OWWW! please help me with my TB!?

Question

I am teaching my 6yearold ex-racer gelding to bow and the first time we tried he really got the hang of it. The problem now is that when his head is on the ground and i give him the treat for bowing, he snaps for the treat and bites my fingers instead! He actually broke my index finger doing it. I do keep my hand flat but he still nips it! I don't want to tap his nose as we normally would as he just did what i asked by bowing. i tried giving him the treat when he had stood back up instead but i'm not sure it was quite as effective as he doesn't think 'oh, if i put my head on the floor, i get a treat'. How can i stop him nipping whilst teaching him to bow but still keep him motivated and happy bowing??

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Answer 1

i don't think he's biting you on purpose it's just at the weird angle of bowing action he has no idea what he's grabbing with his teeth all he wants is "TREAT!!!! " so he doesn't really pay attention to what is going into his mouth, just as long as something does!!

maybe try bigger treats  or long ones so he can bite one end without nipping at your fingers

Answer 2

What do you expect if your giving your horse treats, of course he's going to start snapping and biting,

Besides why on earth do you need your horse to do that anyway, the only thing you've managed to teach is bad behaviour. Moron

Answer 3

Sounds neat - the bowing trick that is hahaa NOT the biting issue.

I would suggest working on feeding him some treats without encorporating the bow. See if he snaps them out of your hand if youre not bowing.  If he does, smuck him in the nose firmly.  Just make it a negative thing. If he doesnt, it might be a balance issue? Iam not sure - hard to say if I dont see it.  But if it just when he is bowing I would try using a shallow dish with some oats and allowing him to have a bite when he does the command correctly to avoid more broken fingers!

Hope your finger is ok! :)

**EDIT**

This time I was ONE of the few who gave you, midnight_ashes, a thumbs down.  How rude of you to be so abrubt like that. MANY PEOPLE train their horses to bow and do tricks - and in fact your answer makes ZERO sense. They ARE intelligent animals so in turn, they are just as smart to learn such cool tricks.  And if you didnt know, horses were one of the first circus animals there were.  Ever heard of trick riders? perhaps Lippizaner stallions? haha common - have a little more decency when youre answering a question.

Answer 4

Try giving him treats at other times.  At the end of the lesson, perhaps.  If he bites you, smack his nose hard while keeping your face and body language impassive.  It shouldn't take too long before he learns what not to do.  Then, try to get him to bow.  Since he already knows what will happen if he bites, he will bite less, meaning you have to smack him less, and it will not interfere as much with his bowing.  Still, smack his nose if he bites.  Biting is not OK.  Think about your safety first, and his training second.

If he absolutely cannot get over biting people (Most horses do, but...) or if you cannot bring yourself to slap him, try petting him for an award instead of giving him treats.

Good luck, and I hope your finger feels better!

Answer 5

one i wanna teach my horse! 2 DONT HAND FEED HIM NO MATTER WHAT or he'll start bitin in other places like when hes saddled, or bridled, or even just brushed. and it sounds like hes got the hang of it,  so just try rubbing and praising him. after a while you can start giving him SOME treats, but not all the time, and maybe he'll 4get is bad habbit. im sure hes nothing compared to my horse (biting wise, im sure ur TB is fancier than my fat QH)

Answer 6

Drop it on the ground in front of him?

Answer 7

use a carrot, less of a chance of him nipping your fingers, and easier to stay out of the way of his teeth.

Answer 8

don't hand feed. no matter how great the horse, it will most likely lead to biting, such as your case. drop the treat on the ground in front of him. also, you should punish him by tapping him on the nose. actually, tapping doesn't really work with horses. they get used to it just as they become "immune" in a way to yanking too much at the bit. it's not abuse- i've had to smack a horse on the chest for doing that. it's the best way to get their attention, trust me.

Answer 9

I did the same thing with my TB last summer. It was to hot to ride the energy out of him and keep him sane. Teaching him to bow was fun for the both of us and the little girls at the barn love it. Some horses do not need to be taught tricks because they learn to take advantage of it and make bad habits. You know your horse and if he will mesh with the new type of training.

I began with carrots because they were easier to hang on to. They worked well and didn't hype him up like comercial treats. Beware of treats with high protein content. They hype Jazz up really fast.

Your horse is probably just thinking "FOOD!" and not really caring what he bites. Get this book: http://www.amazon.com/Trickonometry-Secr...

It will help you teach him properly (to aviod biting or fake bowing" and has some other good tricks in it.  

Answer 10

You spoilt him. You gave hime too many treats in the course of teaching him. I don't believe in training horses to bow and all that stuff. Don't give him ANY treats for a while and from now on remember that a pat is as good as a treat when rewarding a horse.

Also teaching a horse to bow is not a good idea. You are teaching it to put it's head down on you and it's going to start doing that when you're riding it.