Page 1027 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

with other horses and people

– management prior to current ownership
VetBooks.ir – the horse’s medical history

details of any treatment already tried.
–
• A full clinical examination to identify any illness or source of pain. Aggression can be

displayed by horses with:
– chronic pain

– hormone imbalance, e.g. mares with an ovarian granulosa cell tumour

– severe liver disease

– a brain tumour (rare)

– infections such as rabies.
• Observation of the behaviour – a video may be helpful.

• A check of the saddle, bridle and rugs.

Some types of aggressive behaviour are ‘normal’, e.g. when a mare perceives the approach of

a person or another horse to be a threat to her foal. In other cases, the horse will display mild
aggression such as turning round with the ears back in an attempt to communicate

discomfort, e.g. when approached with a badly fitting saddle.
Horses may display aggressive behaviour in their stables, simply because they are

protective of their food or space or because they are unable to move away from the perceived
threat. This may occur if the horse is managed in a way that prevents it from running freely

with the opportunity to display normal equine behaviour. In these situations the horse may
attack if their warning signs are ignored or inappropriately dealt with.

Treatment

Whatever the cause of the aggression, precautions should be taken to prevent anyone being
hurt. If necessary, handlers should wear protective clothing including a hard hat, gloves,

boots with steel toe-caps and body protectors. In some situations use of a lunge line rather
than a head collar rope is advisable. Nervous handlers are likely to make the situation worse

by their own lack of confidence and jerky movements and so these horses need to be handled
by experienced, confident people. Physical or verbal punishment aggravates the situation as it
reinforces the horse’s perception that the situation poses a danger.

It is important to try to pinpoint and remove the reason for the problem. Any systemic

illness or painful condition should be treated. If the aggression is a learned response to a