Grumpy Pony

[Melms92]

Just looking for some help and advice! I've got a lovely pony who genuinely is superb in every way, he has just one vice of being a bit bad tempered!

He makes faces and occasionally tries to bite when being brushed, tacked up or having his rug changed. He isn't bad with it and in 10 years of ownership he has only bitten me once (I think he got such a fright that he'd made contact with skin that for the next few days he didn't even attempt to bite)!!

I'm just looking for any ways to stop him from doing this? It isn't all the time (only as mentioned above) and I'm very careful not to pinch, nip him when rugging or saddling him. He has recently had his back checked, saddle checked and teeth done.

 

[Aspire]

Have you tried a gut balancer such as NAF Pink powder or Protexin granules? It could be that he has some mild gut discomfort. Bear in mind you will need to give it a good 6 weeks before you will see a difference.

 

[TarrSteps]

I would also suggest a crack at Protexin, if you're not going to have him scoped. There are horses that are just a bit grumpy and it's NEVER acceptable in my book for a horse to try to bite me, but my experience is if a horse is consistently unpleasant to the point of trying to make contact, and there is no obvious cause, there is probably something underlying.