Whats your opinion?

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cat1

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How would you disipline your horse? Would you use your voice or would you use some controlled force? Say for example your horse bites you.. would you tap it on the nose (some would say this leads to head shyness) or would you simply use your voice to make him aware your the boss. There are so many differences in opinion, i'm interested to know how others view this.

 
if my horse bit me (which he tried to do 2day) i growl @ him and sometimes give him a tap on the shoulder, i would never discipline him using a whip (or other object) & never at or around his head
 
I read a fantastic deterrent in one of Kelly Marks's books. She said that someone got bitten & threw an absolute paddy, lots of waving arms & loud voices but didn't strike the horse, just made her displeasure very obvious, the picture it gave me cracked me up. Never tried it out yet, but it still makes me laugh just picturing it.
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if Hemir goes to bite someone i say "Hemir!" and that normally stops him if it doesnt, the first time he does it he gets a foot stamp and a gumpy mummy the 2nd time he gets a tap on the shoulder, if he does it a 3rd time hegets a tap on the nose...oops! He nomally gets the idea after "Hemir!" bu every now and again gets to big for his boots and pushes his luck!!

When he first arrived he had NO manners and was very disobidient...and yes i did cary a whip but never struck him with it, it was usually my boot that got hit just to make a loud noise and to make him concerntrate. When he was bing bulshy i held the whip out at arms length... he got the idea after about a month!! i can now leave him untied (oops i thought mum was holding him, she thought he was tied up!!) and he stands still!!
 
Never hit my horse, use voice whip used to re-enforce leg aids. Tap on the nose non-sense leads to head shyness it's taken me months and months for my horse to allow me to brush and touch her head
 
I dont need to punish my boy, he does it himself! When tacked up he pulls wicked faces but never actually bites unless he misjudges the distance. If he touches me while mock bitting he freaks out on his own and looks as though hes had a thrashing, which I add, he never has done. I have in the past given a thumping to those who really pushed their luck, always a thump on the bum nothing more. When you have 500ks of flesh trying it on its best to sort it out asap. The only thing that is hurt is their pride. M.
 
I tend to do funnily enough as you mention patricksmum, make my displeasure known by kicking up a fuss visually, she can get a slap on the shoulder or bum for being naughty, and if she barges me i tend to barge her right back. If seren did bite me i would more than likely slap her on the shoulder
 
If Chex dared to bite me he's be in serious trouble, same if he kicked me. Not sure exactly what I'd do because he's never done it in 9 years - I set the boundaries as soon as I bought him and he knows fine well what is acceptable and what isn't. He would probably get growled at and slapped and shoved out my space. Probably over tough, but he's plenty old enough to know when he's done wrong!!
 
Well my little fella was feeling brave the other day and tried nipping my arm...whilst I didn't hit him he did get a flick on the nose and a telling off. Bless him he looked mortified and came for a cuddle not long after.
 
If it was a baby then it would be voice wherever possible but if it was a older horse who knew he was doing wrong then hed get a bloody good belting. My gelding has bit me once when i first got him and he was hit HARD and hes never, ever even thought about biting again.
 
When my youngsters have nipped me when loose in the field(wanted to play) I would instantly give him a sharp slap on the nose without pausing for thought and growl. It works wonders but I woul never do it with a restrained horse. When a horse is restrained I try to never put myself in a position to be bitten, if they did manage it they would get a growl and a slap on the shoulder, again instant and without any pause for thought from me.

The problem most people have is that they don't respond quickly enough and therefore any discipline is totally lost on the horse as he won't associate it with the act of biting.
 
My daughters horse gets quite snappy at rug changing and she actually got hold of my jacket this morning. I gave her a swift slap on the neck and shouted at her.

I see nothing wrong with that.
 
I use my voice and strong eye contact. In my opinion the timing is more important than what you actually do, theres no point shouting, screaming, hitting or anything else 10 seconds later when the moment is gone.
I also think its extremely important not to get angry or stay angry as that just confuses them. A short sharp look in the eye is more than enough to make my horse think twice. If i was to hit him he would just hit back harder.

Distraction is also a great tool. With serial biters and nippers try stroking a leg with your foot when he goes to bite, he'll get distracted and often forget what he was about to do. Much better than knocking lumps out of them.

Donny
 
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