Fierce with food
QMy 17hh sports horse gelding is great to lead and ride but hard to handle in the stable. He scowls aggressively when you first approach him, especially when you bring him hay or hard feed, and will kick out. It’s impossible to get help from anyone if I'm away, as everyone is too scared of him. What can be done to address this?
Jenny Baty, North Devon
Matt says: It sounds like your horse is trying to meet one of his basic needs, and is displaying behaviour known as ‘resource holding potential’.
A horse in its natural context has three fundamental needs: food, freedom to move, and social interaction. If resources such as water, food, company, shelter or space are restricted, horses start competing for them.
In their natural environment, horses rarely have to guard these resources, nor would they have something with such high value, such as a bucket feed, available to them. Horses’ interactions are generally based on affiliation rather than dominance as it’s imperative for their survival to live without the need for conflict. But if any one of their resource needs are restricted, as may be the case in a domesticated environment, it can lead to an increased risk of psychological stress and/or physical discomfort, causing these behaviours to emerge.
Frustration
Your horse seems to be expressing his potential to claim the resource — in this case, his tea. It may be caused by frustration, which is another emotion that occurs when stabled horses are given hard feed — for example, the door kicker. This behaviour can turn into aggression if they end up with a high value food reward after exhibiting the behaviour. A change in management usually produces the best results.