Re: RC: Nipping horse (long answer)

[sharp penny <penelope_75647@yahoo.com>]

        If he nips or bites at you, you have 3 sec to
try to kill him, make him think his world is coming to
an end, then stop and act as if nothing happened. If
he is just mouthy, rub all over his head and muzzel
until he turns his head away from you then stop. Hold
the horse's nose gently between your hands and rub it
softly but vigorously. keep rubbing. eventually that
will get uncomfortable and he will take his nose away.
when he brings it back and noses around again, rub his
nose again. Eventually he'll get real tired of having
his nose rubbed so often that he'll want to take it
away. He'll think, Gee, everytime I go nosing
around,she rubs my nose and makes it uncomfortable. I
don't guess I'll nose around. I did this with a big
paint stallion I onced owned. He loved attention and
hated being ignored. this used to get him in trouble.
What I learned through a clinic with John Lyons is
that he needed more attention and love, not less.
Horses are very social and this mouthyness is his way
of saying " hey look at me . Look at me. I'm here! So
fill his bucket up with attention and love from you.
You need to be hugging  his head, rubbing his muzzel
and sticking your hands on his lips and inhis mouth.
show him that you are going to give him all the
attention he wants and then some. Then he can learn he
can be around you without demanding attention.
         Back to the actual biting. When a horse trys
to bite, I put it in my mind that I'm going to kill
that horse, beat him to death,no holds barred but ONLY
FOR THREE SECONDS. This is the only time I lose my
temper with a horse. Basically, I'm talking about real
anger, real violence for all of three seconds within
the following rules. 1. If I have anything in my hand
that might cut or blind him, I DON'T HIT HIM WITH IT
IN FRONT OF HIS WITHERS.If i had a buggy whip, a
shovel or a baseball bat I would not hit him in front
of the withers. 
(I know there are some people gasping out there)
Believe me it dosn't matter if you hit him with a
baseball bat or your hands, its all the same as far as
the horse is concerned. PAIN DOSN'T STOP A HORSE FROM
BITING; CONVINCING HIM THAT HE'S GOING TO DIE DOES.
       The second rule is that I have only 3 sec from
the time he bites to the time I must stop trying to
kill him. Count it out, one 1,000,two 1,000,three
1,000,FREEZE. For 3 sec I can come totally
unglued,screaming,jumping,striking him. Then I stop
dead in my tracks and go back to normal activity. End
of case. Don't take it personally, don't resent him
and don't threaten the horse. If the horse escapes and
runs to the other side of the arena and 3 sec
elapse,leave him alone. If you can't punish him in
those 3 sec forget about it and do something else.

       Back to the baseball bat thing, think about
it,have youever seen one horse walk up to another and
kick him in the side. The horse that got kicked
probably just grunted and walked off. you can not hit
a horse as hard with a bat as another horse can kick.
Think about it. put your arm against your horses
hip,see how small your arm is compared to your horses
muscle. the horsesleg from the gaskin down as roughly
the length of a bat and hes wearing steel shoes. the
horse that kicked just hit another horse with a steel
tipped base ball bat, swung by a hugh powerful "arm"
and the other horse grunted and walked away. So pain
is not the answer, you can't give a horse enough pain
to stop biting. The amswer lies in convincing the
horse that he's gonna die.

 WHEW...I'm now preparing myself for the onslaught of
flamers!!


Penny

--- lkgower <jazena@kelp.net> wrote:
> Hi all,  Could you help me with a problem with  my 4
> 1/2 y.o. gelding?  He nips, chews and holds things
> in his mouth, like the shank on the bit, the lead
> rope, the reins, my stirrups, anything he can get
> his teeth on.  The vet checked him last month and
> said he would need to have his teeth floated in
> about 3 mos.  He grabbed my hat off my head today,
> and I have to be careful or he will nip my hands
> arms etc.  I know this can become a dangerous habit,
> so what do I do to correct it???  I have slapped him
> under his chin so he won't see me do it, but it
> doesn't seem to be working.  He was gelded about 9
> mos. ago and I wonder if it is just left over
> hormones.  Help please!!
> Lindak and AAce
> 


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