biting...

StormyMoments

StormyMoments

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how do i get it to stop?! its the one thing that is really annoying about Rio.

i never hand feed him anything by hand and i have been told its a 'stallion thing' but im totally not buying it, its unacceptable!

he gets told off every time he does it and i am always pushing his head away from me. hes worse when he hasnt been worked in a few days or when something has wound him up.

hes never actually taken a chunk out of me usually hes just messing about with his lips (which he still gets told to bugger off for) but sometimes he does actually bite right down and he knows its wrong as as soon as hes done it he gets defensive and looks almost frightened so im not the only one who has told him off before...

hes such a child and yesterday coming in from the field he was in a very bad mood and clamped his teeth down on my shoulder which didnt last long as he then realised i wasnt having it. but how do i get it to stop?

when telling him off its either a sharp 'enough' from me or a slap on the chest (not hard, im not beating him, its no harder than a pat but its quick enough he knows hes not supposed to have done it)

so any advice on how to get Rio to stop trying to take chunks out of me or am i just going to have to put up with it because its a 'stallion thing'?

thanks for any help :)
 
No, don't push him or tell him off. As he goes to bite, mouth or even touch you with his mouth bump him in the chops with your elbow (or knee or hip or shoulder, whatever he is going for). Also I'd work on him respecting your personal space. Stallion or not he has to respect you.

How is he going other wise, any new vids?
 
yeah at the moment he has been trying it on on the personal space front and he has been taught to walk directly behind you when being lead which i really dont like - 1 because hes a stallion and 2 if he spooks i dont want to be trampled so we spend much of our evening trying to get him to walk to my side and he still pulls to go behind :o i think hes testing me out at the moment and hes being exceptionally moody recently as he hasnt been worked in over a week as he decided to remove one of his hind shoes and the farrier couldnt get out until today so i couldnt hack him and the ground is too wet to school or lunge so he has just been chilling but i think hes now very bored so is getting moody :o but hes having the remainder of his shoes removed today so then i will start walking him out which will keep him entertained :)

i have no videos unfortunatly :( but i do have pictures! so i will upload some in a min :)
 
ooo well i hope this works! hes showing his grumpy side at the moment :o oh i forgot to mention... that he now has a lovely dressage saddle (was supposed to be Taz's but hes odd to fit to so was supposed to be sold but it fitted Rio so its all good!) and also we hacked out in company the other day (with mum on taz) just in walk as mum hasnt ridden in years :o but they walked beside each other and Rio walked behind at some points but it has been decided that hes better infront as taz gets nervous of him being behind which must be because hes a stallion as taz usually likes being infront :) and when i schooled him the other day in the dressage saddle i managed to get a nice relaxed trot in and outline and its the first time he has trotted properly and has relaxed! i was so happy i squealed haha :)

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i think he suits green :)

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sporting the donkey look with his new dressage saddle on (i wish it was black)

i do have more but photobucket is being a pain :(
 
As a stallion, I think he has to learn serious respect for you, as it would be very hard if he got worse to handle. You are the boss ;)

Agree with the above method, and another I've seen work well is this ; set things up as usual, in the scenario where he usually tries to bite you - as soon as he tries it, squirt him short and sharp with a water pistol aiming at his mouth. Obviously stay as safe as you can, but you can do this from a reasonable distance, and hopefully he'll catch on pretty fast. If this doesn't work, you could try adding a few drops of cider vinegar to the water ?

Or there's the old classic, offer him the metal curry comb (does anyone use these anymore ??) to him to get a good sharp bite out of.

Sure lots of other methods will follow. Please let us know how you get on. x

ps he is a STUNNER !!!!!!
 
OK, what you need to do is focus on what you want him to do, not what you don't. What you want is for him to maintain a reasonable space between him and you AT ALL TIMES. So start training that. You don't have to be rough or aggressive, you just have to be boringly consistent (in fact, escalating pressure or aggression with an ungelded horse is a big no no, since if he's nipping in play, he'll decide you've accepted his invitation to play boy games, and if he's nipping in frustration or irritation, you just push him up the scale to angry biting).

So mark out an invisible space around you that is out of biting range, and every time his head, his shoulder or any part of him comes in that space, move him away in a calm, slow, and non confrontational fashion. Sign deeply and say "why are you in here again? back out, please". While training, you need to stay totally alert to where he is and what he's doing (it's tiring, this bit :)) and keep that bubble of space around you.Remember it's his responsibility to maintain the space, not yours... you're just teaching him where is an acceptable place to be, after that it's his job to stay there.

If you are grooming, tacking up or handling and he starts looking bitey, give him a time out. Take the temptation to bite or nip away (i.e. walk away). When he settles, come back and resume what you were doing.

Keep it boring. Don't let it get exciting - exciting is reinforcing to a young male horse (not just ungelded ones ;)). You can extinguish the bitey stuff best if you remain non reactive, make sure you have something else you can ask him to do that he understands, and keeping your bubble of space intact.

If you keep up the consistent training, he'll stop :). If you get all riled and start entering into his game (deliberately or not), it'll continue.

He's absolutely stunning, by the way :D
 
oo photo bucket isworking again ridden pics.. ignore me please hes very strange to ride :o

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his canter is blooming massive!
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i did that to stop the mud getting in his mane and make it easier to manage... he then rubbed it and broke most of his mane away :( so we'll go natural for now :o

sorry just realised how many i have uploaded! thank you for all the advise :)
 
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Agree with the elbow method, elbows at the ready! Also I like a dandy brush, my silly ex loan horse honestly had me covered in bruises from nipping me (i bruise like a peach! I could see people making assumptions!) and combined with elbows if he went for me he would meet with prickles on the nose! He would mainly go for my poor battered arms so it wasn't too hard to coordinate (also wear a jacket) I had to make sure he generally respected me more as it coincided with him invading my space and being horrid. I take it he doesn't go out with other horses? I know that is kind of standard with stallions but this made the bitey gelding ten times worse and very challenging in general, so its probably that he doesn't get the furious reprimand he would from another horse!
 
Ahh he is gorgeous.

I like Richard Maxwell techniques for educating any age of horse about personally space and things. His young horse book would probably give you some tips too.
 
thank you for all the advise! the young horse book would probably work as he acts like a child all the time :o will start with these methods today and see how it goes :) i am going up in about half hour anyway as i have the farrier so i will let you know when im back may even take a video of the beastie in the field for you ;) and he isnt turned out with other horses unfortunatly - the last horse he was in a field with was his mother - 7 1/2 years ago and this is the closest hes been to other horses in 7 years so its all very new to him. im also finding hes very hungary all the time - he doesnt like hay and he doesnt like haylage either so we are are struggling with that aspect although he eats it still hes just incredibly fussy even with horsehage which my other two go mad about he just isnt interested :o pain in the bum!!
 
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