Shilasdair - can you lend me some pliers?

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Hovis_and_SidsMum

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I swear I am going to remove all of Hovis' teeth.
The little b****r will not stop biting.
I have tried everything. Growling at him, yelling "NO!" in a big scary way, making the most lod and horrible noise i can muster and even (someone report me) slapping him on his shoulder but he won't stop.
Its not aggressive but crikey you have to have eyes in the back of your head sometimes. It's almost as if he's "grooming" me the way he plays and grooms with his mates in the field. He grooms the field boss loads.
I swear the people at work think hubby is battering me as I'm permanently covered in bruises. God help me in the summer if he's still doing it - at least now i can wear long sleeves.
Someone PLEASE tell me he'll grow out of it and its a baby thing? He's 4.5 years old and YM keeps saying he's either teething or just being immature.
Either that or give me some ideas on how to stop him?
 
I have exactly the same problem. Nothing I've tried works. Very occasionally he'll get a treat from my hand but normally I drop treats on the floor (and then he bites my foot). I've tried shouting, screaming, growling, growing tall and acting menacing(!), a sharp slap on the neck (oops, but he REALLY hurt me!), and all sorts. He doesn't even seem to understand that it's wrong, and he doesn't seem to do it in an evil way. He'll just clamp his teeth down on anything available, be that me or a handy inanimate object. He did clamp his teeth down on the metal curry comb and hasn't tried that again
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Contrary to popular belief, I haven't removed my horses' teeth with pliers
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He may be at the tail end of teething...but by 4.5yrs he should largely be done (and my girlies are both teething but don't bite at all).
At the risk of having the RSPCA numpties called, I think I'd resort to slapping his muzzle away whenever he tries it...as well as shouting 'no' in a warning 'I'm about to have you stuffed' tone. You need to make the consequences of biting unpleasant for him...and the consequences of being good, pleasant, so lots of praise when he's being good.
Or send him to me for three months....
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I'm with Shilly on this one shout no and a sharp slap on his nose. If he doesn't know he is doing wrong he won't stop!!! I would also stop all treats.
 
Heard a tip for biting at the weekend and I'm sure Monty Roberts mentions it in his book. You have to tread on the horse's coronary band when he goes to bite. He doesn't associate it with you, just as a consequence of biting so less likely to make him headshy than smacking his nose. Only downside is you need to know when he's going to bite! Apparently Monty's horse was v clever and before he wanted to bite he would look down at his foot first to check no-one was going to stand on him! Could be worth a try?
 
My sisters horse Sidney has started nipping (yesterday getting my head) i always give him a slap on the nose he then knows he has done wrong
 
At the risk of RSPCA being called I will admit to having slapped him on the nose a couple of times. I don't want to make him headshy but he has really hurt me a couple of times. It makes him stop in his tracks for that moment in time but then he does it again 5 - 10 minutes later. It's like he "forgets" he's not supposed to do it. Maybe he's just thick?

He rarely does it in the stable it's when i lead him from the field (e.g. I have to stop to shut the gate again), putting his headcollar on or when we're stood in the menage. His ears are never back and its not a lunging attack - more like he chews on me.

Shilasdair - he's just being loaded on the lorry. Where shall I deliver him to?
 
i have heard of that too, but was told to give them a kick on the cannon bone (make sure you don't have your steel toe caps on tho!).

I have to say, a slap round the chops usually works when my lad gets moochy and he's never mistaken it for a beating around the head and acted headshy.

Fi x
 
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At the risk of RSPCA being called I will admit to having slapped him on the nose a couple of times. I don't want to make him headshy but he has really hurt me a couple of times. It makes him stop in his tracks for that moment in time but then he does it again 5 - 10 minutes later. It's like he "forgets" he's not supposed to do it. Maybe he's just thick?

He rarely does it in the stable it's when i lead him from the field (e.g. I have to stop to shut the gate again), putting his headcollar on or when we're stood in the menage. His ears are never back and its not a lunging attack - more like he chews on me.

Shilasdair - he's just being loaded on the lorry. Where shall I deliver him to?

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Deliver him to Shilasdair Daemon, c/o The Devil, Hell, and he should reach me. No travelling gear - it's a bit warm here.
I wouldn't be too worried about making him headshy - it wouldn't do him any harm to back off you a little. Horses don't always learn that quickly - and it'll take him a few repetitions over time, to sort out this habit.
I love the idea that you could step on your horse's coronary band, or kick him in the shins without him knowing it was you. Horses don't have quite the same intelligence levels that maybe primates do, but that is a rather disrespectful view of the horse. I disapprove of these methods - the coronary band is quite easily damaged, and could affect horn growth...and horse's 'shins' have the extensor tendons running down them - I wouldn't advise kicking them either.
Interesting that the poster (sorry, forgotten your name) says that Monty's horse looked down to see if anyone would kick him - yet didn't associate the kick with the human - someone is confused here, and I don't think it's the horse.
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At the risk of RSPCA being called I will admit to having slapped him on the nose a couple of times. I don't want to make him headshy but he has really hurt me a couple of times. It makes him stop in his tracks for that moment in time but then he does it again 5 - 10 minutes later. It's like he "forgets" he's not supposed to do it. Maybe he's just thick?

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I really dislike bargy bad-mannered horses, so i think you're doing the right thing. I am far from expert, but if he's sufficiently thick to "forget" that he isn't supposed to bite, he's probably thick enough to forget that he might get headshy from being smacked on the nose.
 
I'll keep at him then with a slap on the nose!
Thanks for the advice re kicking him / stepping on his coronary band but since we're usually walking at the time I'd probably fall on my arse - or worse he'd kick me back!
 
YO has a pony that likes to bite - I flicked him on the nose quite hard and he hasn't done it again, possibly coz I had quite long nails at the time so I think it stung!
 
Mine used to nip me when i was leading her and i was told to quickly pull her whiskers under her chin or flick her nose and a couple of times doing that she is soo much better! ... re. the kicking inb the shins thing her previous owner did that and told me to do that but i couldn't bring myself to she also told be to elbow her in the face if she tried to nip, i couldnt bring myself to do that either. but ponio tends to only try to bite peoples elbows now and throw her head away so they are intelligent little beasties
 
Ive never had to do this but I read that a nip like the mare would do if a foal was behaving badly is the best of form of retaliation if its really neccessary.You might try a pinch on the end of his nose or neck and that shouldnt make him headshy .
If you want to compare bruises I have a lovely black eye my boy managed to collide heads with me complete accident looks like Ive had a run in with Mike Tyson.Poor husband is taking a ribbing lol
 
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