What would you do with a "mouthy" horse?
By admin on Mar. 4, 2010.
The horse is a 3 yr old filly. She is very "mouthy", she like to grab things (ropes, things hanging on the fence) as well as your clothes, jewelry, hair, boots, skin. She is not really biting, only once in a while can I really feel her teeth. I am worried about other people, or if your not really paying attention.
This is a horse that I am working with and I haven’t really done anything to stop or change the behavior. But I have been told that different thing have been tried such as, a slap to the neck/shoulder, pinching of the lips, slap on the chest….blah blah blah.
So what can I try to get her to stop?
Thanks
Do not slap or pinch, Do what Piaffe said, and block the mouth with your elbow. That allows her to play with things on the fence or pick up brushes if she has the need but to learn that you and other humans are off limits. Most horses learn that this block (it includes a quick bump because they are moving and you have met them) isn’t fun and quit pretty soon. However, for the horse that doesn’t learn the lesson, step 2:
If after a few days of the elbow bump repeat, your horse still is grabbing you, go to the next level. With a halter and lead and no time schedule, groom your horse. The first instant she tries to mouth you, disengage her rear, back her up, or do a mini lunge forward. This puts her feet to work. When you stop you go back to your grooming. Repeat as many times a necessary. This teaches your horse that the mouthy behavior directed at you puts her to quick work and YOU direct those feet. This is pretty cool to watch how they sort through this lesson and rapidly learn that the mouthy behavior means work and they’d soon rather stand there. I have a very mouthy young mustang and I blocked with an elbow about 100 times one day. He didn’t care. The next day I disengaged the rear (he knew how to do this from prior groundwork) and put him to work with those feet. You could just see those wheels grinding away in his head after about 6 times of that. Do I go in with the mouth or not? His decision. To follow the Dorrance and Ray Hunt theory: Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy.
Now I don’t care if he wants to play with a rubber grooming tool or an old cotton lead. He just can’t grab me. Your horse will figure this out if you do it right.
9 Responses to “What would you do with a "mouthy" horse?”
When you see her move her head over to bite or mouth at something, take your elbow and give the horse a nudge on the cheek or the throatlatch, or the upper neck…
Thats what i do with horses that crowd personal space, or nibble at stuff. and when they reach to chew at stuff on the hitching rail or something, give it a tap on the nose (really lightly, just hard enough to remind them that chewing on stuff is a no-no)
EDIT
Dont buy a muzzle! that does nothing! Alll it does is FORCE the horse to listen to you. you should request it and let the horse know what you do want.
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By .:Piaffes Are Pretty:. on Mar 5, 2010
a muzzle?
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By Paige on Mar 5, 2010
My horse gets like that sometimes and i just elbow him and say "quit" or something like that in a firm voice. it works =]
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By theFoxCrit on Mar 5, 2010
I read something on the internet and it said so they dont get head shy you just give them a flick on the nose and say something like "No" or "Uh" something in a low voice or growly one, its good it works on my 2yr old boy, he mouths alot chews on everything, and even when hes tyed up he chews on the lead rope, so i have found this to work, after a while they stop and its good because it doesnt hurt them at all just says no.
hope this helped. ill try find the web site but you could find it on google maybe, i did.
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By Catvet on Mar 5, 2010
i dunno srry
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By abbercrombie lover on Mar 5, 2010
She will likely grow out of it. Its no big deal if she isn’t biting. She’s young and curious!
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SAMD
By Bruno M. on Mar 5, 2010
First, don’t ever hand feed a horse treats. Second, teach her boundries. Have you ever taught her how to mind your space? If not, nows the time to start. If you put your hands up palms out towards her, she should move away from you. If you have a halter on and she nibbles, give her a good tug on the halter. 3 year olds are mouthy. I would teach her boundries though, nows a good time to start
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By Louise on Mar 5, 2010
Do not slap or pinch, Do what Piaffe said, and block the mouth with your elbow. That allows her to play with things on the fence or pick up brushes if she has the need but to learn that you and other humans are off limits. Most horses learn that this block (it includes a quick bump because they are moving and you have met them) isn’t fun and quit pretty soon. However, for the horse that doesn’t learn the lesson, step 2:
If after a few days of the elbow bump repeat, your horse still is grabbing you, go to the next level. With a halter and lead and no time schedule, groom your horse. The first instant she tries to mouth you, disengage her rear, back her up, or do a mini lunge forward. This puts her feet to work. When you stop you go back to your grooming. Repeat as many times a necessary. This teaches your horse that the mouthy behavior directed at you puts her to quick work and YOU direct those feet. This is pretty cool to watch how they sort through this lesson and rapidly learn that the mouthy behavior means work and they’d soon rather stand there. I have a very mouthy young mustang and I blocked with an elbow about 100 times one day. He didn’t care. The next day I disengaged the rear (he knew how to do this from prior groundwork) and put him to work with those feet. You could just see those wheels grinding away in his head after about 6 times of that. Do I go in with the mouth or not? His decision. To follow the Dorrance and Ray Hunt theory: Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy.
Now I don’t care if he wants to play with a rubber grooming tool or an old cotton lead. He just can’t grab me. Your horse will figure this out if you do it right.
References :
By PeaBee on Mar 5, 2010
if you do not want her to bite you then smack her each and every single time she does it. i smack on the side of teh muzzle, where the gap in the teeth is, as this doesn’t hurt but it makes a noisewhich startles them.
but you have to be cosistant and do it every single time. in the same place and do it immediately
also if she’s biting alot of things i would get her teeth checked just to make sure that wasn’t a problem
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By A . T . C . cla ro on Mar 5, 2010