THE MOUTHY HORSE

The Mouthy Horse

I got asked this question…

“Mouthy horse.... Puts his mouth on everything... And sometimes nips. Is he turning his head to engage, to ask me to brush his head, to pull the tag off my zipper or to nip... If I am grooming him I can't, don't know how, to keep a watchful eye on him as well as what I am doing....”

Mouthiness can be very frustrating until you start seeing it for what it is - it is insecurity. It is a way the horse has learnt to cope with what it feels like it cannot work out. Instead of understanding and being motivated to engage and work out what it supposed to do - the horse is distracting itself. So, whilst some horses will get distracted with with what is going on over the fence and not engage with you...horses that are mouthy are creating their own distractions up close!

As soon as the horse becomes clear in what it has to do and how it has to respond and feels motivated and confident in doing what you are asking it to do - the mouthiness disappears

Therefore, the solution is to teach the horse WHAT you expect it to do. We need to teach the horse to focus on US, follow the feeling be apply to their halters and to WAIT.

The best thing to do is to follow my groundwork program. In this program and start at the BFY (backwards, forward, yield) exercise. To start teaching these important things. Every time the horse goes to distract itself with its mouth (or distract you at the same time) you focus on teaching and asking for a response. You teach the horse to engage in you...and not go off in the land of distraction it is creating with its mouth.

Go to the COURSES section in this website for m ore information.