Mouthing

[racaille]

R is driving me potty. Everything - but everything - has to go into his mouth. He nibbles my coat, sucks on the bobbles on my scarf, chews my hair ....He doesn't bite, it's just a sort of suck it and see type of thin. But he does it all the time - when he's being lead, being rugged up (that's a favourite, to try and pull off P's rug before I get it done up) ....

I have tried everything I can think of to get him to stop, telling him no, prodding him to make him go backwards, thump on the neck, I've even bitten him back and I am ashamed I have even whacked him on the nose. He just will not give up. I think he thinks I will play with him like the other boys do, and I realise this is a lack of respect for me because he's smart enough to know I do not appreciate this 'game'.

Any ideas?

[fimacg]

I was always told to simply block it with a sharp bit of your body like an elbow, and push him away as though you were the dominant mare. with a swift no, but if you have tried all that I am not sure what else can be done.

Chompy is a bit like that, he chews everything lead ropes, rugs left over his door, door catches and worst of all his reins (if he is tied up, or left wearing his bridle and you are not onboard, even wen being led from his bridle) somehow he always manages to catch hold of his rein and start chewing on it. he he chewed a browband left on a peg outside his stable and only just in reach... Hwoever he doesn't tend to chew on people or Brave's rugs

at 12 years old I don't think there is anything else I can do, but I do knw he was abandoned as a foal and probably weaned to early so this may be symptom of that.

[haffyfan]

Sorry no advice but my two...especially harry....chew on everything too...leading them can be a nightmare as the rope dissapears before your eyes and the amount of reins I went through before switching to 'the not so safe if they got tangled up but I can't afford to keep replacing them' fully webbed ones was unreal!

[brigadier]

Basil does it all the time, I think its a sign of being very people friendly etc and TBH I dont mind it, although it can get a bit irritating at times.
But if you really want it to stop get yourself a cheap little water pistol and fire at him when he does it, youve got to be quick and consistent but the surprise should stop him.

Basil also got worse as his tushes came through and Racs will be at that stage now I should think?

[scattymare]

I used to have a horse that did this. We went through a number of leadropes and bridle headpieces and reins. Couldn't stop her though unfortunately. It is a baby thing, but she was 9 and stll doing it!!

[racaille]

Yes he is Brig and very uncomfortable in his mouth again. I think we have tried every bit available!!! We're going to try the Dr Cooks on him again in the arena on Saturday.

[joandlad]

Murph used to be obsessive about having things in his mouth. Didn't really chew on stuff but everything had to go in his mouth and then just kind of hang there and he was happy. We dealt with the trying to eat things about my person with lots of in-hand exercises 3 years ago. Once he learnt he wasn't allowed into my space he stopped pretty much immediately. But as far as other things were concerned eg leadropes, reins I ignored it hoping it was a teething thing and he would grow out of it but he stopped teething, last tooth through 3 months ago, and still did it.

It was only mildly annoying to me but I was worried that if someone else had to handle him (if I was ill or something) that they might not be quite so understanding and he'd probably end up getting a smack (something I don't do). It's been slow progress but there's been a definite improvement. Everytime he grabs something in his mouth I have a complete hissy fit - jumping up and down, waving my arms around, making a kind of tsk sound until he drops it and then I stop immediately and tell him he's a good boy. I try to make it as black and white as possible. Was really tiring having to do it everytime but after 2 days you could really see an improvement. His worst habbit is grabbing at his leadrope as you lead him. After 2 weeks he rarely does it. Just got to keep on at it. If I stop now when we're almost there he's likely to start it again.

[joandlad]

Had another thought yesterday afternoon when Murph was being seen by Dr Dave (Mark Rashid's chiro). Got me thinking about a youngster at one of Mark's clinics that he was doing some long lining with. The horse kept grabbing the long lines with its mouth so Mark said, OK you want to eat the lines, well eat lots of them. He waited for the horse to take hold of the line. When it did he kept pushing the line into it's mouth until the horse had so much stuffed in there that it wasn't comfortable and spat the line out of it's own accord. He only had to do this 3 or 4 times and the horse stopped doing it.

Unfortunately, Murph obviously isn't quite as intelligent as this horse. It worked the first couple of times but didn't really stop him trying to grab hold of lines. Worth a try with R to see though.

[jane]

We had a youngster at the trekking centre who chewed everything, particularly tack, if you put him next to another horse he would literally eat saddles, reins, cheek pieces whatever the horse next to him would allow.
We never used nosebands on any of the trekkers but obviosly when you buy a bridle they invariably come with them, so I tied one up in front of him and let him chew away, he could stand next to the others and was quite happy with his never ending supply of nosebands and we never had another chewed saddle or bridle.

Perhaps you could try finding something that he likes to chew, could you tie something in the field for him?

[racaille]

It's not so much that he likes to chew, it's more that he likes to hold things in his mouth - and is quite smart, he can undo most any knot.

It's not a 'nasty' habit in that he doesn't do anything like bite or destroy things, it was just that I was forever retrieving stuff from his gob. But it does seem better somehow in the last few days. I've been very firm with him and anyway (this will sound mad) I feel that he has understood that everyone hates him - except me and the teenager - and he is trying to be on best behaviour.

[haffyfan]

Jane's post has just reminded me of Murphs bit's of rope...he has two bits of rope that he likes to chew/pull on (bit like comfort blankets almost) one on shelter and one round gate post - he is often found mouthing on these, it's so 'normal' I never even thought about it before when i responded

[zara]

AJ loves to hold things in his mouth - reins, ropes, dog chews, me! When I first got him (and for the first 2 years!) his mouthing was difficult to manage and bloody dangerous (I have the scars to prove it) I employed an "equine behavioural therapist" who always thought that he must have been weaned too early. Whether this was true or not remains a mystery as I have never been able to contact his breeder. I learned a lot from Emma (my trainer) and the one thing you must do is reward good behaviour and ignore the bad! very difficult when your beloved is sinking his teeth into your arm! Clicker training saved my life - give him something to do; find the target, play fetch, "look away". If you need any pointers pm me but good luck Zx

[zara]

ps have you tried a Myler comfort snaffle? IMO the best bit I have ever used and no nutcracker action that horses with small mouths / fleshy tongues hate Zx