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Here's my $0.02, maybe it applies to your situation or maybe not.  I bought
a yearling colt who was just as you describe and had a lot of the same
behavior.  He was very nice to work with on the ground, no problems at all.
However, as a yearling he tried to give me the double barrel kick when I was
standing behind a double door (bottom door closed, thank God!) - I was
trying to come into the stall to give him another flake of hay.  He also
would leap at and kick at the dogs.  He was also fairly high up in the
pecking order.  He was easy to catch, lead, load, pony, etc.  Loves to get
out and go...

I think he was personable and perfectly willing - as long as things were
going his way.  When things weren't his idea of fun, he got "mad" (I'm
anthropomorphizing, I know).  For two years, I was really careful going in
to feed him grain and hay, and if he didn't come up to in a completely
submissive way, I ran him away.  If he left my space bucking and kicking,
then I made him keep going until he would come up and "ask nice".  He was
never allowed to come up and take a bite from me, unless I offered it to him
(clicker training, so he clearly knew when it was OK to take).  He had to
come up to ask for food, head down, ears forward, not pushy.  If he so much
as swished his tail or flicked an ear at me, he HAD to leave my space.  The
signs he gave me that he was PO'd were very, very subtle and if I ignored
it, it quickly escalated to hind feet action.  For the first year or so
under saddle, I couldn't allow him to flick an ear at the dog or make a
face, because his next move was an attack.  If he even *thought* about the
dog, I gave him something else to do (a circle, touch my boot with his nose,
or if he was making a face at the dog maybe even kicked his side and made
him circle).  He didn't bolt or freak afterward, but I suspect your horse
may just react to the adrenaline charge differently than mine does.

After a couple of years of very, very consistent handling and discipline, he
became a horse that I can trust implicitly around food, dogs, etc.  (Still
though, if he gets too pushy about food I make him leave my space - he is
not allowed to "guard me" from the other horses.)  It just took a while, and
I think finding a trigger for him (food) was a good way to work through it.
If your horse is having similar issues, you may need to find something that
consistently makes him PO'd enough to misbehave, so you can correct it.  It
may be being strict when food is involved or work in the roundpen...
Hopefully you can learn to identify what happens before he does this with
you - maybe it's just an ear flick or a look in his eye, but hopefully you
can learn to diffuse it before it starts and he will outgrow this stuff as
my guy eventually did.

Happy Trails,
Michelle
(Colorado)


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