02/06/2026
The other day a friend asked me for some advice on introductions as they were having some aggression issues with a new horse and I thought a lot of you would be interested too.
Aggression in wild horse herds is very rare, it just doesn't really happen, (with the obvious exception of stallions fighting over mares which is not a situation our domestic horses are ever in.)
It's solely caused by the unnatural environments we keep them in where we have limited their access to resources by keeping them in fields etc. They can no longer range over 100s of miles to find what they need so they may feel the need to fight for it.
All horse on horse aggression is resource guarding of some sort 💂♂️
This could be anything they see as a positive and also crucially, as limited.
So hay if it regularly runs out, water if they've ever been without for long periods, shelter or shade if there isn't enough for everyone to fit, space if the horse feels others are too close and they can't get away, their owner when they associate them with something good happening, their best friend if they feel the others are going to harm him.
It doesn't have to be something that is restricted now. It can take time for a horse who has regularly not had one particular thing to trust that its not going away now. If they've run out of hay every night for years, who's to say that it won't happen again 🤷♀️😦
In the wild a horse never runs out of food, even when its lower quality in winter they are still surrounded by it, they can always go to water when they want, find a tree or rocks for shelter, their food never turns up at the same time every day in one big bucket, their movement is never restricted and they feel safe (yes, safety is a resource too, although this is a little different so deserves a post of it's own).
These are all things only domesticated horses experience.
By giving them an environment where they feel they can always get to what they need we can reduce any aggression to pinned ears, a snaked head, small nip or a quick warning kick at most.
Food is the most common issue but is also the most easily resolved. They need to have enough hay so there is some left when the next batch goes out and enough stations so that if they get pushed off one net there are others they can go to. In fact this is the biggest driver of movement we have on our track and is a fundamental part of it. All the horses are wondering whether the net that the next horse has is better than the one they're eating so go and push the next one off. But that horse doesn't feel the need to fight for their food as there's another one just a bit further along, and they've been wondering if that one was better anyway 🤷♀️🤣
Find what it is your horse is guarding and you can figure out a way to reduce their anxiety around it and therefore their aggression.
