Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

pony that tries to bite

From: Edl

Hi Jessica,

Thank you so much for Horse-Sense. My questions are often answered before ever I get to ask them! Today I'm asking for a friend. A little girl that I know just got her first pony. It's a lovely young pony. He's a four year old gelding. He's very nice under saddle however, in his stall he tries to bite people. He doesn't seem to know that he shouldn't. He is also reluctant to be led. He can be led with a chain over his nose. How do you teach a young pony that it's not ok to bite and how can he be trained to be led without resistance? We're hoping there's a kind and gentle way.

Thank you, Caren Edl

Hi Caren! I'm a little worried about your friend -- a four year old pony is, as you say, young. Far TOO young to be a child's first pony -- more like fifth or sixth pony, I would think! I do hope that your friend's daughter has a good instructor -- if not, finding one ASAP would be my very first priority. Green horse and green rider do NOT make a good colour combination, and young green pony and young child are not good either. I tell my students that between the horse and rider, there needs to be at least ONE clue -- if the horse knows it all and the rider is green, that's ONE clue. If the rider knows it all and the horse is green, that's ONE clue. If the rider has a few years of good lessons behind her and the horse has a few years of good riding behind him, that too adds up to ONE clue. And one is really, truly, the MINIMUM required. In this case, it sounds as though you're going to be short one clue no matter how you add it up! A good instructor can make ALL the difference.

Okay, now for the pony -- I do realize that the instructor won't be there all the time, and someone will have to turn the pony out into his field between lessons.

First, give this pony as much outdoor, free time as you possibly can -- all day and all night if that's possible. He'll need it. He's still very young, very energetic, and he's growing -- there's a reason that ponies can't get permanent cards until they're six. ;-) Maximum turnout will help keep him sound and sane; spending all his time in a stall will have the opposite effect.

Second, talk to your vet, and to the instructor, about the pony's diet. It's very, very easy to overfeed a pony -- and it's very, very dangerous to overfeed a pony, not just because of the risks to his physical health, but because too much rich food makes ponies, even old sedate ones, VERY fizzy, and a fizzy pony is the last thing you want to have to deal with.

Third, stall manners -- pretend that this is a completely ignorant green pony that has to be taught everything from the ground up. It's a good safe working assumption whenever you are handling a new horse, and in this pony's case, it's probably true. ;-) The biting can be discouraged in two ways: (1) the handler must always arrange things so that the pony will hit HIMSELF, or at least the underside of his jaw, on something hard (the top of a wooden brush-back, or a whip handle-end). It needs to be something he can't SEE -- that's why you hold it where he will hit it with the UNDERSIDE of his jaw. If he thinks it's an inevitable consequence of biting, rather than something nasty that someone is doing TO him, he will learn much more quickly NOT to try to bite; (2) everyone, including the child, has to STOP feeding the pony treats. NO hand-feeding the pony ANYTHING -- that's the way to make a pony learn to nip. Ponies love treats, and get greedy, and begin to push at people with their muzzles and lips to try to find more treats -- humans think this is cute and funny, up until the moment when the pony nips. And the pony will ALWAYS nip eventually, because this TEACHES him to nip. So -- no treats. A pat on the neck, a scratch on the withers -- these have to be his treats.

For the leading problem, get the help of the best horseman at the barn -- and I use the term generically, because the BEST horseman may be a twelve year old girl. ;-) You want the person who is quiet, calm, and for whom all of the horses seem to behave, all the time. There's always one person like this -- and that's the one you want to teach you. If the pony needs a nose-chain right now, fine, but learn how to put it on properly so that it will loosen again if you tighten it for a moment. It's like a dog's choke-chain -- there's a right way and a wrong way to put it on. If the pony's problem is that he doesn't understand about going FORWARD, you don't need a chain, you need a whip that you can hold in your left hand, behind your back, and use to tap him, lightly but persistently, whenever he stops, and until he moves forward again. And mostly, you will need someone to show you how to position yourself and the pony so that he understands when he is expected to move forward with someone and when he is expected to stand still. If he hasn't learned this before, it's because nobody has taught him!

Good luck with the pony.

Jessica

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