my horse has a biting problem?

Question

Lucky is a sensitive horse & spooks easy. I always keep a real close eye on him. he bites often. if I bug him in any little way, he gets pissy and bites me. last time he left a big welt on my hip. what should i do????

Answer 1

From some of the trainers that I've watched before, like John Lyons and Clinton Anderson, they teach that when a horse bites, it's to be taken as a sign of aggression or basically a declaration of war. They say that you have a three second window to react to them, any longer and the horse won't understand what he's being reprimanded for, and that the rules are; 1) Strike with whatever you happen to be holding, bare hand if neccessary, anything but a sharp object. 2) Never strike the horse in the face, and 3) Yell loudly, and act aggressively, you are trying your best to make the horse believe he has really messed up this time and that he is about to die. After your three seconds are up, return to acting normal and as if nothing has ever happened. I've tried this on a couple of my young colts before when they started getting nippy and it has worked very well for me, it seems to scare them half to death, but they stopped the nipping at me.

Answer 2

It depends very much on your horse. Some respond extremely well to being bitten back immediately. It's exactly the way it would happen with another horse so they understand why it was done then they can put two and two together. Some horses react badly though. If you think it will work for your horse try to get him as soon as he's pulling back and bite him hard on a soft spot like right between the nostrils. Other than that you have to run the balance between hitting and having him become jumpy whenever you touch him. Good luck

Answer 3

I alway suggest the natural way first of getting your horses respect yadda yadda, look up some methods used by Patt Parelli.............
but if you hit a brick wall and are stuck for ideas well then use the following method tried and tested has work 100% of the time in 10 horses , who no matter what you did were determind to bite you when you werent looking!

I have a method to stop horses biting and should be used as a last resort....
Works best for horses that bite when being saddled up.

Boil and cook 5-7 good sized whole potatos , take them out when you go to saddle your horse ( make sure you wear gloves so you dont burn yourself) and every time the horse goes to bite you let him bite the extremely hot potato!
he wil stop very quickly and hes is bringing the pain on himself , its not like your belting him for biting you , hes biting you and hurting himself!

Hope this helps you.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, some horses are just like that. Have you had the horse a long time? or did you get him from somewhere else? Sometimes horses are taught bad manners, sometimes it comes from the fact that they've been abused at some point in their lives.

When i was 13 my parents bought me a Thoroughbred, he'd been through many homes, originally starting out in racing. Man, he was a MEAN sod, but to ride he was an absolute dream. In the stable if you threatened him in anyway, or even vocally reprimanded him he'd go for you like he was goin to take your head off. It transpires, after i dug a bit into his history, that he'd been badly abused as a racehorse and in his first home off the track.

The best way to deal with a horse like this is to just ignore it, he cant help the way he is, and all you can do is love him to the best of your ability. I'm not trying to be negative, but it's just a fact.

Anyway, Good luck, and happy riding :)

Answer 5

I am in the "pop them on the nose" club. I will add some kind of sharp sound that means correction at the same time so there is double reinforcement. They learn the noise so I don't necessarily have to hit all the time. I follow up with desensitization later to prevent or address any head shy issues. Of course, with all our foals, we do a lot of rubbing on the face, ears and poll anyway. My horses are only headshy when they've done something they know is wrong, like trying to nip. This is a behavior that needs to be nipped in the bud (forgive the pun) right away. This will escalate quickly. This is not really a nipping problem but a respect problem, a manners problem. Your foal is testing his limits to find out what is and is not allowed and who he can push around and who he has to respect. Like a toddler writing with crayons on the walls, it is perfectly normal, completely expected and absolutely unacceptable. This is the message you need to pass along. One thing to think about with horses, foals especially. Horses and again foals especially, love a good scratch. Mane, belly, rump, they love it. Mine love a good scratch as much as they love a good treat. But it is normal in horse society to reciprocate with a good nibble when being scratched. Your foal will want to bite or nibble during a good scratch and you will need to watch for it then and teach him that is not acceptable. As for weaning, I agree with the answers you've already received. I would have said 4-6 months. You want to consider the needs of the mare versus the condition of the foal. I have read that the foal needs to reach at least 300 lbs but that is based on full sized horses. I don't know minis. Too early and you put undue pressure on the baby. If you wait too long, eventually, the mare will do your work for you and wean the foal but during that wait, he is putting stress on her. I would suggest double checking with your vet if you are not sure. As to the how, there are many schools of thought. Old school is cold turkey; separate the foal and the mare completely and suddenly. The preference is so that they cannot hear or see each other but sometimes that is not practical. Other thoughts are to partially separate them so they can see each other but cannot touch and the foal cannot nurse. Both have their pluses and minuses. Either way you do this, you want to make sure the foal is in good enough condition because no matter what you do, he will be stressed. You want to be careful of where he is. He is going to be excited and may try some extreme measures to get to his mother. You want to have him in a secure, safe place. The mare also needs to be in a secure, safe place. She may try extreme measure to get to the foal. We usually will put a companion with the foal during weaning. We usually plan the births to have two foals weaning at the same time. Those times that didn't work, we were lucky enough to have yearlings we could partner with the foals. An older horse is an excellent option as well. (In our herd, one mature gelding will assign himself as nursemaid for that year's babies.) The last option is another kind of companion animal such as a goat. I do not like isolating the foal if at all possible. They really need a lot of support during this time. After enough time passes, you can put the foal and the mare back together but don't be surprised if the baby tries to nurse. Some mares will stop it, some will not. Either way, it should stop on it's own soon enough.

Answer 6

The few times our horses tryed to bite me i have with an open hand and not very hard tapped the top of there nose. just enought to hear it cause then they would know not to start with me, and if that does not work bring him out on a long lead and work him, then he will know you are the boss. It might have a lot to do with the fact that he is a male if he is not geldded, i would look into that.

Answer 7

Do you have a real strong bond with her? That helps a lot. Find out where she is sensitave and what ticks her off and work with her on it. Let her know you are in controll.

* NEVER hit a horse in the head!! They will get hand shy

Answer 8

omg I have a nice scar on my face from a biting horse. If he bites you start playing with his mouth and lips until you can tell he is really not liking it he will relieze by biting his mouth will be given alot more attention then he wanted

Answer 9

well my old horse use to do that alot,
what we did was every time she would get pissy or mad or bite at me i would "pop" her in the face.
there is a good chance that he is probably saddle sore or you have given him to many treats.

thats a really good chance too.
If its because of treats, dont give so many.
and every time you do but its like your food and he tries to reach for it, and you say no, and if he gets mad and tries to bite smack him, because he is in "your space".
whats your space is your and what his is his.
and keep that in mine cuz he is going to try to do it alot and all of the sudden his mood will change.
I've been through it so many times.
but like i said everytime he bites or even nips you need to pop him one in the face.
he will learn.

Answer 10

Shouldn't you take this up with a horse trainer? BTW, I'd hate to see what a hard horse bite would feel like....I used to get all anxious when I'd feed a horse apples.....I'd just keep my hand flat and pray it didn't bite me by mistake!!