stopping a horse biting

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daisybe33

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Does anyone have any tried and tested methods for stopping a horse biting.

It's not my horse but it is very agressive, chases people in the field and bites anyone or anything it can get hold of, anything is fair game. he has been checked over and has a clean bill of health. The owner has always smacked him when he bites which makes no differance at all to his behaviour.(other than arguably making him worse!)

She is at a loss now as to what to do with him. I suggested a wire brush strapped to her arm so if he bites it's unpleasant but this is unreliable as he goes for legs, arms anything really, I also suggested a stallion chain she could tug when he bites so they don't get into such a physical fight with each other.

Does anyone have any tried and tested methods for dealing with this kind of behaviour?
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My daughter has an aggressive pony who sounds very similar - his saving grace is that he's brilliant in every other way ....we have had him for 3 years and just learnt to live with his biting. He's obviously been hit etc for it in the past and our policy has been to ignore the biting and i can not think of anything else that would help with him.
To catch you need to walk up confidently and offer a carrot and catch him straight away - he always has a headcollar on. Once caught he is fine although you need to watch out when tacking him up etc !
We never go in his stable in the winter = in the morning he will stand at the door and you can grab him as he wants out but apart from that it's his space.
So my advice would be to learn what works with this horse and certainly not to hit him. Our pony has been aggressive as far back as we can trace his history and has been left unhandled in the field in the past as no one could manage. He's now in his 20's and very much loved and has a home for life !
 
I'd take 2 old saucepan lids into the field and if he comes at you bang them together over and over right in his face. I'd also have a crop under one arm because a horse that will charge you in the field is dangerous and such behaviour should not be tolerated. If the saucepan lids didn't do the trick, I'd whack him on the arse hard enough to break the crop if necessary. He needs to respect the space of any human who goes into his field. The owner needs to be very careful or she could find herself on the end of a law suit. If all else fails, I'd blow the budget and get Richard Maxwell down to sort him out. He's brilliant. You can sell tickets for people to observe to partly offset the cost.
 
If he's anything like mine that would make the situation much worse and certainly in my ponies case he's been in alot of yards in this area and alot of people have thought they could sort him out and only aggrievated the problem. Saying that there is no way i would keep my pony at livery both for his sake and the sake of anyone else entering his field.
Any adult horse who bites has presumably had people trying violence back and I truely don't think it is the answer ...
 
Samson was biting when I had him 4 months ago. Especially when being led I tried the smack on the nose and kick on the leg (MR) but neither worked. However just a firm wriggle of the lead rope and a firm 'NO' Then lots of praise and cuddling when he is not biting, this is working much much better
 
Maybe you could rent him out to yards where the public keep going into fields they shouldn't, be bloody brilliant watching them run, particularly after the usual "I will go where I want right to roam" usual bollocks they come out with, put his unwanted talents to use.
 
I have heard alot of people say bite them back, personally i would not want a mouthfull of pony hair nor to put my face that close!

My pony came to me with a terrible biting habbit, severe aggression, especially if you were nealing down to his height (or a small child) i was bitten numerous times and his favourite was face/head which is not pleasant at all! I used to grab his ear and squeeze it hard....im sure this was very unpleasant for him (possibly not as sore as a bruised face mind) and within a few weeks he stopped and has never ever bitten since, 10 years later.

Might not work with all horses but worth a try when they are dangerous. Ears are also very easy to grab quickly so they know it relates to their biting.
 
Definately bite him back, or at least do something similarly unpleasant (shout 'No' loudly and wave harms suddenly, or a sharp poke somewhere sensitive) to show you are higher in the pecking order than him.

As previous poster said whatever you do do it fast, so its associated with the biting, and be consistent.
 
My DH swears by a hard pinch on their neck, grab a good handful of flesh and twist. It feels like another horse biting back.

You aren't aiming to frighten him or intimidate him as this is likely to make him worse. You need to act like the dominant mare in a herd would. That means putting him swiftly back in his place every time he is aggressive. You need to act quickly, inflict proportionate pain, a slap on the nose, pinch on the neck, elbow in the neck etc do it immediately, once and then ignore him.

Don't be tempted to appologise for hitting him or to praise him in anyway when he has just been naughty.

You need to do it every time consistently.

Does he get on ok with the other horses in the field? Is he dominant, or low on the pecking order? A change of field mate may help, either to knock him down a peg or two if he's bossy or to stop him getting bullied if he is generally low down in the hierarchy.
 
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