Mick is the sweetest most reliable horse now but several years ago we were sorting things out! He would try to bite me (that is why I am carrying a whip) and I was trying to train him to the point we could catch him. I wanted him to learn that touch was safe. If you have an aggressive animal, you can use food to create interest but it is best to feed from a pan on the ground not your hand or pocket. If the animal learns they need to do something in order to get special food, this creates excitement and interest for them. However, I do not feed treats otherwise.

Here Mick starts to accept me on his left side, accept touch with a pole and my hand and eventually accept a rope on his neck. Note: I do not force things with him. I try to make it his idea and use clicker training to mark behaviors I like. I do use my voice a lot too. I think it’s important with an aggressive horse to teach him to turn away as you will see here. This is not mean. Please subscribe to my youtube channel (Wholepetvet) I need more subscribers!