Hi Stew. Welcome to the Uni. I'm assuming you're a new member (no accreditations - rosettes, yet). Monty recommends standing with your horse & gently bumping his shin with your toe when he goes to bite. Very quickly your horse will associate the gentle bump with the act of biting & think better of it. You should study the lessons, do a few Join ups, typically 4 - 6. You'll be amazed at the change, even in the older, established horses. Remember, causing pain is your enemy so be very gentle - the bumping the shin is a distraction not a punishment. I have a home bred 2 year old gelding that holds my hand in his mouth. He was incredibly nimbly as a yearling but I spent about 12 minutes blowing raspberries at him & in a single session he improved 85%. His little sister, now 19 months, licks my hands & rests her head on my shoulder, drawing me into her chest. Good luck with your horse. Keep us updated with your progress & we will support you on your journey. Cheers, Jo.

Jo wrote: " drawing me into her chest."
Not to say this applies to Jo's filly, but I would still like to issue a word of caution for that kind of behavior. As affectionate, "hugable" humans, we like to view this as something friendly, but in most cases, this is a dominant behavior. Stallions do it to mares, mares to their foals, and the stronger of two buddies to the weaker one.
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It might be affectionate, but in the same way we would pick up a naughty toddler and start cooing silly admonitions like: "Nononono, who is a bad boy? We can't have this, can we, sweetie?" Meaning it mainly serves to tell you who the boss really is, if under amicable forms.
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I'm not saying it is dangerous or that it is the case every time; just that it is a thing to be careful with, because for a horse it can very quickly be turned into something else - and then we risk getting hurt.

Hi. Yes, I would agree with Kicki with any equine other than Moley - when we lost her Mum, Bella, Moley was 6 month & 1 day old. Together with her full brother, Kirk & her then gelded Dad, Humphrey, the 3 of them spent about 90 minutes with the body. I had to sit on Bella to ensure Moley didn't suckle as the drugs would have been in the milk (an experience I will never forget). When the 3 of them finally wandered away, Max, who is the only unrelated pony of my 4, came over for the only time, looked Bella over & walked away. After the body had been collected I went to see how they were all coping. Little Moley came to me & I put my arms round her shoulders & scratched her withers. She snuggled into me & twice trotted after me when I walked away. Then Kirk came over & we had a sort of communal cuddling session. Both these youngsters are enthusiastic, incredibly curious & really up for trying new stuff - in fact they crave new things & like nothing better but neither of them show any aggressive traits & even when they get over enthusiastic they quickly respond to my leadership. Humphrey too is a real gent. I am incredibly lucky to have them in my life. Cheers, Jo.

Hi Stew, welcome. And thank you Kiki and Jo for sharing.
@Stew - would you wish for Monty to post a video lesson on this issue?

Hi Debbie. What a wonderful offer! YES PLEASE.

YES: please post a video!! My three year old JUST started biting me as well. I've never hand fed her, I use the dually halter and she had impeccable ground manners. At her old barn, she was the bottom of the totem pole and picked on. At our new barn, now she is learning that she can be a bossy little mare! So I think some of this behavior is exploration, how far can I go? etc. How would you use the dually halter for biting? I haven't tried tapping her in the shin because I was unaware of that method. Tonight she grabbed my arm/coat and I immediately made her walk backwards and moved her haunches with the dually. I'll try the shins tomorrow!

I'm with Jo and k9doctor! PLEASE, post a video on this! :)
Contrary to k9doctor, I had learned about the shin tapping, but had no luck whatsoever as my boy quickly anticipated this and quickly started to move his leg away and wasn't distracted at all from biting.
(We sorted it out at long last by constantly moving him out of my personal space whenever he decided to take liberties.)

I tried the shin tap tonight and it worked! It took about 3 taps and she started being respectful. I even placed my arm in front of her nose (just to see what would happen) and she didn't do a thing. I also did a lot of Monty's new lesson "reverse and release" and it was amazing. She was SO Much more respectful of my personal space, paying attention and doing what I ask. It was a GOOD night!!

Sorry: the lesson was "reward and reverse"!! But I suppose a release is technically a "reward" :)

Hi guys and happy new year to you all. This subject has always been a head scratcher for horse people. In raising Arabian foals for the last 25 yrs., I continually had to deal with teaching young foals not to nip at their human counter-part. They all seem to try it sooner or later. What will work with discouraging one from nipping won`t seem to work for another. They are all a little different in their receptivity to discipline. The colts are, in my opinion, more of a challenge especially if they remain a stallion. Also, when they nip, most of the time they at liberty.which complicates how to discipline because they tend to nip as a playfull jesture and run-off. I am convinced that this act is about space that we have entered into and their not respecting us being there. For the really young horses, it`s a catch -22; they need to be handled up close and personal, yet discouraged from putting their mouth on you. With an older horse that obviously hasn`t been schooled in the finer points about being close to their human handlers, that takes more intention of thought as to handle the problem within three seconds after happening. The more this happens , the more it becomes a habit as this could be nothing more than innocent play with them. My geldings do this all the time with each other in a herd setting. My advice would be to discipline quickly and to walk away and then ask for join-up after the dust has settled. By their very nature they quickly leave your space. They will learn that they cannot get away with nipping with you if they want to share space; politeness is needed on their part for the relationship to work. They must distinguish the difference from you and other horses. The younger horses only try to bite the older horses just one time and they never try that again. THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT. I hope this sheds some light and helps folks, because it sure can turn a horse-human relationship on its backside. Bud USA Wash. State

Be good to see Monty's video on this.
What I do for nippers depending on the circumstances and why they've nipped. The small herd of mares with 2 youngsters in, the more dominate of the 2 youngsters started nipping suddenly and we found evidence of food left overs near one of the gates, so someone feeding them without permission. To handle her, when she nipped I put my hand on her bridge and turned her head away from me and shook my head at her with a stern look into the eyes. When she dropped her head and her left ear signaled she understood I took my hand away, stood still for a moment and waited till her head came back round to me, which she did in a normal hello manner. I only had to do it with her once.
BamBam will have his moments where he will choose to nip as in challenge, being I'm in the herd 6-8 hours a day and speak their way this happens, but all that is needed is a very stern look into the eyes that says 'don't you dare, you'll lose' and he stops.
Sonny nips when I've not listened to something he's trying to tell me, so I stop and see what he wants.
All of the horses when I let them work with someone on the ground without my being onhand to control end up getting a nip, part of the hey the boss has gone lets test this one out. Normally because they've picked up that the new person learning about the horses is lower in the hierarchy, these ones very quickly learn that nipping is part of hierarchy and that they have to show some kind of, I'd say dominance but sounds too harsh, sooo... leadership. The horse looks for leadership from us, without it then we slip down the hierarchy which will produce nipping.
If the dually is on, then schooling quickly on a nip the best option. Once they realize it's not acceptable they do stop.
My rules for visitors, not treats by hand*, no sweets and any healthy treats go in their feed bucket.
* I do give the horses a group treat by hand myself, but it's all done in a certain way. I call out 'treat' in a high pitch voice and they all come running up. Each one is given a carrot/apple in hierarchy order, once they've all had one my hands go up like I'm being held to ransom and I call in another lyrical voice 'all gone' I get a couple of them checking my hands that it really has gone, then they go away and graze again. So a bit like a trick. Works with cats and dogs too ;) x

Mel, that is an excellent approach to horsemanship. You rock, my friend. Only a person that has been in a herd setting would know and understand the things that you talk about This discussion is reaching the thought processes and hopefully will help us all to be a little more aware of the whole situation that is created when a horse nips. Building trust in all situations is the stuff that a magical relationship is built from. Thank you all for this discussion. Bud USA

Hi all,
Great discussion indeed!
Dr. Robert M. Miller, the foal imprinting expert, stated that he shows leadership to the horse by asking
to be able to touch the horse all over, but the horse may touch the human only when given permission. This sounds harsh maybe, but the leadmare would never allow another horse to enter her space without permission, even mutual grooming should start on her initiative!
So being the leader the horse would choose is what it's all about.
With weanlings it's different and still the same, first nibble can be ignored, might be playful or trying the waters. Second nibble means you have to set bounderies and protect your personal space.
Really looking forward to the video!
Miriam

Thank you Bud, the horses are amazing teachers, watching and learning with them is the best course for me ;)
I do hope it helps get people thinking a bit more about horses nipping, it's not always a naughty horse or because it's been fed by hand. It's also a way it communicates and it's up to us to determine what our horses are communicating to us.
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It's been quite educational Miriam watching our Raisin growing up. She's 9 months now and the other horses have now started to put her into a hierarchy place. They'll still let her share from the feed buckets and hay, but other things are now happening putting boundaries there. Like you say on the grooming, she approaches in a submissive manner and will either be chased away or the other horse will start to groom her. Had a lovely moment today in between rain when the sun shone and Raisin and Pye were grooming each other, first time I've seen it with those two. :D
Mel
x

Stew, is this you on Twitter? https://twitter.com/stewsriding

I would also love to see a video of it in action as I did this with my rather catty mare and not sure she got it. I obviously am not doing it right! she did start picking up her feet after she nipped when I nudged on her lower leg but I can't seem to move quick enough to do this all the time and it seems shes worked around it and not stopped nipping at you! Especially difficult if I'm at her side doing tack or rugs. (She has issues with things over her back due to a past ovary soreness now resolved)

Hi. I have a problem with Kirk. He grabs our jackets over the sheep gate so neither of us can gentility dunt his shine, so, I've gone back to raspberries, up his nose when viable. It's working! He's 50% better, having been 90% better than before the last time I did this - so, in two sessions we've got 95% improvement. It's instant, you don't need contact, you don't need tack - you just blow in his face/nostrils. It works for us! Cheers, Jo.

Hi Becky, Miriam touches on the process of not allowing the horse to touch you unless invited in, but you can touch the horse. Of course, this is much easier when training a baby than an older horse. I think the reason for this is because the older horse has built up habituation and reacts to a preconceived notion of a stimulus. With your horse, that seems to be the emergence of a past painful time. I would suggest that when you are placing the blanket on her and she turns her head toward you that you immediately redirect her head to the front and continue your blanketing of her. If her head turning back on you continues, which it probably will, be steadfast in your resolve to keep her pointed to the front. This will most likely continue for some time as it sounds like it is pain-base. You will be asking her to TRUST you that she will not be put into a state of pain with this blanket being placed on her. Everytime that you are successful with the blanket she needs to reward and loved by you. Try and start on the opposite side that you usually begin with her just to stir up some different thought processes within her. If nipping is allowed or the perception of- being allowed from the horse, as a rule it only escalates into biteing. I hope this helps you. Bud