Selective biting

Question
Hi,
I just met a horse who I might start riding and he is very gentle except that he bites, but not everybody! He is very selective toward who he likes and who he dislikes, he is very nice with his owner but as soon as some people get around him, he tries to bite them, especially men. His owner seems to say that he was abused when he was younger by a man so that might explain the situation. But everytime I try to approach him he will try to bite me (and I am not a man). His owner slap him on the face everytime he tries to bite (I strongly disagree with this type of behaviour), I am sure there is another solution than violence to make this horse feel more confident and make him stop biting, I read a lot about Parelli's method and I am looking to go on that direction. What should I do, where should I start, what makes him being like that?

Thanks a lot!

Answer
Hya,

As to why he bites the only way you would ever find out is to talk to him through a communicator.  But I think you are on the right page with using a least resistance method to modify his behavior.  Parelli is very good for this.  Start with working him through Parelli's 7 games to establish a new relationship between you and him.  Get some of Pat's videos.  It's much better to actually watch the horse as it's being worked with and see the body language of the horse. Watch the body language of the instructor as well.  So many people don't understand that horses are very attuned to watching body language because they are "non-verbal".   

Good luck.  You have a project here.

Lyn