wot would u do if horse bites you

Clobber it across the nose followed by immediately making it step backwards and out my space. Biting is something I consider incredibly rude and will not tolerate which both the horses I handle understand as they have only ever tried it once!!
 
I can picture that... haha... poor Murphy, tell him not to catch Aimee on a bad day!!!!
Compared to some horses, Max for example he's not that bad, and Jack that big coloured of Alans, he used to go for everyone walking past his stable. I think Murph just has his occasional moments!!!!
 
Well yes, he has days when he says: you humans p!ss me off, I shall bite every last one of you when you try and pet me.
LOL Rob makes me laugh because he full on comes over for a cuddle when Murph is in one of his "I hate the world" moods!!
 
Agree with Kerilli - don't get yourself hurt. In the short term get it to stand in from the door when you are there and in the long term get it moved or a grille put in - its not worth risking a bad bite. What's the owners take on it? I imagine they don't like being bitten either.
 
i dont see the owner much, and I havent heard her mention that he's bitten her or saw him do it. She is VERY soft on him, think he was badly treated before she got him.
 
I would have done exactly the same thing - only perhaps a little harder
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If Chex dared to bite me he would get a hard slap across the muzzle, shoved right out my space and be seriously growled at! Actually I think if he did bite me I'd probably stand there in complete shock that he had! If it was someone else's horse I might not be so harsh, I don't feel its really my place to teach another horse manners.
 
Actually. I have to say, when I was a young teenager, I had two ponies and one was a biter .....like a serious biter, but this was before I owned her. She was stabled next to my pony and when she came up for sale my parents ended up buying her (although they didn't know she was a biter). She dislocated someone's arm and attacked anyone who went past her stable, so they ended up putting a grill over the front.

Well when she finally belonged to me, I immediately moved her and put her in a different stable where she could see everything going on. I took down her grill and spent lots and lots of time fussing over her. She never ever bit me at any time and once her grill was down and she was in a stable with a far nicer outlook, she was absolutely fine. I think the fact that I spent an awful lot of time with her perhaps altered how she felt about people.....and in the years I owned her, she didn't bite anyone again. I used to think that she was just craving attention and that was the only way she knew how to....I still think that of her.
 
My horse has only ever tried to bite me once. Apparently I made so much noise my friends all thought I'd been pinned against the wall and double-barrelled. I do NOT tolerate biting, even something that playfully nips will get a slap (preferably not on the nose, usually the neck or shoulder). One horse I handle is a **** with biting, I had a short stick on me today though and one wallop on his (rugged) shoulder and he walked in from the field like a lamb.
Not reprimanding biting just makes the animal more likely to do it again as you are almost guaranteed to react to it as the one being bitten.
Now, if there is a reason for the horse to react in this way (I know a few cold-backed horses that react to the girth by biting) then I'd be more forgiving, and get the problem sorted.
 
Hmm, prickly dandy brush across the nose that's a new one, filed away for future reference.

ROTFLMAO with the baked potato. I'd get 3rd degree burns knowing my luck and end up in casualty trying to explain "It's to stop me being bitten by a horse" to some student Doc and have them thinking I need certifying!

Bloody nice idea though!
 
I dont tolerate biting either if any of my own bite I bite them back hard or yank there whiskers. If it was someone else's horse i would probably give it a slap as an automatic reaction. I think you should tell the owner though. I would be mortified if my horses were biting people on a regular basis and would definately take action to prevent it.
 
It's difficult because it isn't your horse, and to make it respect you the owner would have to approve.
If it bites again and the owner agrees, whip open it's door and shout, and whack the wall next to you with anything metal or plastic like a bit of pipe making a noise. It should hurtle to the back of the box.
Next time carry the same object and whack it against something as you approach it's stable door. Unless it's very stupid it will move backwards.
Within a couple of days it will recognise you and move away whenever you approach.
Horses hate being shouted at far more than being walloped, and the trick is to make him go away from you as in the herd situation.
We have to walk at close quarters in a dark barn to over 25 horses all eager to get to the feeder. You seriously can't risk anything ever biting or kicking, and making a noise and waving your arms is the most effective way of disciplining them.
The horse will still bite other people but hopefully have enough respect for you not to bite you again
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I'm afraid my immediate reaction would be to wallop it and shout, whether the owner was there or not, the next bite could be your face..
 
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Coming from someone who has a biter may I just add, that he has been slapped, punched, shouted at and more or less terrified (not all at once - god dont want people thinking Im part of that serial horse beaters clique!)
..... and yes he still bites. So if anyone knows of the magic cure please let me know...

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Mine to. Tried everything. Find evasive action works best.

Also, if i caught anyone punching Finnus, i would probably punch them. Telling off is ok and i think what HH has suggested (above) works very well.
 
my old boy will take a chunk if given the opportunity, so we just ignore him, usually works. Is it worse around feed time? If you are on livery get them to sort out a grille etc, no reason why you should suffer chunks missing, once it is established they dont usually stop..
 
I'd give it a smack too, if mine bit someone I'd expect them to give him a smack. One crisp smack across the nose.
If a horse on our yard bites then a full grid has to be put up. If you know that your horse bites and you do nothing about it ie the grid, then to be honest I think people are quite within their rights to tell it off. Obviously not if you go out of your way to get in their way!! But OP says that you have to go near it in order to get in the stable.
If it becomes a regularly occurance then i'd definitely carry a whip or something as a deterrant.
 
Id have belted it bloody hard. Probably with a headcollar if i had one with me or similar to avaoid hurting my hand---oooo im cruel!
 
I would have very promptly slapped hard & shouted loud!

That said, I'm not impressed with the people who have said 'punch it' - you won't have any more 'educational impact' punching than you will slapping - the punch is merely a way of making the human feel better which is pretty crap horsemanship IMO.
 
If it wasn't my horse, I'd probably shout at it and march towards it with my arms in the air, so that it backed straight off. If it was my horse, I'd bite it back!!! Then threaten to remove all it's teeth and make it live on grass soup
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why is horse biting?

Is it playful?

OK, if its playfull, then he's probably doing the head scratching / nibbling thihg as well as the biting. Stop all head scratching and nibbling, and every time he head COMES NEAR YOU push it away politely. If his heads not near you, then hes not in position to get his teeth into you. So when you see the beginning of the action, stop the start of the action and you wont get to the end of the action (the bite)

Is it bad manners?

if its bad manners, there will be other small things wrong with this horse - bargying, tricky to handle, catch, pick up feet, etc. Start to fix these other things, biting should start to improve too.

Is it defensive or agressive?

Agression is a form of defense in horses. If a horse has been handled roughly for a while, eventually they will fight back. For a horse like this, if you increase the roughness, he will just fight back more (as a previous poster had said). You actually have to convince your horse you can be trusted, and every oppertunity you hav eencourage and praise him, so he gets more confident and happy in himself, and the defensiveness goes. During this proces, wearing correct clothing as there will be a few nips for a while until you horses starts to think dirrerently about you.

Have you taught him this?

Hand feeding teaches a horse to nibble and sometimes bite. stop ALL hand feeding - FOR EVERYONE who comes in contact with thsi horse. Food in a bucket only.

Teething.

Young horses teeth, and tend to nibble and sometimes bite stuff. Give them something to nibble (a basketball works well!) but once you see them start to nibble you in ANY way, push their head away. You might have to push their head away (nicely) for 50 times in the first minute, but they will eventually get the idea.

Just some ideas for a thursday morning away!
 
Smacked it on the nose and shouted at it. On the odd occassion my boy has tried to nip me, i have done the same and he doesn't try again for a good while.
 
I'd have slapped it on the side of it's muzzle and shouted at it. I wont have my horse bite me so I'm hardly going to have anyone else's! Tell the owner too though!

I've been told that if you're quick enough, let it bite a metal curry comb when it goes for you, that'll stop it - I've never tried it though as in my experience a slap and a shout stops it.
 
if any horse bites me they get a smack straight away. i try and avoid hitting round the face but if its over the stable door then it will be round the face.
But Buddie my sec A was beaten as a baby and even 7 years on any quick movements round his head/neck area he jumps back petrified so he would get a smack on the shoulder.
 
If you're going to take any of the advice from this thread, then I suggest you speak to his owner first and find out if she is even aware of the problem, it's her responsibility to sort this horses manners and/or fit a grille.
I wouldn't be happy at all if the horse was mine and other livery clients took the problem into their own hands without even consulting me, even if it's to say "if you don't sort your horse out, I will!!!" but give them the chance, you could make the horse worse. Put yourself in their shoes but certainly do something about it!

I had an extreme biter in for training once, he bit me on the tit, but he didn't just bite - he actually picked me up by my tit!! i have witnesses.
What did i do? I didn't do anything, except fall over on the floor, my face apparently went white and I assumed i had 'lost' my right breast, i had an image of it hanging off, when i peeled my t.shirt off it was just a mangled lump of blood and skin - but thankfully still attached!

I sent him away on a lunge line (he would run in and attack you if he was loose schooled) until he was dripping with sweat, he was a tough one to crack but i kept reminding myself that he would be destroyed if i didn't get the message across to him that i was the boss, it took about 25 minutes for him to start to respect me and to ask to come to me, but when he did he was a different horse, in all ways, he was actually happy and content for the first time in a long time! I could do anything with him after that. sadly he later ended up in 'the wrong hands' again and resorted to his old ways
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I will forever wish i had bought him myself but at the time we were moving into a horse box due to financil trouble - but that's another story.
He was appaarently the way he was because he had been beaten up by a groom.


Sorry, i should just put it all in a book...
 
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