He still bites

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ace123

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My youngster is being a bit nippy. He's 18 months. He is so good in most ways but will bite you if he can, mainly in the mornings when being turned out. If he can't bite a person he will get his field mate.
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I have shouted "NO" firmly.
Smacked him on the chest. And given him a sharp smack on the nose.
He just doesn't bat an eye when told off. He looks as if to say " is that gonna stop me"
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He doesn't often do it to me but will do it quite alot if anyone else leads him.
One lady that shares our field will run away from him so he obviously thinks thats a great game to chase her.
Another girl thinks its cute and he's only playing but this behaviour won't be so cute when he's fully grown.
So how do i stop him as don't want to smack him all the time.

I could wire his jaw shut
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My sound silly but when my boy was younger he used to bite alot, i used to bite his ears when he bit me, he soon stopped. I found smacking him didnt do anything, if he could he would have laughed at me.
 
Personally I would make a very loud ssshhh type noise when you smack him so the loudness and sharpness of it is very offputting. This is what dog trainers do to dogs that exhibit undesirable behaviour. You have to be careful when smacking a horse and make it forceful otherwise if you just tap his nose or his neck he could interpret this as you playing with him as horses would do in the wild and may do it all the more. Sometimes a bit of reverse phycology can work wonders on a horse. Can you find a really spiky brush or something siiliar and make him punish himself by placing the brush in the way of whatever he is going to bite, therefore it hurts him. This may deter him. Above all consistency is the answer. I once had a horse who used to push into me and trap me against the side of the stable. When the vet visited I mentioned it and he told be to get a bic biro and next time he did it shove the pointy lid in his ribs. The horse jumped about 4 foot in the air but he never did it again! Another time my friends horse used to pretend to go over backwards when picking out his feet. The one day I let him fall (albeit on a large deep bed). He didn't hurt himself but his face was a picture and you could almost see him saying "I can't believe it, you actually let me fall!". He never tried that ploy again.
 
Agree with bensababy - my old horse nipped a few times when I first got him (age 5). I used to bite his nose or ears - he stopped very quickly and used to suck your hand instead & was still doing this when we lost him age 32 !!
 
he can't even use hormones as an excuse for his bad manners.....

you will just have to reprimand him EVER time he does it.
 
Thanks. Will try applecarts suggestion.
He always rubs his head and ears in s..t so don't fancy putting that in my mouth. lol
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Also he doesn't bite if he's got something to chew.
 
JM07. I will be firmer with him as i do think of him as my cute baby but it won't be funny or cute when he's bigger and stronger.
Have been told to ignore it as he could be teething but its not acceptable to bite people.
 
I think you have hit the nail on the head - you think of him as your baby and so are probabley not as forcefull/quick to react as you might be.

I would give him a quick slap on the nose whislt saying NO very firmly EVERY TIME HE DOES IT.

Also, have a stern chat with the girl that lets him do it, eplain that it is not fair on the horse to have conflicting signals, etc and that one day it will be a dangerous vice.
 
Pull a whisker, or sharp prod with one finger on the fleshy part of the nostril. Soon stops them! Effective way, might seem a tad cruel, but no crueler than smacking i suppose, at least it works.
 
I am going through the same with my 2 year old gelding so I totally understand. The key thing is to be consistent, if your not then no amount of smacking, yelling will help.

My pony is a bad nipper at the moment and he does not respond to a smack, he is very confident. So instead of that the other approach is to let him reep a consequence of his own action. At the moment I am holding my car key well positioned so that when his muzzle comes towards me to bite he gets a sharp stab in the muzzle before he's made contact with the nip, and I act totally normal, no fuss just carry on doing whatever. That way you are not making it a game nor punishing him - which you have to be bang on with your timing otherwise it is not effective. Another you could use is a water pistol. He needs to associate nipping with something unpleasant. I wouldn't smack him as some youngsters will take this as a game and I know my 2 year old has the mentality of 'you want to fight, bring it on' so him causing his own pain from a bump on the key works much better.

Plus always praise for good behaviour but ultimately you must be consistent, firm but fair. If you get it right now they will grow out of it, he is testing you right now.
 
There was a horse at the riding school I was at who used to bite, and he was quite a bit older. Eventually one of the grooms decided enough was enough, took a can of coke and shook it hard, then opened it in his face when he went to bite her. Horse jumped a mile but never bit again in the time I knew it.
 
Today's spoilt cute foaly is tomorrow's aggressive, problem horse.
If he were mine, I would be so outraged if he bit me, he would be frightened of my reaction and never do it again. The key is in frightening him without hurting him, so he will think twice before thinking you are below him in the pecking order again.
This should have stopped before he got to be a year old - time to get strict now.
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S
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rather than risk a smack in the face if you bite him, pinch a little bit of soft flesh and give it a sharp twist.

it will feel very much like a bite and should teach him not to do it.
 
You need to teach him to not to come into your space so his his head is not in your face (so to speak) everytime he's too close when leading him etc and you feel he's going to start his colty snatching etc you give him a very sharp quick elbow in the face (well side of nose...doesnt really matter so long as he feels it!) sounds brutal I know, but you will only have to do it a couple of times and do it asap, not seconds after, as thats no good. Always do it with your elbow, not with your hand because this could lead to making them head shy when waiving your hands/arms about.

He cant bite you as easily if he's not pushy and being too close, then once he learns to keep away untill you invite him to be closer once he learns how to behave. He's treating you like horse lower down the pecking order, each time seeing how far he can get.
 
Chancer nipped me - and only the once - caught me on the fleshy part of my arm which really hurt. I screamed in pain and shock and as a reaction bitch slapped him hard on the face immediately. He ran to the end of the stable and stared at me - never been hit until then.

I felt a tiny bit guilty as he was 18 months and I did hit harder than I normally would but it worked - he is now 4 1/2 and never nipped again. I did after slapping him, go over and stroke him and he was fine. To be honest, he gets far more reaction from Farra if he nips her - she really gets the strop.

We once had a horrible little pony that used to lunge out and grab you as you went past. Was actually becoming quite dangerous to go near. In the end I carried a wooden fish slice and he got a sharp smack on the nose as he grabbed - he did it once more and got the same again but harder and then never bit again.

The fish slice was very effective - thin, made a good noise and stung but did not do any real harm.

As others have said, this needs to be stopped now. Richard Maxwell describes about pushing the head away very hard and then bring straight back. Had the bitch slap not worked first time on stinky boy, I may have had a go at this. With the pony - such a nasty little confirmed sh*t needed the fish slice to make the message clear.

As others have said, time to start some training - Chancer needed this from 18 months - best thing I ever did was to start ground work - gave him something to think about and also taught him about personal space, moving when asked etc.
 
Thanks for all your replies
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I have worked very hard with him and in most things he is so good. 99% of the time he leads nicely.
He goes back when his feed is taken into stable,
Very good with feet ect and very brave, He's not fazed by anything new.
I took him away for 3 weeks over xmas and he settled straight away, met alot of other horses, introduced him to the school and took him for walks in the wood.
But every now and then this little demon rears its head.
I will follow your advise and let you know the results
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Thanks again x
 
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