Typical mare behavior 🙂

[@celineharder4261]

there are no aggressive horses in this world... there are just stupid people

[@Marcoeful]

Yes it is the people who make horses this way, but today this horse is doing much better and dose not display this behavior anymore

[@JuanCortez-xn8ur]

Tabula rasa morons annoy me to no end.

[@gerrycoleman7290]

Some are aggressive. And some are very dangerous. But both types are people created. A bad horse has never been born. They are made by stupid people.

[@Rebecca-fu5hg]

In 25 years of riding and training horses I have seen two truly aggressive dangerous horses that could not be corrected with training. They are not the norm and the behaviour issues were always attributed to environment ie people or handeling.

[@cheerio2252]

This statement is not true, stallions and mares have a natural pecking order herd mentality and will fight/kick each other for hierarchy and people can be grouped in too. I’ve seen horses bite out of irritation/boredom, viciously attack non threatening dogs - it doesn’t always result from bad handling, horses have lots of power, not taking this seriously isn’t helpful to anyone.

[@childcrone]

She is not 'an aggressive horse', just like a horse is not 'a kicker' or 'a biter' or 'a jigger'. Those are all behaviors with human-caused reasons. What she is doing here is defensive behaviors, not aggression.

[@BlackFoxFalcon]

Don`t take this the wrong way but, I don`t see any sense in this. 45 minutes. That`s way too long. The horse didn`t really learn that much either. You just wore her out. The rearing and kicking was out of frustration. You didn`t give her a chance to respond at all. Pressure and release is key. There was pressure but, where was the release? At 0:54 she rears and actually tries to get away from you. You should`ve let her go right there and see what she does next. The horse told you very clearly that it doesn`t understand what you want it to do. She was desperately looking for release. And before anybody tries to tell me that I don`t know what I`m talking about, I have a horse that was just like that. My method was body language. Very clear body language. Without violence. And it worked. Again, I`m not saying that you have no clue whatsoever. Not at all. But I strongly disagree with this method.

[@Marcoeful]

First this is only is a 2 or 3 minutes video. This mare had issues with being asked to do things like go forward. Now lets take a long look at training starting with If the horse is more excited or after the lesson then the horse went backwards in her training, if she is the same then she learned nothing that day but if she is calmer after the lesson then before we started then she learn something the day. All I was asking this horse to do was go forward and she wanted to kick out and rear. By the end of the lesson she was going forward in a very calm and relaxed manner with out kicking out or rearing so she learned something that day and she was really good next the day for me to. Now no she was not wore out by any means. You are kind of acting like I ran her into the ground which I did not. What you see in the video is what I worked on so no she was not to tired to rear or kick out. mikehugheshorsetraining.vhx.tv

[@mikebyrne9739]

Nope, use that backhoe I see in the background.

[@laurencitan3298]

pfffffff...............

[@Marcoeful]

So what does pffffff mean

[@annikaheydl7342]

It looked to me that she was trying to get away from you, not attack you because 1) you had the lead extremely short and were forcing her to be in your space while putting pressure and hitting her with a whip which is telling her to get away from you. Those kicks could be frustration because she doesn't understand what you're trying to tell her or fear because she wants to get away from the pain but cannot. 2) she didn't seem to be pinning her ears or actually jumping towards you, more like away from you which tells me she wasn't looking for a fight, more than that she wanted to get away from you and was scared but you wouldn't let her so she resorted to half assedly trying to make herself big so that you would leave her alone. You had your hands in her face + the whip which is pressure that she can't get away from because of the short lead and you're not giving her clear direction or giving her space to move. If you'd had a long lead she would have had space to get away learn that when she's not being disrespectful and roundpen when and how you tell her to she gets release, but I think that now you only taught her that when you grab her and take her to that paddock she's going to get beat up. She actually turned and faced you, full attention a couple of times when you gave her some slack on the rope which you could have taken advantage of to make her do whatever you wanted because she was LISTENING to you and looking for direction. She had gotten the message: you were higher than her and she was willing to obey you, she was showing you respect and was likely going to do whatever you wanted but you resumed putting pressure, getting in her face and hitting her. Her mind in that moment was "if I'm disrespectful, I get beat. If I'm respectful, I still get beat." She then tried to get away because in her mind you just wanted to attack her but she couldn't, so she reared to get leverage and get you to let go of the lead so she could run away. Not because she was mean, but because she was scared. I personally think that if you'd actually taken the time between beating her ass to see if she had learned her lesson, this video would be much shorter. All that in mind, I don't know anything about the horse other than what is shown in the video and I'm not a trainer, I'm just speculating on what I see, so feel free to call me out on my BS

[@Marcoeful]

that was taken in Scotland when I was training and doing demo's over there. That mare would do that to people who were just trying to lead her, I was in no way hitting her at all. I was tapping her on the hind quarters to keep her moving forward and as you saw in the end of the video she was doing much better.

[@lesliegarber4031]

of course she's kicking and rearing she's probably afraid of the whip cuz whenever she rears u hit her w/ it

[@Marcoeful]

I was not hitting her but tapping her to go forward, that mare used to attack people when they came up to her by rearing, kicking and striking out, You can see at the end of the video she was going forward really well with out any of the rearing, kicking or striking

[@lesliegarber4031]

Mike Hughes from that angle whenever she striked or reared it looked like u were using more pressure

[@Marcoeful]

I only put as much pressure as needed to keep her moving forward with out striking or rearing, in the end you can see she was much better and is doing great today

[@CajunAdrienne]

These people have no idea what the mare is like until they themselves would have worked hands on with her. Some horse people know it alls annoy the shit out of me lol!

[@kittys.equii_clips7135]

She doesn't seem aggressive at all! Your scaring her! When she reared, you whipped her side!

[@danivillalon7892]

Kittythehorsegirl i think he's just correcting her, he's trying to show her dominance because she's really disrespectful

[@danivillalon7892]

Kittythehorsegirl but I honestly think that he should've gotten a round pen and worked with her there instead of this but idk just my thoughts

[@danivillalon7892]

Kittythehorsegirl but idk you may be right as well

[@Marcoeful]

She was aggressive, the owners let her do what ever it is she wanted to do and the horse soon learned when she did not want to do something all she had to do was rear up and strike out. the tapping of the whip on the hind quarters was a forward cue to keep her moving around me. at any rate she is not a really nice horse and does not present that behavior any more

[@Marcoeful]

Mike Hughes 1 second ago She was aggressive, the owners let her do what ever it is she wanted to do and the horse soon learned when she did not want to do something all she had to do was rear up and strike out. the tapping of the whip on the hind quarters was a forward cue to keep her moving around me. at any rate she is not a really nice horse and does not present that behavior any more