Biting - did I do the wrong thing?

[jsb]

Our horse who we have had for nearly 3 months, has started biting. I was so surprised he did that the other day when grooming it took me second or two to realise what had happened. I knew in my gut I had to respond quickly or not at all. I felt he needed to know that was totally not acceptable behaviour, so I slapped him ( just on the shoulder) not on the face, and took his headcoller in both hands just firmly - not shaking at all - and said in a firm voice " NO that was really naughty!" then stepped back… I have since read a host of other things and am not sure if that was backwards move with him? I feel he needed to know that was naughty.. I know MOnty suggests lightly tapping/ knocking his boot on the shin to divert attention… the good old pony club way is probably shout and do something like a spank…. 

anyway - we do not want this to become more of a problem. What do you do when this happens and does it work?

Getting our dually halter today so that will help.


He is a bit lonesome in his field - there is a pony next door who hides around the other hedge and is not a sociable chap  he can see other horses across from him but not able to chat with them)
our horse seems to be really sensitive to being brushed suddenly ( which is so not him!) and he is grumpy.. the only other time he was like that was when he had no field mate and was not getting much sleep - so I am thinking this other field mate in next door field isn't actually helping much - could he also be teaching mine grumpy habits as he isn't a nice horse to be around? It could be medical I suppose? but I also wonder if he is not actually just trying it on. My husband who is not horsey at all got him in from the field yesterday as I didn't have my boots with me, and he also walked him a mile or so up the road and he was absolute angel with head nice and low and his happy eyes on! So this makes me wonder - he liked husbands way of doing things… 

He is ridden most days ( solved the napping that he was doing when the other pony arrived) ours is 15.1 Irish 12yr  , ex driving pony and 3 month trekker - so he has been learning a whole new way of life - and doing very well… so I am confused/ concerned about his mood changes and what we need to do with this to be safe AND happy! I want my happy horse back please!

thanks in advance for any ideas!

Joy

[alonerawnut]

My youngster would try to bite / nibble when she first arrived. When she tried to nibble, I would make a loud BBBRRRRP! noise but make no other move, as though the noise had nothing to do with me. It's been very successful: she will gently sniff / touch me with her nose but no hint of nibbling or biting.

[antares]

Your horse is trying to tell you something, the only way he knows how. Please don't write that off as him being grumpy.

Nipping whilst grooming could mean many things from trying to get you to play through to reacting to pain - stress can cause ulcers among other things

I would say he needs a field mate, is that an option where you are? Any other yards available with shared turnout?

[wills]

If he is doing it when being groomed around his belly/girthed up etc then it suggests strongly to me that he could be suffering from ulcers? My mare started biting at the end of the winter,the first time she did it she got me right on the arm tore my jacket, gave me such a fright I'm afraid to say she got smacked on the nose, I felt terrible for it but it was more of a knee jerk reaction. She was doing it when I was grooming, doing her rugs up etc, had just spent 9 months on box rest & then had to move yards so all in it had been a reasonably stressful time for her and turns out she had gastric ulcers, got them sorted happy horse again. Get him checked out before assuming it's bad behaviour.

[jsb]

Hello there, thanks for the replies. I did get the vet in yesterday as he has been falling asleep also on his feet quite regularly.. it COULD be narcolepsy as my vet has a horse that does that and its is manageable. She checked him over - heart fine, and not lame ( was wondering if was laminates) but not showing signs of that.. we are running blood tests on liver and kidneys and a worm count. All in all he has had a lot of change and things to get used to. I think I WAs grooming too enthusisatically the other day - he is grey so not sure how sensitive he is to things. I had a lovely grooming session today and he seemed to enjoy it and let me do his belly too.. but I am much more conscious of reading hi body language. He wanted to hang out with me in the field yesterday. He DOEs walk alongside the other horse next door ( when the old guy chooses to put in an appearance) ... the weather has been really rubbish lately and being out 24/7 he may have not been feeling great and a bit tired maybe.. Vet and I agreed that it could be he is lonesone and not truly resting. So if the bloods come back good - we will look into a field mate - its quite easy to get an RSPCA one to foster - or we may look for another one so I can ride out too with daughter. Today he was much happier but a lot of that is me taking the time to not rush things I think. we did talk about could it be ulcers and she said to do this route first and rule any of those things out. and resolve his stress issues.

So tomorrow we should have a plan for what we do next.

[portiabuzz]

Sounds like your doing the right thing getting vet to check over, perhaps be more gentle when grooming