Stopping a pony from biting

schneeko

schneeko

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Today I went out on a lovely hack with another lady from my yard and a mum and daughter as well. They only have one horse so I let the daughter ride my pony and I rode my tb. The pony had a sticky moment with a scary bridge but apart from that he was good for her,

Only problem was that when she went to tack him up he kept going to bite her. It made me realise that he does this a lot. I ignore him or tell him not to but it doesn't stop him long term. I can deal with it but it's very annoying if I want to let anyone else handle him.

He doesn't just do it when your tacking up. He does it once he's tacked up, when you go to talk to him in his stable, when your grooming him. I've had him so long i'm used to it but i'd like to stop it long term.

Please don't tell me to firmly say "No" because that's not going to work. He's quite bolshy and whilst he doesn't push me around anymore, he still bites.

Any suggestions would be great

:D
 
Probably a good job he isn't mine, because he'd get a damn good slap!

Now, that comment won't go down well, but quite honestly I've never made a horse head shy by a well timed slap and most of them don't repeat the offence either. If there is nothing wrong with tack, etc then it is just plain bad manners.
 
Ok, I already do that, didn't want to say because I thought people would be annoyed. Not that I've ever tried but I should think you could hit him in the face and he'd still bite you, nothing phases him :rolleyes:

I hope this doesn't turn into and arguement
 
try just pushing his face away from you when he tries to bite and hold it away for a few minutes, when you let him have his head back if he does it again just do the same thing and keep doing it. Eventually he will get the message that if he tries to bite then he isn't allowed to 'be with you'. We had an horrendous biter and this worked for him after a few sessions, tbh I think it was just habit rather than him trying to hurt us as he tends to lip things anyway but at least we don't have to dodge teeth now!
 
no, it didn't with ours either, not that he got many as it isn't something I do, just when he really hurt and it took me by surprise and more of a knee jerk reaction (and then I apologised for smacking him and felt bloody guilty for days despite the bruises he gave me!!)
 
A grazing muzzle isnt really stopping the problem though. My appy had a biting issue also, smacking him had no effect. I think his was his age though, he grew out of it. But i found the holding his head away method quite effective as he did like to be in your space and affectionate.. he just needed to know his 'kisses with teeth' werent acceptable :P
x
 
squirt him with water or have some stones in a can and rattle it at him when he goes to nip.

(I will know doubt get called cruel for this....)
 
my mare used to bite when tacking up and rugging. shouting and smacking had no affect as it made her worse, so i used to put my elbow up to her face when she turned to bite (not aggressivly just to block her teeth from reaching me) and just ignored her so she didnt get a reaction from me. took some time but eventually she stopped as she realised i wasnt going to react
 
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