Horse biting at chest...any ideas?

[Dutchmare433]

My horse bites at his chest, specifically the right side. He does it intermittently under saddle, on the longe, on long lines, and more frequently if he’s wearing a blanket. I haven’t seen him do if he’s just standing around naked in turnout or in his stall.

It started mid two year old year when he started wearing blankets. Totally went away in the spring when blankets came off. I backed him, and rode him lightly throughout the spring/summer/fall. It started up again at a clinic last September…this is the first time he did so under saddle. Started the 3rd day of clinic, 2nd night of clinic was the first time he wore a sheet since the previous winter. He continued on and off through the fall, then got the winter off…still biting at the blankets.

I started him back in work this March as a rising 4 year old, and he is still doing it…mostly at the walk, occasionally at the trot (longeing/long-lining/riding), but that has lessened a great deal the longer he’s been back in work. (This also coincided with warm spells and no blankets.) I got about 2 weeks where he didn’t do it at all, and then I let someone else ride him and he started again.

I have no idea if the blanket thing is a coincidence or related in some way. Could it be some sort of stress reaction? Or some type of stereotypy? And now really grasping at straws, could it be the beginning of neck thread worms?

He’s up to date on everything, teeth done in December, rechecked in March b/c of the behavior…no issues there, so he’s scheduled for June. He does have 1 wolf tooth that needs to come out, but it hasn’t erupted.

Any ideas on what direction to head in?

[Dutchmare433]

ETA: Extra info.

I treated him for ulcers when it first started…4 weeks full dose then a 2 week taper. I can easily do that again.

He’s out roughly 12 hours a day in a 3-4 acre pasture with buddies. He’s got plenty of hay. (And grass when available.)

He hasn’t ever bitten himself enough to cause a mark/draw blood, but does rip his blankets apart.

[Jungle_Monkey]

Do you ride him in a martingale or breastplate? Just wondering if there is something (nerve or whatever) that bothers him when something is touching him in a certain place.

Anxiety/Stress? My mare does a weird momp momp momp with her lips and tongue when she is anxious and waiting for food/a ride etc. Some horses self mutilate and they just do it. He could just be a fiddly diddler and that is how he fiddles…

[Heinz_57]

My horse does a similar thing to his blankets, although I’ve never had him do it under saddle or otherwise at a time he wasn’t wearing a blanket. He’s never bitten himself, just reaches down and grabs the binding at the bottom and yanks on it.

My assumption is that he would rather be naked and is trying to take his clothes off. :lol: I don’t have anything to offer other than that. I notice he does it more when he’s hot.

[ClassyRide]

I could be way off base, but my immediate thought is that it sounds like the blanket is either pinching him somehow, or otherwise bothering him. Could be an overreactive nerve ending. Or he could just hate having something against his chest (just like some people refuse to wear turtle necks because it bothers them so much).

Is he wearing a shoulder guard under the blanket? If not, you could try that. See whether it helps. Or try removing it if you already use one.

I feel like the biting while working is symptomatic of the blanket pinching/bothering him; not a reason to point elsewhere. If you have on a piece of clothing that chafes or rubs you wrong, and it was doing that for hours, that feeling doesn’t immediately go away when you take it off.

​​​​​So, hopefully it’s as simple as a shoulder guard or something. Best of luck figuring it out, and kudos to you for recognizing a pattern and trying to resolve whatever is causing him discomfort!

[Dutchmare433]

He doesn’t wear anything but saddle and bridle, but good thought!

The more I read about stereotypy, the less this sounds like that.

However, I did start looking at pictures of NTW, and some of the pictures look quite similar to what I had thought were just weird spots due to shedding and playing in the pasture. So I think I’ll do the protocol for that and see if it helps any.

I’ll keep it in mind for next winter to see if a shoulder guard helps. The blanket he does this with most is his rain sheet, and maybe it just doesn’t fit quite right…he wears other styles in his other rain sheet and heavier blankets that go mostly or entirely unscathed.

[LookmaNohands]

Sounds uncomfortable. Have you had a Chiropractor check him?

[Bluey]

We had a horse that at 8 had never done that and one day, I used a different breast collar, one made of mohair strings and he, after 30 minutes of riding, started biting at it.
I finally caught on that was what was bothering him, took it off and he was a happy camper again.

I don’t know if the mohair was rubbing him, or the strings were pinching him, or what.
Other horses wore that same breast collar and not one ever objected to it.

Hope you find what the cause is and a solution, before it may become a bad habit from repeating that behavior so much.

[Dutchmare433]

^^ My fear is that it’ll become an ingrained habit. He didn’t do it at all tonight. (Of course the night when I had someone to video so I could see what was happening.)

Just sort of thinking out loud. It seems to happen only if I have a sort of wishy-washy contact…he doesn’t really (if ever) do it on a loose rein, ditto when I have a nice, steady contact. He has a very soft mouth and is pre-disposed to get behind the bit. He’s pretty solid in trot and canter as far as contact goes, although it can change if he’s having a growth spurt.

So it could be a combination of things, and he’s really only got about 90 days under saddle between when I started him and now.

At any rate, I’ll be having a lesson 2 weeks from now, so hopefully if it’s still going on then, there will be some kind of solution.