Help fixing a mouthy 2 yr old gelding?

Question

he is a horse that i am boarding. i've been doing the john lyons 3 second war with him and it has helped quite a bit but he is still nippy. i was just out petting him and he tried to bite me(playfully, as a young horse will) but i want it to stop. he hasn't nipped in about 3-4 weeks so i know it is working but how much longer will it take? he has been here for 3 months with 3 other horses(1/4 horse arabian mare,19yrs, tb mare,13 yrs, and a 10 yr old tb gelding) other than him being mouthy he is a pleasure to have here. do i just need to keep up the 3 second war?

Answer 1

Some horses really tend to nippy or mouthy behavior much more than others, and it can make your job tough even when you do everything right.  I honestly believe that the worst horses are ones that grow up as "only horses".  They don't learn good horse behavior with other horses, and therefore they can't apply those manners to people so easily.  If they grow up with a group they learn "don't mess with the boss", but as an only colt he gets away with too much from his mom and doesn't learn the respect thing.  Now he's older and with other horses, so that will help, but if they miss that early stuff they often never quite catch up.

So I'm going to assume that for whatever reason this horse is just tougher than average.  So don't give up on yourself, he might be a chore for a long time.  And since I owned one like this a few years ago, and worked with him for two years and never totally solved all the problems, I don't have a miracle cure for you!  Except - don't buy one that is wired that way!

If this horse hasn't tried for 3 weeks, then you are obviously on the right track.  I would stick with the John Lyons thing and not give up since you're making progess.  I would also continue with lots of respectful groundwork.  Make sure he knows to keep out of your space.  He cannot nip you when he's standing politely a few feet away.  I'm a big believer in having him move forwards, backwards, sideways, etc regularily and keeping him respectful on the ground, that really helps with him remembering who the boss is.  I would really suggest you flip the rope at him when he gets too close, or wiggle your elbow when leading, or whatever so he gets in a habit to not get into your space unless invited.  Be very careful you don't feed him from your hands, if you want to give him a treat put it on the ground.

Good luck.  Hopefully it will become less of an issue as time goes by.

Answer 2

cut its head off. OR cut its feet of and feed it to it. that shows it whose in charge.  it won't talk or walk!

Answer 3

well almost all young horses like to nibble and chew and most of them grow out of it but i know how annoying it is ( i have a young filly who tries to bite everything)

if you are feeding him treats at all it would be best not to feed him out of your hands and try to draw his attention away from them. some people choose to ignore the horse and not react and it seems to work but some horses you need to be firm and give them a smack on the nose to tell them its enough but  holding his lips together and playing with them and touching his chin n stuff i would say would be encouraging him to do this.

my opinion would be to just ignore him and avoid his head and mouth . ( maybe even having a toy or lickit in his paddock might be the answer because he may just be bored and looking for something to do. )

hope i could help.

Answer 4

If it's working, it's working.

Avoid anything that would cause him to regress and keep following your course of action.

If it's not working, examine why: is it the program itself, the way you're handling it, etc.? Based on that, either find a new solution or readjust how you're treating your colt.

If it IS working, good job.