Training Tip: Horse Nips When Haltered

Question: Whenever I go to halter my 2-year-old Quarter Horse, he tries to grab the halter and sometimes my hand. I try to back him up when he does this, but it’s hard to do because I don’t have the halter on him yet. He doesn’t try to bite me any other time and is pleasant to be around. I’m not sure how to fix this problem. – Frannie Ames

Clinton’s Answer: It’s common for a young horse to want to put things in their mouth, and there are two ways you can go about fixing this behavior. When your colt grabs a hold of the halter do not try to tug it out of his mouth. The more you try to pull something away from a mouthy horse, the mouthier they will get. It’s like a puppy with a toy. The more you try to yank it away, the more he grits his teeth and hangs on to it.

Instead of getting into a tug-of-war with your colt, use reverse psychology and “mouth” him back. Use both of your hands to vigorously rub his muzzle for a good 20 seconds. While you’re not hurting him, you want to be rubbing him firmly enough to make him feel uncomfortable. It’s like when your uncle would scuff your head at a family get-together. Every kid in the world hates that. It didn’t hurt when he’d tousle your hair, but it was annoying and you didn’t like it. You soon learned how to avoid him.

It’s the same philosophy with your horse. If he wants to get mouthy, take all the fun out of it for him by roughing up his muzzle with your hands.

Another option is to make it uncomfortable to have the halter in his mouth. As soon as he grabs it, instead of trying to pull it out of his mouth, stand beside him and tug one end of the halter up in his mouth and then the other end to make him feel uncomfortable. When you do that, the horse might throw his head up in the air, but you’ll continue to tug up on the halter.

You’re not really hurting him, but you are making him feel uncomfortable. Do that for 10 seconds and then let the horse lower his head and spit the halter out of his mouth.

Dare him to grab onto it by waving the halter in front of his nose. If he grabs it, repeat the process. You’ll only have to do that two or three times, and pretty soon, those horses wise up and want no part of grabbing a hold of the halter.

Will this make your horse head shy or not want to accept the bit? No, because you’re only making him feel uncomfortable when he gets mouthy. You’re not physically putting the halter in his mouth and then roughing him up. He’s choosing to take the bait and be mouthy. As long as you use common sense and only make him feel uncomfortable when he grabs hold of the object, you don’t have to worry about him getting head shy or not accepting the bit.

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