Q:I’ve worked with numerous young horses, but I have never encountered an issue quite like the one I’m experiencing with my 5-year-old Andalusian gelding. I’m hoping you can give me some pointers for intervening during his "temper tantrums" without escalating the situation.

I’ve owned Duke for three years. He was a great baby to start under saddle–eager to please and curious, a quick learner. He has always been on the anxious side, and is bottom-ranked in any herd, but he does display some stallionlike tendencies and characteristics that make me suspect he might be proud-cut.

Several months ago he started having "tantrums." While this is not unexpected from an adolescent, he is beginning to escalate these situations to a dangerous degree. Just the other day he began pawing in the trailer, which turned into striking, which then turned into sticking both front legs out the window (the drop-down window was lowered, but a grate remained–he put his legs, up to the knee, between the bars while the rig was moving). He had been hauled often, including a couple days before, with minimal pawing and some general impatience. From how the situation unfolded, I’m convinced there was no bee sting or other actual trauma that set him off. It is pure luck that he did not sustain serious injury.

This is one example–he’s displayed a similar streak in other situations as well. Typically, under saddle he is brave and quiet, but recently he has begun balking increasingly at mundane things. We deflect and move on with our work, but occasionally he’ll fixate and the reaction will escalate until he’s worked himself into a legitimate panic–trembling head to toe, eyes bulging, lathered with sweat. He’s even done this in the stall after spotting something (or nothing apparent) out the window. I can think of no common thread linking what (if, indeed, anything) sets him off