I have a mare who used to bite. I did not start or
encourage her biting. I have spent hours and hours, years even, teaching her not
to. She has not bitten for over 3 years. and yet, I warn people she
bites. I don't really expect her to. But she might. Horses that have
previous abuse issues often do things we don't expect.
"john lyons" and I have spent lots of hours working
on that mare. She is a DM and I do mean DM. The first several times I
disciplined her for biting, she tried to kill me. Truly. She spun her butt to me
and tried to double barrel me in the head. I owned her before she was
abused and she was such a doll. I was not going to give up on her and put her
down when I new MY MARE was in there somewhere. And she was.
Would I have disciplined her if it had been us at
the ride? Probably not. It has been over 3 years since she has shown any
inclination to bite and if she were to snap into her previous biting brain set,
I would be more worried about her snapping all the way and being the spinning,
kicking, biting, insanity that she was when I got her back. I think I would
err on the side of caution for the other people and horses there and not
discipline her. But it would be a long time before I took her anywhere
again.
As to the woman not caring about the damage
her horse inflicted, there have been several discussions about liability. Some
people say that putting a red ribbon on your horse invites a lawsuit because it
proves that you knew the horse was dangerous. The woman whose horse bit is being
flamed because she knew her horse would bite and the proof is that she warned
people.I have been to insurance seminars where I was told, "NEVER admit to any
liability. Don't say anything that could possibly construed as admitting
liability." Some people are afraid enough of being sued to follow those
instructions.
I am not the person whose horse bit, but I could
be. My previously abused mare could snap someday and bite. I would have fallen
all over myself to apologize and put my mare away and helped crew for you and
your friend. But I can see where someone could be so upset and worried about
being sued that they would act the way that woman did.
