I am a young, but experienced horse rider/trainer. This is the fourth colt I have trained. He was a stallion until I gelded him a couple months ago. He is two years old, and I have had him since he was six months old. He is currently green broke w/t/c... He is good with tying, brushing, saddling(ect..) but he is starting to nip. I'll be hugging him or something and he'll just nip me(thankfully catching only my coat). But still, I would really like it if someone with a bit more experience with behavioural issues to give me a couple pointers. Everyone says to smack him, but i don't what to loose his trust or make him headshy. Thank-you!
Can someone help me with the best way to rid my colt of nipping?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by Trainer_ W
- Topics:
- horse, rider, trainer, colt
Details:
Answers (2)
You can do a couple things... one is you dont smack the horse but you do give it a small punch in the nose (doesnt have to be hard it will just startle the horse) or pintch it. OR grab its top lip and hold it. (just makes the horse uncomfortable) You wont loose the trust of the horse. You not hurting it. In the horse world horses learn pecking order by this. Your just saying "Im the boss, respect me". When a horse bites another horse the other horse will bite it back. Thats all your doing. If you dont feel right doing that... try hot sauce... when the horse nips at you put hot sause on its lips. Iv never tried that but iv never needed to because the first part always worked for me.
DO NOT FEED HIM TREATS!!!!!!!!!! No no. Huge no no. That will just make things worse, and eventually the nipping will turn into biting. If the colt continues to nip you, back him out of your spare when he reaches at you. Shake the rope to do this. If he doesn't respond, gently press your thumb to his chest and pull backwards on the lead rope. Round pen him tons, too.