Stopping a horse nipping

[sunflower]

Someone has been giving my horse treats by hand and now she bites me. Okay not all the time but how do I stop her from doing this?

Thanks

[jonnorris]

I think I'd go with Monty's answer to nipping.

1. Cut out all hand feeding.

2. Take action the second the horse nips at you. Recommended is a bump (not a kick) in the shin. This distracts the horse's attention to another part of itsbody. The other thing you can do is step on the coronary band. Timing is critical, you must be quick or the horse won't make the association.

3. Immediately after the distraction, move the horse about.

[gillmcg]

Something I've found that nips it in the bud (pun intended) - as soon as you see that head turn ready to nip go completely maaaaaad!!!! Throw your arms in the air, jump up and down, shout. The shock value really works.... ;D Timing is key - you don't want to be going crazy when they're already pulling back/moving away or they'll think that's the behaviour that gets the nutso reaction rather than the attempt at biting.

[jinglejoys]

Same as gillmcg.When Malaga went through his biting stage (Wasn't food orientated,just leadership issues)I did pleanty of jumping jacks,nettle thrashing,rope wiggling etc till he decided it was wiser to keep out of this mad woman's space ;D

[anastasia55555]

lol, sounds like you are both nutty lol!! maybe thats what they decided haha!!
was trying to think of what we did with Toffee, was suppose a 'SHOOOO' or loud 'NO', and my sister told her she would bite her back!!lol!bit fluffy tho!

[Yann]

I personally think the toe tapping / foot treading are best left for the experts, for a start they mean you're in firing range and not many of us have good enough coordination or timing to guarantee getting it right.

I've not had to deal with a proper nipper, although our loan pony sometimes used to nip. I'd work on personal space and general handling and relationship stuff, it worked with her. The scary mad reaction can be very effective too.

[jonnorris]

I've had a very, very bad reaction when doing the scary mad thing so *personally* wouldn't recommend it. The toe tapping/coronary band thing is what Monty recommends both on his university and in his books.

I agree with Yann that personal space/handling/relationship stuff works too.

[Deleted]

I've tried the toe tapping thing and agree with Yann that timing is very difficult, along with the fact that you have to be very close to them thereby allowing them into your space.

I prefer to back the horse up and keep asking them to maintain a respectful distance. My boy doesn't nip at all normally but I've been exercising him in hand and when we trot he thinks it's playtime and starts nipping me so I make eye contact and square up to him and he backs away (I have the benefit of a very responsive horse so eye contact is usually enough!)

[bryony83]

Another person whose had a bad reaction to the shouting and foot tapping thing. Best thing I got taught and I have a biter/nipper is to just not allow the head near you and to gently push the head away from you at the cheek. That was I was recommended that by an RA and it's works for my horse but may not work for yours. Get a knowledgable pair of eyes to help you but definately stop all hand feeding

[jonnorris]

That's just reminded me of something that was said on my recent IH course. If your horse nips you, its your fault because you let him get too close!

[gillee]

Hi Sunflower,

This is always a really annoying situation when someone takes the liberty to hand feed your horse without your permission! This happened to me when I kept my horse at a livery yard. My horse started nipping and giving all the signs of being fed by hand, and so I quietly took it upon myself to find out who was doing it. I had my suspicions and knew what time of day the particular person came to see their horse who was kept in the same field as my pony at the time. I hid in the trees and waited! and sure enough they appeared at the gate armed with bananas!!! and were feeding my pony WHOLE BANANAS with skins on as well, can you believe. At this point I emmerged from the trees screaming `Please don't feed my horse those bananas!!!! No, please don't feed them bananas!!!!' at which point the horses and my pony all shot off in varying directions wondering what the screaming lunatic was that was emerging from the trees, but I think the humans(mother and daughter) were actually more scared than the horses. I arrived somewhat out of breath and looking very anxious. I calmly and politely explained: `It is terribly kind of you to consider my pony in the whole `not feeling left out' scenario but he has a real biting problem that is triggered by hand feeding and I would feel awful if you felt responsible for encouraging this, so hope you understand my concern, but thanks so much for your kind intentions'. It worked a treat! ( I later implied that I just happened to be caught short - hence my emergence from the trees!!!)

I would make it incredibly, but politely clear that on no account should your horse be hand fed and try and identify who is doing it, but if you can be as tactful as possible to avoid any bad feeling then great, maybe leave a scoop outside the stable door so that if any one does need to satisfy their own personal urge to feed your horse then at least they can use the scoop which isn't quite as bad as from the hand.
Good luck!!!
Gillee

[gillee]

Hi Sunflower,
Just one more thing I forgot to add with regards to the actual nipping bit. I use a short, sharp Psssh sound which means `No' to my horses whenever they do something undesirable and it really works well, as long as the timing is right. If your horse goes to nip you just use this sound at the same time and he probably wont do it again. I would be interested to know if this works for you as well?
Gillee

[hch4971]

Eeyore used to have a real problem with nipping (or more accurately biting nastily), I didnt really notice it stop all in one go but we just used to push his face away and then noticed it wasnt a problem any more. I do. feed by hand but they all accept that when they have had what I am giving them they get no more and that they don't ever get anything when pushing for it. Eeyore's problem wasn't caused by hand feeding it was his general behaviour that was unruly because he was so uncertain about everything.