Pony with bad manners! What should I do?

Question

sometimes I ride a pony named Danny in lessons. he is amazing to ride, but he has horrible ground manners. He bites and takes off whenever I lead him! he has dragged me across the barn before. I dont know what to do with him! what should I do when he bites? I dont want to hit him or anything like that, because that would just start a fight and make things worse, and how do I keep him from taking off?

Answer 1

you can try putting a chain over his nose, and connecting it to his lead rope.  Keep his lead rope over his neck when you're grooming him. If he bites snap this chain--HARD. Or snack his nose (i know you dont want to do this...but it really is the most effective) For the dragging part, a chain will give you a bit more ''power'' because yanking on it whilst he is dragging you will remind him a bit more that you are there.....Good Luck...if Danny's owner/ your coach has a problem with your correcting his dangerous behaviour, tell them that he is unruly and you want to be moved to a different horse.  Otherwise find a different stable that has well-mannered lesson horses who arent a health concern :)

Edit: If you put your elbow out when he goes to bite you...he is just gonna nip off your elbow...giving him a little smack doesnt hurt...just dont go over board...if you do it right away(like the 1st 4 seconds after he bites you), he will accociate the pain with biting not with you touching his head...like when you put electric wire up..it doesnt make a horse not ride on the rail when you ride them, it just makes them not chew or push on the fence...

Answer 2

u could train the pony or you could just tap him mouth when he bites you don't hit him hard  

Answer 3

okay there is no such thing as bad manners...its cuz hes in pain in some way...maybe medical but most likley the way ppl ride him cuz most kids learn to ride on ponies so all of their inexperience can cause the pony pain but as for bitting DO NOT hit him this will make him head shy so just hold ur elbow out and when he turns to bite you he hits him self this will teach him that he is not nore dominant than you but in a "nicer" way

good luck!

btw DONT listen tot he person who commented b4 me they are completly wrong and will just cause u more problems....being very agressive isnt going to solve anything

Answer 4

I agree with A.A...It is most likely Danny is in pain.

My stallion used to bit me all the time (I have the scars to prove it) but i just bit him hard on the neck whenever he did it which suprised him. He also takes off and still does sometimes. I just started him in a tiny paddock/arena and when he took off there was no way he could gather speed. After a week i took him out to a show and he respected me a lot more. I would not got hitting him near the head....if you were going to hit him hit is shoulder or wither. I have many horses and most of them under a year old who bite and try running away when learning to lead. When you feel he is going to take off bring his head round and drag him in a circle........If none of this helps i would say get a vet out or a ciropractor(Can't spell it sorry) this will give you a clear idea on why he is doing this.

Hope this works for you =)

Answer 5

i agree they are vicious lol you should definetly try putting a rope around his nose and when he starts  to pull do a circle and say no .

Answer 6

haha well whne my old pony use to bite u know what i did, i'd bite him back never has done it again lol.

With him racing off with you try having a double leadrope 1) so he doesn't get away.

You could try when he bolts off to teach him your commands to halt when you say, walk on when you say, reverse when you say.

It is one of monty roberts methods and has worked for many horses whether they just bolted on the person or floating ect.

Goodluck ;)

p.s. Pony's are brats lol

Answer 7

People are hesitant about giving their horses a smack when they deserve it. When a horse bites another horse in the field, what does the other horse do? They go all out on the aggressor! Hooves and teeth fly! A smack on the nearest body part is well-deserved when they bite and run off on you. A smack doesn't hurt the horse. I try to avoid the head, but you have to punish them as soon as they misbehave. If you wait to get to another part of the body when the head is the only thing in reach, you're not going to be able to associate that bad behavior with the punishment.

Answer 8

my show pony used to bite alot and would just run to the hay but you just need to teach them respect and that you are boss. with my pony you need to either hit them on the cheek or very close to it. its not abuse its simply protecting youself.you dont even need to hit them infact i just flick my pony on the nose or on the cheek so that it doesnt hurt them.so they just relize that it is not acceptable. and then for the running away thing with the chain over or under the nose(preferably under so you dont damage the nose) yank as hard as you can on the lead rope and do it over and over until you get his attention. it may seem like abuse but its not. its just making sure your safe around your horse and that your pony doesnt KILL you. they are tough little guys and they can handle it if they can handle biting you.