Horses that bite their chest

[Paint it Lucky]

Someone told me today that when a horse bites it's chest (for no apparent reason), or goes to bite it, that this is a sign the horse has been weaned to early.

Is this true?
I have never heard it before, and if it is true why do they do this?

 

[grandmaweloveyou]

oh i hope not cos mine does it, i thought it was more to do with flies etc,no? help now im worried, he is 7 and perfect in every way so lets hope there is no truth in it.

 

[jesterfaerie]

Hmm I have never heard that, I had seen my lad do it a few times and put it down to the fact he had an itch. I would think it is a very random behaviour to represent the fact they were weaned too early

 

[Fahrenheit]

I think its a load of rubbish personally, I own/owned 4 orphans and 1 that had to be weaned very early so mum could have an operation and none of them do it. They are 17yrs, 6yrs, 5yrs, 4yrs and 4months now and none of them bite there chest for no reason (the 6yo has a slight disregard for personal space but thats about it!)
I have also owned a true self mutilator who would bite his chest, legs and sides until they bled, I was very proud to own him (not because of his habit) but I didn't let his habit distort the fact that he was a fantastic horse, a little bonkers maybe but a fantastic horse, he was the sweetest natured horse that you could ever wish to meet, loads of people wanted me to put him in a cradle but I think that was unfair to him , so we had an old fashioned leather bib made for him instead (has the plastic ones were useless!) and it worked a treat, he use to stand there popping his lips at you instead of biting himself. I don;t know how the habit developed, probably frustration in a previous home but I doubt very much he did it because he was weaned too early.
I don't think that anyone should be in despair if your horse bites its chest (or has another habit) if its perfect in every other way for you.

 

[lavroski]

this is intresting.
My anglo does this sometimes when being riden.He suddenly stops and has a good nibble at his cheast or top of his fore arm.
I weaned him at 7 months(he was homebred)which was not too early so I think its a bit of a old wives tale.
Horsegroupie,I have only ever seen lip banging once and you have just reminded me of it.He too was a lovely horse.It was considered a stable vice and he spent most of his life in a stable.Better that than self mutilation I guess.
I think self nipping is down to frustration (Id say thats the case with my chap anyway).

 

[Fahrenheit]

It sounds like your horse is stopping for an itch! But I do agree I think its an old wives tale!
I don;t think any horse should be dismissed for having a vice, if it perfect for a person in every other way....once i got over the shock of my horse actually making himself bleed I just dealt with it and worked with it, his lip popping was very subtle it was almost has if he had to have part of him moving even if it was just goldfish impressions!
There use to be a horse on our yard that blew raspberrys (I do not lie, he blew raspberrys!) all day long, very funny at first but got highly irratating to listen too when the novelty of watching wore off but whatever rocked his boat, rather that than a horse that was unsuitable for its job!

 

[flohelf]

My 17 year old does it often.... Stayed with his mum until he was 3

 

[TarrSteps]

Horses that actually bite themselves, as HorseGroupie described, and are not just scratching their itches/biting at flies etc. are self-mutilators - it's a "vice" (more properly called a sterotypie) like cribbing or weaving, not the result of one particular situation. I CAN see that a horse weaned young and kept in might start such a habit from the stress of that situation but that's not the same thing as it being the cause of it.

Oddly, it tends to run in families (often along with unusually agressive temperaments) and there are some race horse lines (the St. Simon lines particularly) where it seems to spring up. If you do a search it's quite a common topic on tb/racing discussion boards. All the self-mutilators I've heard of have been slightly odd in other ways but often fantastic performers.

 

[Rueysmum]

I know a horse who was bottle fed as a foal (his mother was taken away from him to be a surrogate to an expensive foal) and he frequently bites his chest and his knees. He doesn't draw blood though.

This would tend to bear our the theory.

 

[WishfulThinker]

My boy does it when he is having a temper tantrum, he will also bite at his boots and pull them and try and rub his bridle off on his leg - so I have jsut put it down to him having a 'moment'

 

[Fahrenheit]

[ QUOTE ]
All the self-mutilators I've heard of have been slightly odd in other ways but often fantastic performers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mine wasn't odd in any other way (thankfully!) but he was an amazing performer, well if you call winning in excess of £20,000 show jumping in one year amazing!

 

[TarrSteps]

Oh, I don't mean unpleasant, just inclined to be a bit "high maintenance". The horse I had that came from such stock (his grandsire was apparently a well known self-mutilator) would NEVER have touched himself - heaven forbid - but was well known for suddenly turning on other horses. Needless to say he lived alone. And won lots as an event horse so we were happy to do whatever he wanted.