--- In [email protected], Mic Rushen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > I've had Icelandics for over 20 years, and bred many foals. Once or > twice, frightened foals have kicked, but that mare was the only adult > I ever knew try to kick me intentionally. And she will not have the > opportunity again, nor pass on her temperament disposed for it..... >
Where do you think this comes from? Genetics? Is this what we are talking about when we say there are some mentally unstable horses in this breed? I had a horse try to kick me purposely, I had a feeling he was going to do it, an Appy someone got at an auction, I kept telling the lady where I boarded that I was scared to take the poop out into the field when that horse was there, she made me feel like I was being ridiculous, so I took it out to dump it, then that gelding ran up and kicked at me, he hit the wheelbarrow instead. There was an incident with an Icelandic, trained in Germany. He came, got out of quarentine and was scared to death. They had me take him in a stall (alone, no other horse) and I could tell he was about to lose it, I called for help, the importer came in and gave him a good, hard jerk on his rope (a short one, maybe a couple of feet long for the traveling), and he reared up and struck her in the shoulder. I felt like he was pushed into doing that. She was abusive, she came down on me and told me it was all my fault, I hadn't been aggressive enough with him, and that's how he got the idea he could do that to her, I wasn't even standing near them, when that happened:) Ego and horse handling don't mix very well. We put another horse in the stall with him and he was fine. This was a horse more on the sensitive side, pretty spooky, probably not for everyone, gorgeous though. I don't think he was mean, just mistrustful, scared, and those emotions in a horse don't call for aggression, that just makes the whole thing worse. I think the purposely kicking could be different than a fear kick, I'm not sure what was going on with the Appy, I felt like he hated people, he wasn't my horse, I knew nothing about him, maybe it could have been the way he was treated? I don't know. I do, myself, follow the old rule, never to stand behind a horse. I do stand behind my own horses, once I get to know them, and when I make sure they know I am there, you won't catch me standing behind horses I don't know. I really don't want to go into pastures with horses I don't know. My mules have each kicked a person (not me), I don't think they have mental defects, or any problems really. I wasn't there, so I didn't really see what happened, I suspect though, that something did happen on the part of the human, maybe bad judgment. It's just hard to say, neither has done it since, they've never done something like this in my presence. I still can't imagine either of my Icelandics taking a kick at someone, I just don't think they have it in them, Dari definitely not, I've had him 13 years, and he has never attempted to bite a person, or kick a person and he's been with me since he was 8 months old. So, I wonder what other people feel, with other breeds, would we put a horse down because they kicked someone? does it make any sense to try and further analyze the problem that is occuring? can these things possibly be transformed? I know there maybe some cases of Icelandics that are just too tough, that really might be a mental defect, where is that line? how often is this showing up? Kim
