Biting Stud Colt

[Chuckie]

I have a coming one year old stud colt that bites more than he likes to eat. I tried every trick pretty much trying to stop this. He is real quick, and using a solid piece of wood and when he comes at me, come up as hard as I can swing and hit the bony part between muzzle and jaw. Did this work? No.
I want to be able to walk around this colt in the field or lot, and not have to worry about him biting me in the back or head. I tried it all and it is still a game to him. If I hit him in the face, then he becomes so head shy when I try to catch him. That was a pain so I had to stop hitting his head. Sticking the sharp point of a stick in his muzzle, still just a game. He can grab a mouth full of grain, then turn around and bite me at the same time. But much worse when he is standing still. I can stop it when I have a lead rope and halter on him, but he still swings that head around once you stop the action going. Backing and keeping his feet moving, does not work with this one.

Then I read where someone would take a spray bottle of Listerine, the original yellow kind; and when he comes around to bite me, spray his nose. I thought this would be a gimmick, and did not try it at first, but then realized, that I had to try something else. To my surprise, in two days, he has not opened his mouth once. I never thought this would work as I have had him since him as 6 months old and he will be one year old May 23rd 2025. Went out to feed him and usually he tries to bite me coming in the gate. He did not even think about it when I opened the gate today. I work with him quite a bit and pick his feet, and rub every inch of his body and he does not care, but durning all of this training, it was a battle to keep him from biting. Never had a colt this bad and have had stud colt and a stallion before, and they did not act like this one.

Often I will take him beyond my fence, and I put a heavy duty lead rope that dangles down far, and adjust the lift pole on the tractor, to where he has lots of head movement. I put the tractor in low range which is a good walk, but not to fast and take him for a walk. I know this colt has the strength to pull away from me if I have hold of the lead, but, he cannot pull away from this tractor. I use a slip knot that he cannot reach as I run to the front of boom pole and thread it down the loop at the end. This way if something were to go wrong, I can just pull it. I do this because of the paved road I live on that the cars, trucks and semi's are not going to slow down for much. Never have understood that, as even for a dog or anything, and I am not going to take a chance of losing him to those that drive 65mph down a back road. So, I used a large inner tube the first two times I did this so it would not be such a dead stop on his neck when he decided not to go. He pulled on it hard two times, and now he knows we are going for a walk. But he soon learned that just walking with the tractor and we see farm equipment and irrigation equipment is not so scary now. Carry him on the edges of the crop where they leave a buffer along the ditches. I used to do this with Joe as well and he seemed to enjoy it. I would put a saddle on Joe and off we would go.. Always spray them down with fly spray as they cannot get to the flies and that bothers me as bad as it does the horse.
We find a shady spot and stop for a little bit and rest to let him know that it is not a punishment and rub his legs and body to show him all is cool. I have about a five round ride across the field, but I have not taken him that far yet. But it is coming......

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I wonder if gelding him would help.

 

[Chuckie]

Coming back late to this thread. I found what works, and hate to say that I had to resort to this, but I carry a piece of PVC pipe, 2" diameter and about 3' long. That PVC stays tucked under my arm, and it only comes out if he wants to bite. And when he tries to bite, that PVC pipe is swung like a bat and where it lands, it hurts and makes a noise they do not like either. It works. But it is still on his mind. It has not made him head shy at all, as normally, I strike him in his neck or shoulder. Or as he whirls as he knows he is doing wrong, I hit what part is the last to leave. But he comes right back to me and stands there. He is something else. He is very smart. In the photo he is 20 months old. When I have the halter on him, he is not hard to handle as I am picking up h is feet and when the weather warms up, we will get into more training. That will change him a lot. Here is a picture of him when he was around 2 months old.



There is a reason I leave him a stud colt at this time. He is very correct and when he walks out quicker, his back feet land in front of his front hoof which means that he really gets his back legs up underneath him which is a must for reining, roping and cutting horses. So many of the horses for sale have problems in the hips and rear legs and they short step, which means they take about a half step in stride. These horses cannot get their legs up underneath them when working off the hocks and they cannot dance like a really well made cutting horse does. They have to keep patting the ground with their back legs to move back and forth. Where as a horse that is built correctly in the rear, just sits down on his hocks and sways back and forth and often will even get down on his knees because they are so limber. He also moves with his knees very flat.
He is Two Eyed Red Buck, Peppy San, and Doc O'Lena on the bottom and Blackburn totally on the top which is Poco Bueno. He is quick and I am trying to decide to sell him or geld him and keep him. If I were younger, I would keep him and purchase a few mares that were of good breeding and correct and raise some colts as I do enjoy that. But now, it is late in the game for that.
When I purchased him he was two month old and his back leg was stepping about 6" over his front foot print. Of course he was young and long legged. But the other colts were stepping in their front tracks or stepping short.
I always try to buy a weaned horse if I can, because I can see what they will be. They are much much cheaper if you can find a good one. Let them get to be 2 years old and it be a nice horse, and the price is out the roof. Will not pay those prices.

I don't want him to grow into a huge horse either, which is dam and sire were not overly large. Leaving him a stud colt inhibits the growth upward and they spread out more. Their joints close up quicker if left a stud and he is about 14.2 hands right now. I want that growth upward to stop. I am short and getting my leg up that high is not as easy as it used to be. I have a fear that he will reach 15+ ...

Here is a horse I purchased at 7 months as I felt he would make a nice horse. I left him a stud until he was close to 2 years old. And he contined to grow and is somewhere around 15.2 or a bit more. I have to get on something to get on him. I do not like that, but the horse is not gong anywhere and will have to work things out to when and where I can get off of him when riding him in field roads. Lots of levees and such, and soil pushed up in clumps along the woods.

Joe and I are bonded. And when I ride him, and start to get off, he always nickers to me as I start sliding off. He is a joy to me.

 

[Warren Allison]

At his age, if you have some bred mares, turn him out with them. Nothing teaches a colt manners better than a group of bred mares, Even one will do the trick. And never, ever hit a horse in the head or face. If you need to , whack or kick him in the ribs. This is exactly where another horse would do it. This isn't a matter of him being intact, it is a matter of him not recognizing you as alpha. Lots of trainers out there, that have videos of how to dot his in a roundpen., like Chris Cox, and GaWaNi Pony boy. I prefer GaWaNi's method the best, but any of them are basically the same.

 

[RDFF]

I expect that we are to assume then that your "Listerine" trick that had seemed to "work", really didn't after all?

 

[bvf]

that ferappease hormone works in horses too the dose goes on the bridge of the nose, work 2-4 weeks, its the same/similiar CHEMICAL THAT IS MADE BY THE SKIN OF THE MAMMARY GLAND,, CALMING IS EXPECTED (ignore the all caps, too old to corrrect)

 

[Chuckie]

I expect that we are to assume then that your "Listerine" trick that had seemed to "work", really didn't after all?

It worked great for about 2 weeks. Then it tanked. He hated it spayed in his nostrils. He always has it on his mind. When it did not put a halt to him wanting to bite, it was not the method I needed. It was more or less a gimmick.

I have never hit him in the face. But when he comes to me in his very confident manner, which is quick and stops, and his lips begin to part as he gets closer, I swing at his chest. He turns right around and comes back and stands there. He will let me pet him and does not try to bite after that. But seems we keep going through this BS.

I have been training horses since the 70's. I have a 60 foot round pen. I started horses out for quite a few people when I was younger; and broke them down field roads. Taught them not to be afraid of tractors and cars. I sent them home to their owner with knowing how to stop by the rein or by "Whoa." Taught them to turn either way, back, and load in a trailer. I did not finish them out as I was just gentling them up for the others to get on them. And I was smaller too. But if I am going to spend time with training one, it will be for me. That takes a long time and I used to show a lot, but don't care a thing about it any longer. I enjoy training them as if I were going to go into reining, but I don't ask them to see just how fast they can spin, or how fast they can do a roll back. Changing leads and I want them to stop with a slide, but don't ask for that slide that goes on forever. No show slides. So much of that causes arthritis in their joints, and don't want a horse that has to be turned out to pasture when it is a 12 year old.

I will not be breeding him to any mares as if I have colts, I will want to start them and will not be happy when I realize as the years go by that I can no longer do it. There is a point where your body starts playing out. I don't want to make that happen too soon. I need to have two good riding horses at this point.

Often I take Frankie, the young Palomino and hook him to my lift pole on my tractor. I take him for a walk down the fields, and it teaches him to go with the lead rope. Mainly I do this because I had a total knee last summer and it bends great, but my thigh muscle has not connected with the nerves to the brain totally. They said that will take a year.

So, Frankie goes for walks with this tractor and I keep him at a walk and trot just a little. But mostly I want him to enjoy the trip, and getting used to leaving the house. I walk him for about 2 hours or 2.5. He is still young. This teaches him patience and to follow where he is lead. I have a fear of him pulling away from me and tractor trailers run up and down my road and if he made it to the road, then I am afraid of what would happen.

He has more energy than Joe did at his age. Of course Joe is much heavier built horse. Joe is really wide in the chest where as Frankie has a good athletic chest.

I am hoping that when he sheds out this summer, he will be the same color as his dam and sister. I saw pictures of them when they were that light Palomino like he is now. But when they turned 2 and shed out, they had the deep golden color. His sire was what they now call a bay dun. Which used to be just called a regular dun which is a very light bay so to speak . hard to describe as they have a red dun, etc.. and they keep changing the colors and the names.

Oh well, I really do believe that biting will stop when the gonads are gone. Like I said, I have never experienced a biting horse before in all my years. Other than one that gives small lip nips as it is just playing. Joe may grab my shirt sleeve and hold it.

Right now, I am riding Joe. But since the weather has turned off so cold, I just don't enjoy it when that cold wind is hitting me in the face. When it warms up a bit and the sun is out; it warms up my thick coat and feel just fine.

It is odd when I ask questions about this constant biting, no one seems to know about it or has had the problem. Definitely a first for me.

I did bring a stud home with me in the late 80's at one time as an older man had him and he was afraid of him because when he would go in his stall to feed him, the stud would lay his ears back and lunge towards him. He was a real pretty horse and I asked him if I could try to work with him and he first told me no. I assured him that I would not get hurt and he was not responsible for anything that happened. So agreed.

I turned the stud into a 3 acre pasture by himself that had a single stall shed for feeding and getting out of the weather. The first time I went to go feed him; sure enough, this stud came at me with his ears pinned so hard and his mouth wide open. Hmmm? So this stud needed a drastic measure. This is where I learned that a horse hates the sound of PVC. I know it must hurt too, but really, how hard can I swing that hard in such a confined space? But if I did not get his attention, I was afraid what the man would do with the stud. I laid a piece of PVC pipe right at the edge of that shed as there was about a little bit of a gap where the outside boards and the kick boards were up off of the ground. I think the PVC was larger than 2" and about 3.5 feet long. I cut a hole through the end of it and put a rope through the hole and made a loop. When I went in there the next time with his feed bucket, I stepped to the door and he lunged at me again and I took that PVC pipe, and wailed him once, and then slapped the wall with it a couple of times. He is totally taken off guard and runs to the corner. I step back to the outside of the door and get the bucket and pour his feed in. He was wild eyed and his nose was flaring. I stepped out of the shed and he never came out side and started eating.

The next time he was in the shed and I went to feed him, he did not come running out, but he stood to the side and let me pour the feed in, and I walked out.
After that one time of making that pipe ring, he never tried it again. That stud had his bluff in on that man and he was terrified of him. I kept him about a month and then took him back. He gained a lot of weight because the horse was gaining weight because the man had stopped feeding him grain because of fear. I had him on clover and good feed. I told the man that if the horse ever started to lay his ears back when he fed him, was to take a piece of PVC pipe, and hit the side of the wall and he will not do it again. The stud never did it again either. He returned to normal.

I always wondered what made that stud start running him out of the stall as he had his own pasture there and a building. I wonder if his younger son was aggravating him or something. I had known this man for a while and my mare had a filly out of him. My mare was real thick brown chestnut and big boned and his stud horse was refined. So the stud put some softer touches on the filly. She was what they called a Rabicano where they have roaming in the flanks and over the tail head. I named the filly Ruby Gold Bars. The stud's name was Helican Bob. He was a Goldseeker Bars on top and Buzzie Bars on the bottom. Buzzie Bars went blind and they still continued to breed him to mares.
Oh well, I enjoy horses so much. I wish I could turn time back and be at an age where I could raise a few colts once again.