# Horse bites!



## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

My gelding, Duckie, always wants to bite everyone! 
Any ideas on how to make him stop?
Hitting him only makes him worse!
I really need this to stop! He'll do it randomly like when he's in his stall, cross ties and out in the pasture, also when tightening the girth (I try to do it slowly so it wont hurt him) The vet checked him out not that long ago.

He's been doing it since we bought him, only a little bit but gotten much worse!


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## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

I've been lucky enough not to have this problem, but you might try one of the grazing muzzles on him. That would keep him from taking a hunk out of you.


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## COQtrhorseman (Mar 2, 2010)

I keep a small crop with me when I walk the young weanlings/yearlings that like to bite or nip. When they reach for me I give them a short, quick firm but not hard whack on the chest, never the head. It's more of an attention getter than anything and they learn to associate it with their bite and quit. The crop is just used as an extention of my arm.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

If you give treats, never ever give them to this horse by hand. I have a youngin that likes to nibble on me. If I don't give her treats or have them in my pockets she stops. I personally take it as a sign of disrespect when a horse bites. The best thing you can do in that instant is make them move. Don't attempt to smack them, rather do as another horse would do in the same situation and that is to make them move away from you. 
If you have the time, set up a situation where you know he is going to bite and be prepared. Have a whip or just your hands. raise your hands above your head and walk at him shouting and making a back away gesture with your hands. Do it several times. Then always be aware that he may bite and do the "I'm bigger than you get away" act. It won't be long before he figures out your the lead mare and won't take being nipped.


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## justsambam08 (Sep 26, 2009)

Vidaloco said:


> The best thing you can do in that instant is make them move. Don't attempt to smack them, rather do as another horse would do in the same situation and that is to make them move away from you.
> If you have the time, set up a situation where you know he is going to bite and be prepared. Have a whip or just your hands. raise your hands above your head and walk at him shouting and making a back away gesture with your hands. Do it several times. Then always be aware that he may bite and do the "I'm bigger than you get away" act. It won't be long before he figures out your the lead mare and won't take being nipped.


Completely agree. It works every time for my guy.


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## mystikal222 (May 26, 2009)

A friend told me she got her horse to stop bitting by bitting back! LOL I dont know personaly if this works but she bit him on the nose and said he never bit her again....I would not recommend the nose to bite-if the head came up you would be in a lot of pain but...its something to consider I suppose.


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## Marecare (Jan 1, 2009)

Mine bit me too!


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

You crack me up Marecare :lol: one of these days that horse is going to bite down ;-)


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## Marecare (Jan 1, 2009)

Oh why would he do that?...He loves me!

Besides,I taste bad...Ha!


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

COQtrhorseman said:


> I keep a small crop with me when I walk the young weanlings/yearlings that like to bite or nip. When they reach for me I give them a short, quick firm but not hard whack on the chest, never the head. It's more of an attention getter than anything and they learn to associate it with their bite and quit. The crop is just used as an extention of my arm.


I deal with alot of young studs that love to bite. I hit them hard right in the chops with anything I have in my hands, brush, hoof pick , elbow and right in the mouth as hard as possible. In a few weeks they give up the habit and are not head shy. They know why they are being hit. Hitting on the chest gently does nothing. One young guy grabbed my dad by the shirt as he walked by. He had a gallon steel measure in his hand and hit him over the head as hard as he possibley could. He never bit again.
Hit him hard as possible and do it as his head snakes out, not after the fact.


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I have to agree with RiosDad. In my experience, 90% of people who claim hitting doesn't help is because the person has never actually HIT a horse before. 

When a horse bites or kicks, there is NO foolin'. You have two options - you can go the natural horsemanship method, or you can let fly with your fist firmly into his nose. This isn't a "Bad Bobo" smack, this is "Horse, I'ma knock your bleepin lights out if you try that again!" backhand.

I have never had a horse get past one or two of these and continue with thinking they want to be biting me. I have NEVER had a horse become headshy - like RiosDad said - they become headshy from "swats" constantly. Nail the sucker across the chops just once or twice, enough to make stagger a step back, and I promise you will have a non-biting horse that is not headshy. They KNOW. If they went to bite the leadmare, they'd get a rock solid hoof with more power then a semi doing a buck twenty down the highway right to the temple. 

I don't believe in "hitting" a horse. Swatting him on the nose, or slapping him on the chest is only going to **** him off. If you ARE going to use physical discipline, it needs to be as fast and furious as you can bring it down on his poor head and over before he even knows what hit him.

If done right, I have never in my life witnessed a horse act afraid, headshy or abused after getting a licking for biting, kicking, or any other nasty dangerous vice.


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## Marecare (Jan 1, 2009)

Oh no!

This one has spots and he has really getting ready to chomp down hard.

Hellllpp,Please give me a 2x4 to smack him.


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## kiwigirl (Sep 30, 2009)

That is a pretty pony Marecare. What breed is it? 

I have to admit when I was many, many years younger I had a pony that bit and beat the crap out of me. His biting was so bad that he picked me up by the skin on my back, I bled like hell and still have a scar. It got to the stage that the only way I could get on him was if I was standing on a bank that put my feet at the same level as his back. If I tried to get on from beside him the head would snake around and grab me.

One day I got so angry with him, I had to get off him and the only way I could get on him was from a small log which ofcourse put me directly in the danger zone. Everytime I went to get on around would come the head, I would smack it away but it was waiting for the next attempt. I got so angry that when Alfie's head came around once more I grabbed his ear and bite it as hard as I could! I didn't plan to do it, I just reacted. That little ****** of a pony was absolutely shocked! He just stood there with his ear hanging down and a stupid look on his face, he never did bite again. Although he did come up with new forms of torture for me LOL.


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## Bakkir (Mar 3, 2010)

My boy bites too. It really is his only vice, but what a PITA. I react the same as a mare would, whip around and kick out. Doesn't matter if you connect or not (I have really short legs). It gets the point across no problem. The biting has gotten much less over the two months and is almost gone. He can go a few days now without doing it. Actually I can tell when another boarder has been "playing" with his nose. bugs the hell out of me!

But I do not feed him by hand - EVER!


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## Lis (Oct 29, 2009)

I was picking out my loan pony's hooves and the ****** decided my back would be a tasty treat. The moment I felt his teeth on my back I bit his shoulder hard because that was the first thing I reached. He was so shocked but he never bit me again or even threatened to.


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## BlueJayWay (Feb 8, 2010)

Biting backs works. My friends horse was really bad biting at little kids who walked by her stall to get their horses, one poor kid got really beat up, of course the owner didn't do anything and just said "Oh my baby is being evil..silly horse" Well when that horse tried to take a chunk out of me. I bit her back. We didn't have that problem anymore. =]


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## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

Good Ideas! His biting is getting so bad that I don't think I would feel guilty about punching him in the nose! I know he's doing it just to be a jerk! He was hateful this morning!!!! and I do feed them treats by hand but I rarely give them treats and if I do he is a complete sweetie! LOLOL


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

Bakkir said:


> Doesn't matter if you connect or not (I have really short legs). It gets the point across no problem. !


Yes it does matter. You have to connect and the harder the better. It serves to reinforce the habit if you lash out and miss and he gets away with it. I will hit them in the chops with anything I have in my hand and as hard as I can. If nothing I will elbow him in the mouth.
The habit stops almost immediately. I will even offer my other arm to bit and dare him to have a go. To hurt him is to stop him from biting. To miss is just reinforcing the habit.


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