Hi Carolyn, I've emailed this over to Monty in Australia. Meanwhile please be careful when performing tasks such as feeding. e.g. put the feed in while he is out of the stall, in case this is a trigger. Also, do a lot of schooling with the Dually outside to help respect your space. Does your stall allow him to stick his head out or not? Head out can create more territorial tendencies. 

From Monty:
Dear Carolyn

 

I would like to thank you for the this question but its too scary for me to say thank you for a question like this. As I listened to your words, I waited to hear if he had a history of being fed from the hand with treats. For a horse, treats from the hand are the best way in the world to teach them to do exactly what you have described. Virtually every horse fed from the human body will eventually do some form of the remedial problems you have outlined. I have covered in my textbook, From My Hands to Yours, a lesson about horses that bite. Try to get as much information as you can on that.

 

Please attempt at all times to remain in as safe a place as you can. I happen to be in Australia at the moment and part of my work happens to be dealing with a filly who was attacking people when I arrived here. I really didn’t regard the situation as being too dangerous but the two people in charge of her are quite experienced and I would call them very good horse people. 

Arriving, I saw the filly, a rising 3-year-old, standing at the back of the box (stable). She seemed normal and I felt it was fine to step through the door. I slid it open and took one step in and with that she sprinted off the back wall and came straight at me, mouth open and teeth bared. I was able to make it out the door just in time, she actually hit the wall with her teeth. Watching her turn and leave the door, I took a step back in toward her. I was fortunate not to step too far in because she stopped herself in the middle of the box stall and I saw two hind feet about one foot in front of my face. I was just that much out of the kick zone and for that I am forever grateful.

 

Having rodeoed for 25 years, I knew how to rope. I tied a honda in the end of the longline and built a loop. I was able to toss a loop over her head and found that the instant the rope was around her neck she became cooperative and there was no aggression shown.

 

Having accomplished this, I then made an instrument from a bamboo pole with some bailing wire hooks that would allow the two women handlers to make a loop that they could put over her head and thereby be in control. It was then that I showed them how to use this stick and each of them had a successful go at it. The stick is approximately four meters long, so one can remain well out of the kicking zone.

 

The first time I attempted to demonstrate this system, the filly was frightened massively by the site of it. I accomplished one catch and was able to give her a rub with my hand between her eyes, with the rope around her neck and she almost seemed to invite me to work with her. About the 3rd time I attempted to use this tool the filly literally came to the loop and put her head through it voluntarily. 

One could only conclude she was inviting control because good things happen while in control and bad things happen when out of control. Three weeks have gone by and I am now able to walk into the stable, walk up to her head and put a halter on with no animosity found; she literally puts her head in my chest and allows me to rub her forehead and ears with no aggression.

 

The lesson in this is that she now is caught by the two women whether I’m there or not and all that aggression seems to be arrested.  The pole is in the tack room on a beam in a safe place. I have placed a rope on it so that it is available to the girls if that behavior reappears.

 

There is no evidence that this particular filly was ever fed from the hand nor has she been the victim of whipping. The people involved in her ownership simply do not use whips. The only source apparent is that her sire has the reputation for producing very mean offspring.

 

This reputation has been established by 220 foals and has become clearly apparent to an entire industry here in Australia. If you saw the filly you would love her. If you made a mistake you would not love her. Time will tell if the work I’ve done will be permanent.

 

We are working through other elements of this filly’s career which involve obvious remedial problems seeming to have their roots in sensitivity, she is one of the most sensitive horses I’ve ever met and I am told that many of the offspring also show that level of sensitivity .

 

The sire is clearly being regarded as a failure because traditional training is simply unacceptable to this sort of horse. Your problem is far too dangerous to regard lightly, so learn much as you can about these features I have outlined and attempt at all times to keep yourself in a safe place. This sort of horse takes no prisoners. Please don’t become a statistic against the species.

 

Keep us informed as you have lit the fires of concern within me and I want to know you’re ok.

 

Sincerely,
Monty

 

Hi Monty, thank you so much for your quick reply.  I finally believe there is hope for my gelding.   Thank God for you.
   When I bought my gelding the owner said. "No Treats!"  After I got to my new stable everyone was giving treats and I was told , treats are fine.  I find in the horse world, everyone contradicts each other constantly,  about everything. So problem #1, I had been giving him treats.  I stopped that at least a month ago. My bad:(
    I have now ordered your book on line "From My Hands to Yours" and really look forward to your information on biting. 
   My second mistake, I stopped using the dually halter. I did not realize that you have to continue to use it. Should you use it for the rest of their life?
    Should I try to build a loop and get it over his head?  Should I go into his stall? By the way,  certain staff go in his stall and he is fine. I am letting them put his halter on.  His aggression really seems to be toward me:( 
      Sincerely, Carolyn