# biting



## Harlee rides horses (Jan 13, 2008)

Chained leads, because even if he moves his head you can still punish him. I also hit my horses right in the chompers.


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## Stepher (Nov 5, 2007)

I would give him a good firm smack on the neck and a very strong 'NO'. He's testing you, and he should not be allowed to bite.


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## Tammy (Mar 1, 2007)

i don't really want to have to use a chain on him i'm using the clinton anderson rope halter so i'm kinda trying to not to have to use any vices in him but i have whack him with the lead rope a few times because he uaslly backs away before i get the chance to smack him him the mouth with my hand like i said before he knows before he does it that it is wrong


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

we had stallions in the barn that did that. we turned it into a game. every know and then we'd randomly walk down the aisle for no reason at all but to see if he'd try to bite us. once we saw that he was thinking about it we would stop and give him the impression of "i'm here wanna bite me i dare ya" and then if they tried it snap them right on the nose, not hard enough to really hurt them, but quickly and firmly enough to catch him by surprise and make him realize he did something wrong. we did that for a while and worked on respect on the ground and eventually it just disappeared


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## quixotesoxs (Jan 19, 2008)

It's alright to give him the occasional slap on the mouth, but be careful not to make him headshy. The best thing to do is give him a knee in the stomach, enough to get his attention but not enough to really hurt him. If he was in a herd and bit somebody above him in the pecking order, he would get kicked. It will only take a few kicks and he'll get the idea, that has always worked for me.


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

sorry, I thought we were talking about when you walked by his stall. wow, i need to slow down. yeah, I agree with quixotesox completely.


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## Tammy (Mar 1, 2007)

thanks for all the advice. i'm just afraid he is always going to be like this but i won't stop trying to correcting him for this bad behavior.i have high hopes for him! i watch all of these clinton anderson,pat parille and other shows and want him to be the pefect horse and when i think i'm getting somewhere with him he finds a new bad habit for me to try to correct sorry i'm going on just a little frustrated with him after today!!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

I can relate. Except I'm not as blessed to own all those shows. I just have to catch them when they air on RFDTV. I'm pretty sure I've seen Clinton Anderson's Problem Solving special ten times though. Actually, I'm not even blessed enough to have my own horse, but maybe someday. Hope it works out for you!!


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## Tammy (Mar 1, 2007)

i don't have all of them either i catch them onRFDTV too!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

Lol, that way it's free instead of spending like $500!! I know it's prolly worth it but that's a lot.


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## Piper (Sep 14, 2007)

I really liked this article, it has a few good idea's to try.

http://www.infohorse.com/hilton.asp


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

This is an action that seems to afflict many youngsters. Also, they do like to make a game out of it...see if they can nip you and then jerk their head away before you can correct them. 

I would honestly avoid correcting by tapping, slapping, popping, hitting, etc. the mouth, nose, cheek, even neck. Doing so may work for some horses, but any who are persistent at all, will definitely make a bit game out of it..."can I bite and get away before she slaps me?"

When he nips at you at all, I would suggest coming at him like a big scary monster (you don't have to touch him), but back his little butt up hard and fast with your scary person attitude. Even as a young horse he is playing little dominance games...can he bite and get away with it? Can he get you to react? Can he get you to move away from him? 

If you watch a dominant horse and less dominant horse, the dominant one often will walk around behind the other pushing them, making them go where ever the dominant horse wants...when the positions are accepted, this is peaceful and no big deal...You are working toward that with your boy, but right now...you are in the establish your pecking order stage, so there will be some scuffles until he accepts his position. 

When you make him back up and move his feet AWAY from you...you are asserting your dominance and showing him that as the head mare, you will not accept his little game. If he ever does it when you are loose round pen, pen, arena, your best bet is to drive him away from you, but keep driving him until his heart is really pumping, and he has to think, "what the heck just happened?"

Your level of intensity really depends on your horse, but you really don't want to be too wimpy about it or he will not take you seriously when trying to establish your position in the pecking order. If you do this a few times and your timing and intensity is good...I bet you will see an improvement. 

The other thing is that if you are firm about not letting him nip at you (how ever you respond to his games), he might simply grow out of it. 

Good luck


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## Grendel (Jan 22, 2008)

quixotesoxs said:


> It's alright to give him the occasional slap on the mouth, but be careful not to make him headshy. The best thing to do is give him a knee in the stomach, enough to get his attention but not enough to really hurt him. If he was in a herd and bit somebody above him in the pecking order, he would get kicked. It will only take a few kicks and he'll get the idea, that has always worked for me.


I agree. the last thing you want is a headshy horse. Even taking your hands and pinching them on the neck is fine. as long as you aren't socking them in the face like alot of people do.


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Always always always correct him, don't let him get away with it. When it comes to biting i feel there is no excuse, yes maybe its just a horse trying to play around, but its a danger to you. That horse is much bigger then you are, if you beat around the bush its only going worse, you need to address the problem right away. I have a pony who has nipped all his life, because i didn't correct it all the time, sometimes i'd just raise my voice and other times i'd smack him. I didn't always correct it, i was scared to because i thought i would hurt him or i was being "mean" to him. You can't do that, you horse could eventually realize that he/she can take full advantage of you.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

In fact Clinton Anderson doesn't smack them in mouth (at least on video). If they try to nip or get rope in mouth he just pushes it deeper and does NOT let them spit it but make them keep chewing and chewing for while. They hate it and eventually stop. 

I just put my elbow when mine try to nip, so she run into it. Surely she doesn't like it.


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## Tammy (Mar 1, 2007)

piper, thanks for the artical i did get alot out of it and paintlover thank you. i'm going to try the big scary monster thing (hope no one is around)lol when he actually nips at me and also rubbing his lips till he pulls away hopefully something will work for me!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Yeah, it definitely makes you look a bit crazy  You should not have to do it many times to get the point across if you do it effectively though 

It sounds like the Clinton Anderson thing might be effective also. Let us know how it goes, I would like to hear it that works  (I always like adding to my own tools).


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## Tammy (Mar 1, 2007)

went to the barn to work withhim and do my evening feeding and he never tried to nip at me once he was actually very well behaved this evening. i think he knows he has been being bad!(lol)anyways i rubbed his lips like it said in the artical piper sent and i think he really enjoyed it he didn't pull away at all> i would stop and he would nudge me like do it some more please!but i'm still waiting to be the scary monster cause i know he hasn't got it out of his head to try to get me!


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## Piper (Sep 14, 2007)

You’re welcome.  I read several and that's the one I liked the most.

My horse also went though a mouthy phase. I found that hitting him really didn't work; all he did was come back for more. (It really can become a game to them.) I tried a few techniques, similar to the ones in the article, that another trainer suggested to me. My horse responded to those better than the, you bite me, I hit you method.


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