Defensive Aggression Behavior With Abused Horse Mike Hughes, Auburn California 

I had a horse that everyone referred to as 'the horse from hell'. When I first saw her, I went there to look at another horse but saw her in a corral bucking off the trainer, and, of course, I had to have her. She was STUNNING. She was a five-year-old Saddlebred/Arab aka NSH. A BIG girl. She had been from trainer to trainer her whole life because of her behavior. She had been horribly abused, I believe by bad trainers, and hated everything and everyone. She kicked, bit, bucked, reared, would strike, shove me to the ground, couldn't even lead her. Lucky for me, she never got me off, but, one time she reared, almost going over, and the front of my bra got hooked on the saddle horn...it's funny now, but... She tried to kill me every single day, for THREE YEARS. She had already killed 2 dogs and a goose. My family was so afraid for me, understandably, and said she need a bullet to the brain After those 3 years, I remember the exact MOMENT when she finally trusted me...I could feel her whole body melt...it was the first time she had EVER relaxed under me. We had a bond that was SO strong and I've never experienced it with any other horse. She still didn't like anyone or anything else, but our love was deep. I worked around the quirks she had, and made sure not to put her in situations that set her off. I watched for horses in front of her, behind her, where people were, where dogs were. I'm NOT a horse trainer, so I knew she was never going to be perfect...but, she was perfect for me, and I for her. If she heard me whisper 'it's o.k. girl' she trusted that, and did everything I ever asked of her. We had a great life together trail riding, backcountry horse camping, trail competitions, riding in the snow. She passed from old age about 5 years ago and is buried on my farm. I don't know what would have happened to her if we hadn't met. I have another horse since she passed, but I still miss her every day. That's why I write about her. Her name was Memphis.

Amazing parallels between people and horses. Thanks for letting me think differently about the reasons. As a survivor of abuse myself I found this very encouraging. Peace bro

I have broke and trained hundeds of horses, so i know horsemanship when i see it. Most negative comments are all from a sideline coach. Grate work Mike.

Your a great kind trainer.who has the patience and good heart to train that horse right.im happy he found a kind human to help him

Great work! I have found that people react very much the same and redirecting with love and compassion goes a lot further than punishment and aggression! God bless for what you do brother!

your a tough dude mike. I've only been bit a handful of times but never like that. Bless you for staying so cool headed. I'm happy that horse is doing well today.

Have to laugh at the arm chair critics. Beautiful stallion and I'm glad you were able to re-establish trust in him.

What a beautiful horse ❤️

So grateful that folks like you exist. May God bless you and help you succeed in your journey.

amazing work mike hughes! That horse definitely shows relaxed signs when he goes to attack you! awesome awesome job!

I wonder what 537 nimrods gave this a thumbs down? I thought this was a great reminder about how their peabrains process memories - very informative. Thankyou.

You are an amazing horseman, Mike. I admire your work and understanding for horses!

I have rescued 2 extreme cases. One was a 3 yr old wild mustang, he ended up in a stock yard where he was nearly beaten to death with barb wire & bull whips, starved & dehydrated. I did not approach him with any kind of quick or forceful movements. I worked slowly with him, just living on him & feeding him. He still has "I'm scared" issues but he did bite me in the chest once & one time nearly bit my finger off, he would not let go of me! I discovered he was turning 4 & was getting upset at me cause of his living situation. He is now a 10 yr old childrens therapy horse. My other half mustang/quarter was a complete psycho due to neglect. He is the biggest baby i have ever seen & is a complete show off & loves his picture taken! I use a bit slower approach than what i see here. Not so much rubbing of the head. Just a gentle rub & maybe a scratch then release & step back. Even use a stick to touch the horse to give safe distance with a dangerous horse. I'm quiet when working with a horse, I'm safety minded, i go slow & use a quick release, then i step back & let them think about it. They learn better if given slow gentle time rather than advancing on them to "get them over it". A horse never gets over trauma, but they can learn trust & can become a better friend than a working tool. That is why the horse is attacking you. It is telling you to back off. You will get more success if you slow down & work on one thing at a time. The horse will let you know when it is ready for more. I specialize in childhood trauma using rescued horses & the same approach is critical with children & survivors of abuse.

You are a great translator. You hear and see horse language and can put it to words

The horse says: Why this man not giving up 😅👍

Stunning horse!!! Poor baby I hate to think what he/she went through. And for how long! So so sad. What kind of monsters can abuse wonderful innocent animals. All they want is love and care.

I was speechless watching this, AMAZING, what caring can do

My Grandma was really good with horses. If we had a problem horse like that she would leave them in the round pen alone for days. She would bring in hay and water twice a day and stand on the opposite side of the round pen while he ate and drank. Slowly she would start to work him around the round pen and get closer to the horse but this process took days on end. She certainly didn't try to get her hands on it the first day.

Thank you Mike I hope I can do something for another “angry” horse in my neighborhood

The defensive aggressive horse video really hit home for me. I have one like that. I've worked a lot with him but he still has moments. Rare ones now. It helps a lot that his basic temperament is good. I hope soon he will be the horse he was meant to be by nature because he sure is a nice boy.

Wonder how this horse turned out. This guy def has some courage.

YES! Love seeing that slow regain of trust and respect!!!

I admire your dedication to these animals despite the obvious danger depicted in this video.

beautiful horse!!! I like your work...nice!

great video Mike...its clear you dont mind getting knocked down! (Y) : ) Ignore the negative comments from the internet horse experts. Until they post a video of themselves working with an aggressive abused stallion, they just need to STFU.

Your video really helped me understand more. I have an aggressive buckskin gelding. I have emailed & messages so many different trainers, famous trainers, etc. Not one has ever responded to me! I'd really like some one to come in person to see all the issues and help me please. My horse woods make some great training videos. He a biter, he bats his front legs knocking you down to the point I week bit hand walk him anymore! He rears, when at the turnout you cannot go in with him he will come at you aggressively! I have to lure him out with carrots which keeps him calm and keeps me safe. I can only ride him and I pony my mare off him. My mare is the boss and she keeps him in line but he thinks he's the boss of me and my spouse. He has knocked my spouse unconscious while we were walking our horses just by rearing up and purposely into him! I pray you'll get back to me. I have videos

Very fascinating 🙏

Such a beautiful stallion. Glad to hear he's better!

pressure away and relief with good behavior. A horse can understand that. Great job

Im sorry for laughing, you keep getting pumped! Thanks for not taking it out on them, youre very gentle and understanding

Amazing job!

I'm really glad there's people like you cuz honestly I would have put that horse down just because I don't know what I'm doing I really am glad for you Mike

Nice work Mike.

He is so gorgeous! Sorry to hear he was abused. But glad he is on a road to a loving home where I hope he will live out his best life

Shock collar is what a old horse breeder used to use on his stud. The horse once got him in the round pen and got on top of him and bit him in his stomach but he didnt do it again.

God Bless ✝ you for this 🙏

I worked with a horse a few years ago that was so badly abused her response was to rear and strike... took me two months to fix.. then I got another one in that was bitten for god knows how many years, her reaction was to faint with any stress.. that included saddling, bridling anything that would cause a tad of stress.. i was able to get her over it for the most part, but ended up buying her and then selling her to a very quite family for her kids.. since adults freaked her out too much she would just faint.. FYI she's doing fantastic with the kids now..

Great job, thank you for helping the poor horses :)

Bloody hell you've got guts! Biting is so painful not to mention a horse coming at you like that I don't know anyone else who would carry on. Glad he is learning to trust and you are brave enough to carry on and not take it personally.

With this fearful type behavior a great thing to do as well is look for the subtle shifts in their body language as you approach or interact and respond off that, if you approach and they tense, back away, look away; you stop and back off and release that pressure. Tells them you see their discomfort and you aren’t going to push that. Do everything at their speed following their comfort level. When they can trust you to listen to them and trust you won’t go beyond their comfort point they will really settle. Communication over compliance

What good videos

What is the mustang's story in the background ?

It is beautiful to me that you understand this horses former state of abuse, and the patterns it performs out of the neglectful situation it was in.Animals feel just like humans do .The horse has a firm of PTSD from the abuse it went through trust will be earned with love and patience .I thank you for being such a good loving owner.

This horse means no harm, he's not sure if the man does and is reacting out of fear. Its sad this horse was conditioned this way, but, thankfully he has a trainer who "gets him" and with love, patience and correction this horse will have a fuller and happier life. You got to love this guy!

That's a mighty long title for a crazy ass horse.

he's doing a monty roberts method here , best way to get rid of that aggression, he now understands who's boss and he's not a threat to him well done man

I agree totally,wonderful horsemanship!how many bruises did you end up with?it looked very painful!your videos are very very helpful,thank you.

Talk about a hard day's work💚✌

Don't forget to walk away. Let him alone, that is his reward.

That was too scary for me. Thought he might hold you down and start on you with his feet. Seen this behavior before....best left to you pros.

You are da man!

Great work, I love taking on these types of horses and making them feel safe and training them to trust again, it's not easy work, but I love it. The only thing I would change, is I would have preferred the horse to be either looking at me or have an ear on me at least while being rounded, that shows attention on you as the trainer, this horse has eyes and ears always looking away from you, so it's not listening to you while your applying that forward movement

How do you hold your nerve after each attack?

Is he going to be okay the horse

Fantastic work and done in a way that really is kind and sympathetic to a traumatised horse.... Thank you for sharing.. Oh n hope you wore some chainsaw trousers! 😮 Those attacks looked like some nasty bites! Hope your not too bruised!!!

Oh my goodness most people would have jumped the fence 😧 How can you tell the aggressive behavior is over

Can you make an update on this stallion?

0:12 Horse: You can pet me. NOT!

He's gorgeous this horse...

Whoa. God bless the people with this sort of bravery for the sake of the animals well being.

Yes, the horse thinks "this is going in a bad direction, I better stop this NOW."

I can't watch this anymore..... I can only imagine the bruises on your legs. I watched part one to.

How did someone braid his tail?

That was just a sample obey giant,

This is hands down, the most gorgeous horse I have ever seen :o (Personal preference!) Of a lifetime of being horse obsessed, I think this is the most beautiful one I've ever come across! What is this stallions breed? And what would you call this coloring? So amazing! Buckskin, dappled, looks like he has dun markings! ooooooh :)

Oh boy! That made me cringe! Been there. Done that. Too old to do it again. It will take a special person to keep that horse in the right mind. Good luck with him and be safe.

brave man

poor horse he's been through a lot of horrid abuse from horrid people well done for caring for this horse

When do you decide when its time to quit training a horse because of the danger

Mr. Hughes, what is your immediate response to a horse's attack? I've had a dog that was very similar to this horse (not truly aggressive but still dangerous and fearful); an experienced person can punish an aggressive dog's attack effectively, but you couldn't punish a horse that has been abused before. How do you deal with an attack from a horse?

U r so amazing

Brave.

Holy hell!

Can a mare in heat that is normally gentle lash out like this ? I wonder if she is traumatized or can it be heat ? Biting , charging so bad she ran the farrier out of the barn

This poor baby was scared.. I don't get why someone would abuse someone.. Poor thing..

I bet your body is black & blue...You are braver than I... Beautiful horse..

Would it have helped to geld him? Just curious!

Is there a way to contact mike directly?

Ouch I was afraid for u there eek.. horse looks like he was really coming from a bad situation poor thing.. did he do alright later?

this is a stallion and horse language is different than ours. where the man was touching him in the beginning was different than where he touched him after wearing him out running around. under the front legs and on the top of the neck , for a stallion is an aggressive attack, if you've seen them fight, he is just responding to his instincts as a horse. He needs to perceive humans as in charge instead of equal. This is not aggression it is instinct.

my brothers has one ,and I never really like coming over to it.for this reason..they can hurt u.

how do you know the horse just wasn't just used to getting its own way.

That horse is abattoir material

From your experience and what you have seen to this point, do you see this horse coming a mount?

O sea que el arte de este individuo está en el miedo látigo fusta etc.

great job sir. but how did you braid his tail without getting hurt? lol

How’s the horse doing?

How do I contact you? I’m in South Africa unfortunately. But I need help. I have a horse, Phantom, he is so aggressive and violent. We did rescue him from someone who had been abusing him. He will not let anyone near him. I have videos to show you how angry he is. Please help me save this horse.

Loads of good horses go to slaughter and ... * others* ... get guardian angels ...Good job and thanks for your videos but don't die Mike Hughes !

I love the Andalusian

Also. Protection of your face / head. Head to head contact with a horse hurts bad bad bad

if that horse really wanted to hurt Mike he would have turned around and fired at him with both back feet. that would have done some damage. Although I'm not sure I would have chased him around the Rope he did need to be taken down a notch. Hard work is good for horses with a busy mind

this did not look like a fear based attack to me; looked like stallion aggression bc he did not immediately flee after the bite; it took a few seconds before he stepped away so hes not afraid looks like to me. yes i had a stallion for a while.

I'd travell around the whole world, just to find a trainer like him.

If I had a problem like that I wouldn't be consulting a professional horse trainer, I'd be getting rid of the horse! and he certainly woulnd't stay a stallion. Yes I feel bad for the horse but no way would I be around aggression to that extent out of no where.

I'd like to know how he was abused I've come across stallions that acted aggressive and were never abused but spoiled and didn't want to be ridden order

For me it Seems aus If you Are too quick, too nervous with your signs. It can't Bond.

You are petting him in a kind of quick, aggressive way, in my humble opinion. Take your time. Relax. Loosen your shoulders and hips. At least give him time to sniff you.

You know you made me think that maybe there is a way to keep working with a horse that had a driving accident. Something triggers my horse and he bolts then settles down. This is while he is hitched. He has been worked together with a Shire attached to him and he is a little Gypsy Vanner. He is getting better after two months but I am wondering if there is something else I can do for him. Any ideas?

And if you don't have a round pen, then what?