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Show-Ring Aggression

So, I went to my usual open show this weekend because I want to get all the kinks out before Congress, and something happened that I did not like.

First, I'd like to backtrack to the breed show in Kansas. Our first class was English Pleasure, and I must admit, Larry was a little fresh. With him he needs so much energy to perform well that I hate over-working him during our warm-up, so I did my usual stuff and went in. Well, he was a little racey, and when we passed someone he kicked out at he other horse and accidently hit the girl's leg. I didn't think a whole lot of it, because he was too fresh to be in that arena.

But then, at my open show, I was riding western pleasure and he was doing perfectly amazing. These two in experienced girls came racing past us and Larry kicked out at them again - right in front of the judge - but went right back into his perfect little lope. I think that they screwed up his concentration and scared him, but now that this is the second time something like this has happened I'm a little concerned. He's a fairly aggressive horse by nature - always bossing the pasture horses around - but i rode around those girls in the warm-up ring with no problems. And as this is the first time he's started doing this in the four years that i've had him, I'm slightly concerned. Luckily at Congress no one will be going fast enough to pass us; but I really don't want a red ribbon put in his tail for english and open shows because it makes us look bad.

I don't really know how to train against it because it happens so fast and only once - during our first class. I could lunge the crap out of him before hand, but then I will have no energy to do the rest of my classes. Am I at fault here or are these situations that I can't really avoid and am just having a quick stroke of bad luck? I have been training really heavily lately in anticipation, but I've decided to take a break from it to see if that helps get rid of the sourness.

Any suggestions? He's usually pretty magnificent show-horse, which is why I have no idea why he's doing this.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Emily on August 29, 2008 at 6:52pm: I dont think its an issue of him being aggresive but more that he dosent like having horses ride up his ass. If he dosent like that then theres nothing you can do to change that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ♥Meghan♥ on August 30, 2008 at 9:33am: well if he doesnt like horses riding up on his butt, then i would put a bow around his tail. just to tell people that he kicks other horses and that they should stay clear of his butt! its kinda a safety hazard too because u dont want ur horse injuring another innocent horse u dont even know! also, if u have a bow on his tail, he wont act like he does and showing will be a bit easier!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MegPerdizzle on August 30, 2008 at 5:51pm: You need to put a red ribbon in your horses tail! Then people will more likely stay away from your horse in the show ring b/c red ribbons let people know you are riding a horse that kicks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sarah on August 30, 2008 at 7:26pm: As far as red ribbons go; that doesn't exactly /solve/ the problem... but thanks for the advice everyone; i guess there's nothing much I can do but make sure he's always paying attention to me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by brittany on August 30, 2008 at 11:40pm: yeah thats what i was going to say, when you feel him about to freak out, redirect his attention to you. IDK him at all so I have no idea how he is to ride or anything. What might help, might not is when you are schooling at home, have a bunch of people riding and have them do stupid stuff that most show people would do. not sure, hope you figure something out though.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KBBadmiral on September 1, 2008 at 11:44pm: well ive always heard when it comes to kicking with a rider its a unconfidence issue. but my horse never has, but my friends horse did, and she just back tracked for quite some time doing the basics and just having us walk along side of her etc. I don't know if you practice natural horsemanship or anything but my trainer has said that when a horse canters by your horse and your horse pins his ears/gets cranky ears and the horse/rider just canters by obviously just riding normally, your horse thinks of it as a release..like because he pinned his ears he made the horse run away. an anology would be the dog who barks at the mailman when he brings the mail to the door and barks til he goes away...and then the dog thinks he scared the mailman away, but in reality the mailmans just doing his job. so im thinking its the same concept with your horse? so we just would walk by the horse and get her used to it and then the rider would pet the horse on the side of the neck where the other horse was to tell her it was ok etc. and eventually would increase the speeds of our horse going by say she walked while we canter by and lalala. til we could just go past her at all speeds, and she was good. but im not really sure if its the same thing because he only does it in one class. so i dont thats just been my experience with horses kinda kicking. hope this is in some way shape or form helpful. even though im very scatter brained. :]; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kayla on September 10, 2008 at 1:34am: re: " I really don't want a red ribbon put in his tail for english and open shows because it makes us look bad."

I think you would look far worse if your horse severly injured someone by kicking when there is a higher chance of prevention if people are forwarned that your horse is a kicker. At some shows you can get banned for the next year if something like that happened.

As for preventing this, I would suggest taking KBBadmiral's advice into consideration as it seems like an effective way of handling this without get agressive yourself, which can lead to many more problems.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KBBadmiral on September 10, 2008 at 4:11pm: yeah a ribbon until you get the problem fixed is definitely not a bad idea. and if your going to work on it remember its just temporary...so dont worry about 'looking bad' with a red ribbon. rather safe then sorry.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Katherine Jones on October 12, 2008 at 1:31pm: I rode this mare in a Western eq class and at the lope and this girl comes galloping by, way to close to Maggie. So Maggie squeels and kicks out twice at the gelding, in front of the judge of course. It happened twice. I wasn't docked any points, since it was the other horse that basically grazed us and was out of control.; ▶ Reply to This