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  Discussion on 3 year old doesn't like mouth touched
Author Message
New Member:
Sylvy

Posted on Saturday, Mar 13, 2004 - 12:58 pm:

I need advice on getting her to take wormer as she keeps throwing her head up. Anticipate problems with a dental checkup if this persists. Any help with this problem would be appreciated. She's good with feet, tying, leading etc.
Member:
Rjbraun

Posted on Saturday, Mar 13, 2004 - 1:54 pm:

Hi ,does she take the bit? If so give her the wormer with the bit in her mouth.Bob.
Member:
Dres

Posted on Saturday, Mar 13, 2004 - 2:49 pm:

i have a mare that will shake her head when and she sees the wormer... what i have done in the past is just daily rub her with the tube all along the neck , cheek , forehead , work your way to her nose and side of her mouth.. DAILY.. don't worm her just get her used to the process.. then put a tube with something sweet on it and put it in the corner of her mouth .. and nothing more..* after the rubbing down part* eventually she will be waiting for that tube of sweet stuff to be put in the corner of her month..

its a process but one with good results without fear or force..

now my mare would walk circles around me.. i just kept my hand with tube in place on her neck then her cheek etc...eventually she quit the circles..

Ann
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Mar 14, 2004 - 7:56 am:

As with all training issues it comes down to, "do I punish the negative or reward the positive?" Either way it is your job to be sure the horse understands. For help with this see:
1) Training Horses » Training Your Horse's Mind » Modifying a Horses Behavior: Conditioned Responses
2) Training Horses » Training Your Horse's Mind » Halter Training and Tieing Horses
DrO
Member:
Dartanyn

Posted on Monday, Mar 15, 2004 - 3:50 pm:

Sylvia, I had my farrier help me out in getting my horse to allow me to work with his mouth for newly bitting him. He showed me a wonderful technique that if your horse is not too tall to start with, should work well for you. He placed his hand on the muzzle (right hand) in such a way that if my horse tried to move away from it, he could gently squeeze the nostrils so air was slightly restricted - he let him adjust to this so that my horse got so he would stop struggling. Then in the next step - same day, no repositioning of his hand necessary, he worked his thumb of the same hand into the corner of my horses mouth and removed it several times until my horse stopped struggling and you could visibly see he knew that no harm was going to come to him. We DID NOT ask him to accept a bit or wormer on that day, or in the next few days so that he did not connect a negative to what was becoming a positive/neutral experience for him. Hopefully this makes some sense to you and I've described the process well enough for you to duplicate. It was far easier than I imagined getting my horse to let me around his mouth would be. Also, as a side note; we did this on the lead line and allowing him to move as he felt the need, but keeping hold of his muzzle and controlling the amount of movement he could do with the left hand and lead line. This prevents the "trapped horse" synDrOme from popping up as readily. Anyway, just a recently acquired insight to share.....Dawn :-)
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