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Shawna Gilmour
Member
Username: Shawna
Post Number: 5
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, Jun 28, 2003 - 7:04 pm: |   |
I have a one month old QH foal who has an excellent tempermant and is extremely friendly. However, ever since he was a couple days old, he has been very nippy. He is constantly nipping at his mom, chews on her ears, mane and anything else he can get a hold of. She is being extremely patient with him and has never disiplined him yet. He now is becoming very nippy with people as well. He loves to play and loves the attention and prefers to hang with people more than his mom, but when i am working with him or around him at all, he nips constantly and sometimes bites quite hard. Is this normal in younger foals or should i be discouraging this behaviour before it gets any worse. Any advice on how i can stop it would be much appreciated. I have been trying not to play around his muzzle much as i was wondering if that provokes this habit. This is my first foal so this is new to me. Any advice would help as I don't want this habit to get out of hand. |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 359
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 29, 2003 - 4:09 am: | |
I found pushing the muzzle away in a neutral/nonexciting way consistently (ie not getting involved in a "game" or smacking/headshyness) was quite effective.
Serious nipping (my foal has a thing for wellington boots) - make a "mouth" with you hand and nip back with it in the muzzle area (ie slightly unpleasant sensation back again)
It seems to be a development stage, if you can just get through it with persistence and patience it (should) go away in a few weeks.
Imogen |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8676
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 29, 2003 - 7:14 am: | |
For more on correcting bad behavior with nipping in particular discussed see, » Training Horses » Behavioral Problems » Aggression in Horses.
DrO |
Colleen Goolsby
Member
Username: Goolsby
Post Number: 39
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 29, 2003 - 11:37 pm: | |
shawana
My fold was bad for nipping at 3 to 4 weeks. he is six weeks now. I guess im not as tolerant as Imogen. I started giving him a little smack and scold when he would nip. now he hardly ever tries to. He does give me that "look " like he wants to real bad, but decides against it when i just scold him. I notice him biting on his mom quite a bit and she dosent scold him much. bit when it tries it with his aunt fancy, she puts him in his place. |
Connie P.Dozier
Member
Username: Conniep
Post Number: 19
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 30, 2003 - 9:15 am: | |
My 1 month old filly was nipping when she was 4 days old. You could tell it was a defense mechanism, not a playing thing. We started gently disciplining her then, a light tap on the nose and a firm NO. She still tries now, but not with the same intent to hurt like before. Now, she is "tasting". But she has learned the meaning of NO.
Connie |
Heidi Hocker
Member
Username: Heidih
Post Number: 150
Registered: 9-1999
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 30, 2003 - 9:39 am: | |
With my, now 4 mo. old colt, I started with pushing his mouth away and moved to flicking him with my fingers right when he nipped. You can't wait at all. He didn't like being flicked and has almost stopped the nipping. He still tries once in a while, but I still flick and sometimes graduate to a light slap of the mouth. He's not headshy at all. In fact he enjoys being scratched on the face and ears. |
Shawna Gilmour
Member
Username: Shawna
Post Number: 6
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 30, 2003 - 11:28 am: | |
thanks for all the suggestions guys and girls. I have been scolding and doing the flicking of the finger trick each time he tries to nip and he appears to be thinking twice now before attempting a nip now. He is just so darn curious and so friendly, i didn't want to make him shy, but do understand the importance of shaping his behaviour now before he gets older. I love foals, they are just so cute. I can sit for hours just watching him play and eat and sleep. There is nothing more healthy for the soul than to watch a foal out in the pasture at play. |
kerry
Member
Username: Parfait
Post Number: 50
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, Jun 30, 2003 - 9:06 pm: | |
Shawna,
I hate to come in on the end here like this but I just saw the thread. I had a filly that was horrid and very persistent and I tried all the tricks. I finally resorted to blowing hard and fast in her face. It startled her, didn't become a game and she hated it. It was the only thing that worked on her. I also paired it with the word "no" which was handy.
Just for what it's worth--sounds like you might have it licked.
Kerry |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8693
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jul 1, 2003 - 9:53 am: | |
Many of you are ignoring an important principle: you are directing a negative consequence at the head of the horse: you will create a horse who is less secure about you interacting with the head, see the article on aggression for more on this.
DrO |
Christine C. Mills in NC
Member
Username: Chrism
Post Number: 952
Registered: 4-1999
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jul 1, 2003 - 11:37 am: | |
I learned a technique from Mark Rashid that would be appropriate and I use often with young and old horses that are getting into my space.
Basically, I make myself "BIG" by suddenly turning full front to their eye, lifting my arms and making a weird noise unique to this (a high pitched breathy whistle that is truely irritating). Basically, this posture is used to visually force them out of my space and set them back on their heels.
Conversely, when a horse is sweet, attentive, focused on me in the round pen, I can draw them to me (into my space) by making myself as narrow as possibly by turning my body sideways and not staring them both eyeballs to eye. If they are inattentive or obnoxious, I send them away.
I've not seen Monty Roberts work, my guess is that he does something similar.
Imitating a mare is beyond my talents, GRIN.
Cheers. |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 360
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, Jul 2, 2003 - 2:44 am: | |
Chris - don't try that with any animal that was a bottle-fed foal, they'll just walk straight through you... I find them the most ignorant creatures to deal with because they never really learn to respect human space though of course it's not their fault.
Imogen |
Christine C. Mills in NC
Member
Username: Chrism
Post Number: 953
Registered: 4-1999
| | Posted on Wednesday, Jul 2, 2003 - 10:25 am: | |
Hi Imogen,
I guess I missed that it was a bottle fed foal.
In general, if I have a pushy foal that doesn't respond to "big human" and odd noises by backing off, I keep a bat/crop at hand to establish a proper space.
I use it swiftly, once, on the chest or lower legs or stomach if the animal is rearing. Depends on how quickly I can move, GRIN. I also associate the swat with an ugly verbal, AHHHNHH, that can become my correction when I don't have the crop handy.
Cheers. |
Holly Z.
Member
Username: Cowgrl
Post Number: 142
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004 - 6:14 pm: | |
I know this is really late but I saw a video on correcting bad foal behavior and thought I'd pass it along.
There was a young colt (about 1 month old) that lived on this farm and he was very nasty and disrespectful to his human handlers. They called in a vet that had experience dealing with this type of foal and what he did was pretty amazing. He was in the stall with the baby and took hold of his halter. As soon as the baby tried to be bad, the vet made a sound like a very angry stallion and kicked him with the side of his boot on the side of his rump. The baby got very upset at this and tried to bite and the vet did it again. He was so convincing as an angry herd stallion that other horses in the barn were answering him. After just having to reprimand the foal twice, the foal just stood there and shook. He knew he screwed up and immediately changed his attitude. His owners reported that he had become so easy to work with and is respectful and trusts them as well. This is the kind of behavior young horses understand. If you disobey the rules of the herd, you're going to get punished. The foal was not hurt in any way but he learned a big lesson that stayed with him.
Happy Trails |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 10262
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004 - 8:47 pm: | |
Hello Holly,
Just a note, we have other methods listed in the article Training Horses » Behavioral Problems » Aggression in Horses that relies on similar principles but are a bit easier to apply, particularly if the foal is bigger than you and the growling is not necessary.
DrO |
