The Nipping Pony

Q: I have a 3 yr old filly that is my daughters placement pony, now MacKenzie and Kayleigh get along GREAT most of the time, but Kenzie has this bad habit every now and then of reaching back and nipping whomever is touching her. And every time she has done it, it as been unprovoked, and very very random. Since there is no set trigger so far, I am not sure how to stop this behavior. Any suggestions?


A: 3 years old is still a baby BUT *should* be old enough to know that human critters aren't teething rings! Sounds like this is more of a way to cope with annoyance, however, than teething. Although remember, 3 year olds are still teething! At any rate ... I use Clicker Training to teach a horse not to bite or nip simply by allowing them to run into my finger on the side of the face and when the horse turns its head back forwards I click and reward. I also use the verbal cue "Face!" You can teach this separately from the nipping behavior and then when the pony goes to nip, tell her,"FACE!". Then be sure to CT her when she does "face".
I also will play with a nipping pony's or horse's mouth, A LOT! I will pretty much do so with the attitude of, "OH, so you want to get your teeth and mouth working? OK! Let's do it!" and I will vigorously massage the nostrils, the lips, the muzzle, stick my fingers (carefully) into the side of the mouth to "play piano" on the tongue and will keep doing it until the pony or horse starts to say, "Nooooooo! Stop it!!! You're making me crazy!!!!!" and then I'll keep doing it a bit more. *grin* So, everytime the horse or pony goes to "nip", I'll say, "EH! - FACE!" and then play with the mouth and tongue a bit. That being said, however, this is dependant upon the attitude of the horse or pony when nipping. A 3 year old is still going to be teething as I said. So *my* attitude is going to be different with a teething pony than with a deliberate nip out of annoyance. Your attitude will make all the difference in the world - more so than the actual "exercise" to face. With a pony that's nipping my attitude is more of a "teaching" attitude while with a bonafide biter or nipper I have an assertive attitude of authority. My attitude is directly corresponding to the attitude of the nipper/biter at this point. So, try teaching the "Face!" and using your click/bridge and treat to reinforce the lesson. Let us know how you do!

Control that Animal!

Control? OK, here's a question ... do we REALLY HAVE CONTROL of a 1200# animal? Ever?:) -- Gwen"

Hi Gwen,

I gonna stick my neck out and answer this one, ...and the answer is a short and simple "No!"

We can attain a simple, very primitive form of 'control' through the use of pain, ...for a while, ...until the fear and the adrenaline kick-in to over-ride the pain, ...and then we've got B-I-G problems 'cos sometime, and somewhere, it *is* going to happen! -The horse *is* going to be pushed over the edge and is going to do whatever it takes to get out of the situation it's in ...-and I certainly never even want to be around when that happens!!!

The only way that I can see of "controlling" a horse is through its mind, -through contact, -through working together, -through learning from each other and through creating a partnership, as pain and force will only work for a limited time at best and will never bring out the best in the horse!

Say that I own an island. I have food, equipment, supplies, ..everything I need, not only to survive and defend myself, but to live very comfortably, ...-and then, one day, another person is washed up on the beach and I take them prisoner and tie them up in a way that limits their movements.

Allow also for this scenario that I am equipped with guns and Tazers and cattle prods and whips, etc., so I can force them to work for me and to do whatever I want, quite literally "on pain of death".

I can stick metal bars or other gags in their mouth, bind their mouth shut with straps, I can force them to carry heavy loads, I can prod them with sharp artefacts or whip them when they don't move fast enough, I can force them to run, I can force them to stand still while I set various straps on them to control the position of their heads, adjust the length of their stride and then force them to run in un-natural ways; I can blind-fold them and make them jump obstacles that they can't see, ....I can, in fact, do whatever I like, both to them and with them, ...but one day they *are* going to snap, they *are* going to rebel, they *are* going to "have a go at me" ...-and what do I do then, -especially if they are bigger than I am??? ("Ahhhh!!!", my pistol is still in my holster and I've let them get too close!)

Now, as this mythical prisoner is a human, the chances are that they would have been able to find out where I slept and would have killed me in my sleep, , but horses don't tend (normally anyway!) to work in this way, even though elephants do, so isn't some sort of "open revolt" the only choice that they have? ...Do we not generally try to do with our horses as "I" have done with my mythical prisoner on my island in the above scenario, ...-and are horses and humans really that different in their natures??? -Prey or predator, we all have similar survival instincts!

Of course, there is something else that I could have done with the person who was washed up on the beach.... -I think! ...Isn't there????

Gordon.