horses

Question
I have read the notification and I actually have used your site when I was training my filly. anyways my question is random and not about my horse my brother went to a wild horse race and they bit the horses ear to "control it and stop it" is that just a myth do wild horses actually stop when you bite their ear?

Answer
Not a myth, it hurts, many young horses in the wild have one ear or one torn ear. The ear is sensitive and some even use it as a twitch, fold it over and squeeze it, most horses will submit but not good for ear, breaks blood vessels,can do permanent damage. Others horses use it for correction or discipline.

I am not a fan of pain and twitches for training, learning is not taking place with a horse is in pain, fear and submission is taking place, so not a good training method but can be a emergency control method.

I talk about neck and lip twitches on my horseman tips page. I don't mention the ear since I don't want dummies using it and hurting the horse. This is a good way to make a horse head shy, ear shy and hand shy. When you do this you make a horse not trust you and only fear you.

Any of the old cowboy pain and intimidation works but is not good for the horse.  Which is why I say all the time, just because something works, does not mean it is good for the horse. Especially chains, they may work for do real damage and are never good for a horse. But lots of people sell millions of stud chains to idiots that think a chain is needed or nice or safe until they over use it on the wrong horse.