Oooo, can I put that in my mouth?

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assuan

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....has to be the ONLY thought going through my yearlings brain at the moment. He will not leave his lead ropes alone, halters, etc, everything.

Leading him, all he tries to do is......eat the rope
Training, all he tries to do is......eat the rope or halter

Soooooo frustrating........

And he keeps biting, then raising his head up - cause he knows its wrong!!!!

We've tried a few things to no avail, except covering everything in sight with crobox!

Any ideas?
 
Its normal. Its how they learn. You just have to keep things out of his way and as and when he does get hold of something just remove it from his mouth. Eventually he will grow out of it.

The biting is also normal- thats what youngsters do to each other when they play. Again, you just have to train it out of them. A stern No and a foot stamp is all that is often needed, but you obviously have to use stronger body language if he doesnt back off. Watch horses in a field to see how they deal with it and try to replicate the language.
 
He could also be teething. Have you got aoe things that are safe you could give him? Like a jolly ball, football, old welly etc?
 
Get a chain leadrope so he can't damage it and otherwise ignore it. Give him things he is allowed to chew when he's got nothing better to do (horse toys, dog chews) and let him get on with it.

The only thing I'd correct it biting/chewing humans. Doesn't make a massive fuss unless it's intentionally agressive biting, just tell him 'No' and push his nose gentle away.

He will grow out of it. My youngster used to be a terrible chewer and EVERYTHING went in his mouth. He's since grow out of it and never chews anything now.
 
I'd echo Kallibear. The more you make a big thing of a normal phase, the more it will become a big thing and you could end up with a headshy horse. As long as it is only playing and mouthing, I'd just smile that it's his inner zebra showing again x
 
Mines 4½ and he's as bad as he was as a foal. When you try to put his headcollar on you have to remove the noseband from his mouth, he eats his rope at every opportunity.

I really despair at times.
 
I remember a yearling who was given a dog chew toy. It was a giant rubber bone (squeak removed). It was hilarious. He even carried it about like a dog!!!

He grew out of it quite quickly I promise... ropes were a favourite so they just left an old one tied to where they tied him up to chew on (it got washed alot).

I like idea of old welly... if I ever get a yearling, I going with that and dog toys.
 
Milo used to carry his mums feed bowl around - made of an old car tyre. I bought him a very expensive horse ball but no the feed bin was far more fun.

Just about to try and fox him by tieing up with the old fashioned Log system. Just have to fix the ring for the rope to go through. A kind carpenter made one for me on a lathe. Shouold sort out the little monster.
 
Hmm not sure chain lead rope is a good idea though, seen first hand a youngster chip a tooth in half and left with a bleeding gum because he had a sneak chew of a chain. Id just use old lead ropes for him and get in the habit of checking them before you attach it to make sure itll hold him! X
 
We have a horse at work that is the same....but he is 14! When you put his head collar on he has to try to catch the nose band or the rope, when i get them in i get his field mate first and he holds her rope while i put his head collar on...every single time.
Only prob is he likes to run his teeth over bars on his stable too, nasty noise that makes your skin crawl!
 
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