Everytime he
feels it tightening he tries to bite. ... Can you suggest ways to get him
to stop, I usually growl at him and sometimes i'll slap him on the neck but
its really not that effective.
Don't slap him. A horse's skin is so
sensitive, he can feel a fly anywhere. So a slap is abusive. I
recently bought a horse that likes to lip at me. Hasn't bitten but
a lip is the first step. I forget which, but one of the horse
trainers (Anderson, Parelli, whoever) said that if a horse lips or nips or
bites at you, you need to give his head more attention than he wants.
Rub his muzzle until he's tired of it. Every time he swings his head
toward you, start rubbing his muzzle. I've been doing this with my new
horse and he's a lot better already.