Horses

» Titan97 - His name is Rebel...

I bought an underweight, 3 year old gelding, and over the last couple of months, he's gained almost 200 lbs. He's feeling his oats, and with the cooler weather settling in, I'm not sure what to do with him.

I work with a trainer, learning to train myself, and it seems that no matter how much trust we gain with Rebel, and how well he will work in the roundpen, and no matter how much progress we make, it seems as though he forgets it and gets progressively more and more aggressive toward us each day!

For instance: The roundpen is in a small paddock, say, 2 acres in size. He has been turned out this week, as it is his turn to graze and exercise. Once last week, I walked another horse into the paddock, into the roundpen, worked her, and as soon as we finished, walked her back through the paddock, and put her in her stall. He showed interest, and came to the roundpen to check her out, but it was no more than sticking his nose over the pen for a few seconds, and losing interest. He did not bother her as we walked across the paddock to the roundpen, and showed no aggression, whatsoever. He had never met the mare before, nor been penned next to her.

Three hours later, with a different mare, I did the same routine with her as I had done with the first mare. Rebel was across the lot, munching, and as the mare and I crossed to the roundpen, it seemed as though Rebel had come unglued. He darted over, running hard, snorting and squalling, ears pinned, tossing his head, and the whole bit. He chased the mare, and for the first time since I'd had him, I was afraid of him. I ran to scale the fence, as he chased the mare into the roundpen, and they had a bout. The mare, the head of the brood, taught him a lesson, and he got out of the roundpen. I worked the mare, and he kept sticking his head in between the rungs on the corral panels, and displayed a lot of aggression. We tied him up to take the mare back through his paddock, and he sucked back and broke the halter to get to her.

I worked Rebel in the round pen, and could NOT get his attention. We worked for half an hour together, before I was baffled. Kevin, the trainer, got in, and worked him too. Rebel would face the fence, look away, and utterly not focus. It took well over 3 hours of this exhausting tag-teaming to get him to settle down and walk in from the fence, but he would still pin his ears down and glare once in a while.

I don't know what the display was about, but over the next couple of days, he was the same as he had been before his bout. Only, he's lost respect for people. He will push me, step on me, squall at me, anything he can to get attention. He's incooperative, and inappreciative.

Any ideas as to how we can work this out? Or was it the fact that he's by himself, away from the herd, and the mare being lead-mare, came into his territory?

What would make him lose his respect for me?

How can I get that back?

-- posted by Titan97