From: Kelly
Hello Jessica, I have a 7 month old Paint Filly with whom I am trying to train. I have had alot of problems and have come up with no successful solutions. She is very big for her age, they say she should mature to be 17 to 18 hands tall. She is very strong, and LOVES to rear. I have tried everything that everyone at my barn (i board her) has told me to do, and nothing seems to work. I am starting to get more nervous, as she is getting very big and very strong. She also bites. She starts out by licking, and then when you are least expecting it she takes a good bite. Again, I have tried all the advice given without any results. The last bit of advice I have received is for the rearing pull sideways and make her fall, and for the biting, hit her very hard after biting. Both of these methods were very hard for me, and took me a while and alot of frustration to be able to do them. Neither one of them worked one bit!! I am at my end of my rope. I feel like I will never be able to break her of these habits. She has done both since she was born, and everyone tells me it is because she is a baby and wants to play. I do not want to play with her like that. I feel unsafe handling her lately. I did look over your archives, and did not see anything that seemed to match, so any help you can give would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your advice. I look forward to hearing back from you. Kelly
Find someone who will keep your filly at pasture, where she should be, for the next two or three years, so that she can grow up mentally and physically healthy, and so that she can learn good horse manners. Meanwhile, you can focus on taking lessons from a good instructor who can help you learn about horses and training. That way, you'll both be on the right path, and you'll be able to go out and work with your filly for brief periods once or twice a week, which is all the human "training" she needs right now.
You can afford to take your time with this filly. If she's going to mature to a height of 17hh-18hh, she may not be ready to begin mounted work until she is four or five years old - or older.
As for the specific behaviours you mention: You say that she starts out by licking, then begins nipping. That's fairly typical baby behaviour - baby horses are extremely oral. Just as human babies explore the world by picking up things with their hands and putting them into their mouths (toys, clothing, books, their own feet, etc.), baby horses use their mouths to feel and touch and taste everything that they can. Since they don't have hands, they just put their mouths directly on whatever they want to explore. This doesn't mean that you have to allow a baby horse to chew on YOU, but since you've already said that the biting begins with licking, your job is to pay attention and stop the licking when it starts. This filly isn't biting out of meanness, she doesn't know it hurts you, it's just a continuation of licking - so don't accept the licking and think it's "cute", then get angry about the biting. Stop the licking, and you won't have to deal with the biting at all.
Hitting her is not a solution, and hitting her after she bites is just silly. If you want to have an effect on her behaviour, let her know you're unhappy WHILST she is performing the behaviour. In other words, don't let her lick your hand, lick your hand, lick your hand, BITE your hand, and then hit her - that doesn't teach her anything except, perhaps, that you want to play a game with her. Teach her "NO" - make a very rude, very loud, game-show-buzzer "WRONG ANSWER!" noise whenever she is doing something you don't like, and make the noise ONLY when she is doing something you don't like. She will hate the noise and avoid doing whatever "caused" the noise - and if she's a typical Paint, she'll be clever enough to figure out what not to do.
Keep in mind, too, that this baby is doing something else that both human and horse babies do - she is TEETHING. She will be teething for several years. She's going to want to take things into her mouth and chew them. A tree branch, the handle of a Jolly Ball, a nylon bone meant for a dog, even a short piece of rope with a series of knots tied in it will all make fine toys for her - in her field!!!
Rearing is another very typical baby activity. If she were in the field, she could do all the rearing she wants to do, and nobody would be annoyed with her; if she reared and thumped her feet on another horse's side, the other horse would quickly show her why that isn't a good idea. Baby horses are extremely energetic. Babies that are forced to live in barns are always underexercised and usually overfed, and the combination of natural energy, too little exercise, and too much food will quickly create a baby horse that appears to be out of control. It can also create a dangerous situation for the horse's handlers.
Pulling a horse over and making it fall is a very good way to injure or cripple the horse, and can also be a good way to injure or cripple the person handling the horse. This sort of advice is something you will never hear from a horseman - and you shouldn't be asking for, or accepting advice from, anyone else.
Rearing doesn't just happen - like the biting that begins with licking, rearing begins with stopping, then straightening, then shifting the weight to the hindquarters, THEN rearing. The time to stop the rear is long before it happens - preferably right about the time the horse stops. If a horse is walking with you, it can't rear without stopping; if you don't allow it to stop, it can't rear. If a horse is turning, it can't rear without stopping and straightening its body; if you suspect that your horse may be thinking about rearing, try leading it on curving lines. In practical terms, that means teaching yourself to think "I'm walking, horse is walking at my shoulder... I'm walking, horse is walking at my shoulder... I'm walking, horse is slowing and beginning to stop, I'm encouraging horse to move forward and turn left with me!... I'm walking, horse is walking at my shoulder...". When you handle any horse, you must always be very aware of everything you are doing and everything the horse is doing. If you encourage the horse forward and around a turn as soon as you feel it drop back from its leading position near your shoulder, you'll stop an incipient rear before it (literally!) gets off the ground.
I think that the main problems here are these: First, you've bitten off more than you can chew, and this is not the time in your life when you should be trying to train a foal. Second, you're in a situation that would make life hard even for the most accomplished professional trainer.
Truly, Kelly, your best bet is to get this filly into a mare pasture somewhere safe, and leave her there until she is at least three. Keep an eye on her, go out and handle her, teach her to lead and stand for grooming and hoof-trimming and shots, teach her to get in and out of trailers - turning her out doesn't mean abandoning her, it means doing what's right and letting her grow up normally. Meanwhile, you'll be free to look around your area - check out some other barns and riding stables - and find a really good instructor to work with. Once you get a couple of years of good lessons under your belt, so to speak, you'll be much more confident about your own abilities, and you'll find it much easier to "just say NO" when someone gives you bad advice that you don't really want to follow.
Here's another possibility you may want to consider: If you aren't desperately attached to this particular filly, you might consider selling her to someone who wants her, and who has a suitable place to let her grow up, and the ability to train her when she's ready. You might prefer to find a horse that you can ride and enjoy NOW and for the next few years - instead of paying board to maintain a baby that won't be ready for under-saddle training for several years to come.
There is nothing wrong with deciding that a certain horse is NOT for you, even if you went to a great deal of effort to buy that horse. In fact, it's a sign of maturity, clear thinking, and good horsemanship to be able to look at a situation and a horse and say "I made a mistake, this isn't what I wanted, this isn't going to work, so I'm going to correct the mistake!" We all make mistakes. The trouble with mistakes involving horses is that if we DON'T correct them, we can put ourselves, and other people, and the horses, in great danger - and it's usually just not worth it. If you're absolutely determined to keep THIS horse no matter what, and don't care how long it takes or how much it costs before you can enjoy her safely, okay - it's your filly and your decision. But just in case you're starting to think that you would much prefer an older, trained, experienced gelding that would put you in a position to enjoy riding and spend the next few years improving your skills and your enjoyment, I can assure you that it's a choice that makes very good sense. Either way, good luck!
Jessica
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