From: Kathy
Dear Jessica,
I really enjoy Horse-Sense, the interesting questions and great answers.
Here is my dilema: We have a seven week old colt who is truly the apple of our eyes. We were present at his birth and used Dr. Robert Miller's imprinting program. Blue is very good natured. He loves to be scratched and groomed all over, is halter broken, leads, and ties well. His dam has always been accepting of our family's contact with her foal. Admittedly, she has not been the most protective mother.
To the problem: Blue likes to check out everthing, including people and clothing with his mouth. At the worst of times, he will walk up to you mouth first. We have always discouraged this with a loud "NO" or "AHH-AHH" and a slap if necessary. Hitting goes against my grain, but has seemed necessary at times when he is most persistant. This has been going on for a few weeks and although we have all been consistant, never letting him chew on us or our clothing, he persists. Is this a normal phase or do we have a problem? He has learned everything else that we have taught him very quickly, but isn't picking up on this lesson.
Thank you so much for your time. I am hoping to attend one of your clinics when you are near my area.
Kathy
Horses don't have hands, and curious babies explore everything with their muzzles. They also like to chew -- and they are usually teething. (Human babies DO have hands, and as soon as THEY figure out how to put things into their mouths, that's exactly what they do with just about anything that will fit...)
You're doing the right thing by not allowing him to chew on you or your clothing. During this first year, he is going to learn a lot of new things, and "stop what you're doing" is a very important lesson. If he attempts to nibble on you, make yourself as large as possible -- take a deep breath, get tall, and move TOWARD him, not away from him. At the same time, make a very loud rude "game show buzzer" noise at him; it's something he won't confuse with anything else ("NO" and "WHOA" sound alike, which can cause some confusion). He needs to learn that you rank higher than he does, and that you can become large and threatening -- just the way his mother can when he annoys HER. If looming at him and making a buzzer noise don't back him off sufficiently, one sharp swat to the chest with a short whip will usually do the trick. Again, this is quite similar to what his mother would do -- there's always body language first (hip raised, shoulder pushed toward the foal, ears moving back), followed by sound (annoyed squeal, or, in your case, buzzer sound), followed -- if the colt persists -- by a single THUMP! (a hoof in the mare's case, a whip in yours).
Avoid hitting him in the face or head, under any circumstances. In fact, avoid hitting ANY horse in the face or head, under any circumstances. But you're right, you DO have to teach him manners, and he mustn't use his mouth inappropriately. Many horse owners do let their foals chew on them, and then, of course, the horses suffer later on, when the vet or farrier has to punish them for biting -- when really it's the owners who should be punished! ;-)
Here are two things you can do instead of hitting -- not that you won't need to give him an occasional smack to the chest, but you don't want to get involved in a colt game, which is what your colt will think is happening if he nips you, you smack him in the muzzle, he nips you again, etc. Watch two colts playing together -- it's very enlightening. Their idea of heaven on earth is to use their teeth to remove each other's halters, then to use their teeth to remove as much of each other's face as possible.
1) If your colt wants to put his mouth on you and you don't want him to, put your hand on his muzzle and rub it, and rub his gums, and keep doing it until he has had enough and more than enough. Then do it again, every time he does something inappropriate, like grabbing your body or clothing.
2) Since your colt already knows how to wear a halter and lead, you can make the "keep your mouth to yourself" reminders part of your leading exercises. Keep the halter fairly loose, and use a leadrope with a large bullsnap. Keep one hand on the rope under his chin, just a few inches below the snap If the colt forgets his manners and tries to get a mouthful of human or clothing, just bring the snap up sharply under his jaw. It's quite uncomfortable, and he can't see it -- so he will teach himself, quite quickly, that his jaw hurts for a moment whenever he reaches for someone's arm or sweater.
By the way, if he hasn't been gelded yet, now is the time to arrange to have him gelded. The sooner it's done, the less difficult and complicated it will be (for the colt and for the veterinarian). The ideal time to geld a colt is while he is still with his mother, as she will keep him moving around all day long, just as the veterinarian prescribes. ;-)
Jessica
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