Nipping

Question
Hi,
I recently purchased a miniature horse and our goal was to bring her into children's hospitals to be a therapy horse, she is still a baby but she started nipping. How do you stop this bad behavior?

Answer
Hi Sydney and thanks for your question. You will probably find as many answers to this question as there are trainers. Most agree that "smacking" the horse is not the way to handle it. A book called the "Understanding the Young Horse" by Les Sellnow recommends making it uncomfortable for the horse by taking it by the halter and rubbing its nose vigorously and uncomfortably or using an object with a dull point (such as a golf tee) when it attempts to bite to teach it that the behavior causes a negative reaction. I am a believer in teaching the word "NO" (loudly and early) for undesirable behavior. Also- if you watch a mare "disciplining" babies or lower level horses, they use body language in the form of a darting neck movement- much like a bite and often followed by one- so I have had success with shouting no and sweeping my hand away from my body in a kind of a "getaway" gesture. The key to any training is to do it immediately and be consistent. With that, they will usually outgrow the undesirable behavior. Hope this helps. Best, Toni