Nipping/ Mouthy Youngster

[thehorsediva]

I have a 5yr old who seems to like to use his mouth to investigate everything (was straight in the photographers bag the other day when I had him out to take some photos!!). He reminds me of a toddler who has to put everything in their mouth. When I am changing his rug he often sort of nibbles his headcollar rope, or mouths the rug I have just taken off and put over the door, he picks up brushes etc and I am not really bothered about this. However since I have had him twice someone has given him a kiss on the nose and he has nipped them!! He will occasionally pull a grumpy face (ears back) at men he doesnt like. But then today I was in the field poo picking not paying him attention and he proper bit my arm!!! I am not sure of the best way to deal with this behaviour for him to realise that is totally unacceptable. He is in a field with a 2 year old little pony who is very nippy and they play a lot so I dont know if this is encouraging his tendancies but either way I want to know the best way to deal with this so all views welcome.

 

[Ali2]

I'm going through this with my cob at the Moment. I'm trying to be very consistent with him, asking him to back up, out of my space, every time I go in to the stable and having a plastic curry comb in my hand closest to him so if he tries to mouth or nip then he 'chooses' to get a mouth full of unpleasantness. It's only been two days, and he's not too chuffed I've taken control, but it seems to be working.

 

[Abbeygale]

Being consistent about it is the key. You may not mind him mouthing the rug /leadrope etc, but start minding. When you take a rug off don't leave where he can grab it. If he takes the leadrope in his mouth, remove it and firmly say No. As he is escalating his behaviour, I would not allow him to be breveting in people's bags. All these things seem to be little things, but to a horse they're just ways of showing a lack of respect.

One thing I've found useful is stamping my foot. If my horse is doing something she shouldn't be, but it's not something I want to smack her for, I will stamp my foot hard on the floor, squaring up to her as I do. They will invariably stop what they're (not supposed to be) doing to see what you're up to.

Also with my 2yo I've banned anyone from giving her kisses on her nose or rubbing their hands round her muzzle, as she was beginning to be grabby. And definitely no feeding sweeties from your hands . If you want to give a treat, put it in the food bowl

Hope this makes sense