Horse biting when ridden, pain or training issue? Please help xx

Thanks Suzie, it’s very useful to read this for watch out for all the time. I found a good fitter and fingers crossed the problem subsided but you never know it may crop up again

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Oo interesting, I thought it was a American product only, me being dim haha

it is a trade (brand) name for Bismuth subsalicylate

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Great update! Thank you.

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Thank you for your support :heart:

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Hello, sorry if I already replied but a grazing muzzle is a excellent idea, thank you. I will try this when riding. He’s slowly learning a cue as to when he can eat and is being better about it but I must be consistent. I don’t want to stop him altogether because I want him to enjoy our outings too, he’s extremely food orientated. I keep him on a more bare field so many days a week now with soaked hay rather than grass. He needs it he’s very prone to being over weight, but I guess it’s making him more grass grabbing when we’re out :confused:

Is the grass at mouth height?

If so yes a grazing muzzle.

If it is not at mouth height then grass reins.

This is baling twine tied from bit to d rings on the saddle. They are not used like side reins, you set them to the height above the grass.

And yes 24/7 he is not allowed to eat when you are riding. Later you can relax the rules. When learning it is 100% reinforced.

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A great trainer I once worked with often declared to all within earshot “food is not love”

In the case of an ir horse it’s even more true.

I would stop all eating when ridden or in hand to extinguish this behavior.

He can enjoy your rides without eating.
That eating is so important to him makes me think there’s a metabolic issue here.
Clearly if he’s so chubby he’s on a dry lot, he’s not starving.

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I have a very easy keeper, food motivated fjord. Realizing this early on, I made a point that there would be ZERO pushiness about food/treats/grass while on the ground or riding. We also trail ride a lot and there is no stopping to eat or eating along the trails. I also do not hand graze him. I do use treats for trick training/liberty work, but he has a healthy respect that being pushy about it will get him nowhere fast.

@Angela_Freda is exactly right in saying that food does NOT equal love. Everything going on sounds to me like your issues are in large part self created and that your horse has your number.

No one wants a pushy, biting prone horse especially in a boarding barn situation. Certainly do your due diligence in making sure its not a physical/health issue, but it sounds to me like a behavior you have allowed has turned into a bigger problem with being unchecked.

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I’m that way, too. If there is a bit in the mouth, there is no food.

If I’m out for a long ride, and I stop for lunch, I remove the bridle, and thus the horse can graze.

I also noisly put cookies in the horse’s feed bin when I’m leading her out of the stall. She hears it: she knows there are cookies there for when she gets back. Upon returning, immediate dive into her little bin. That’s my “promise” to her.

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I hadn’t thought of that! Can a metabolic issue cause him to be more hunger prone? I don’t use treats as he gets anxious somewhat when their gone. I have him on one cup full of baileys lo cal balancer a day and the soaked hay, he does get to access the greener fields but more to stretch his legs and for a limited time. Thinking of stopping the eating altogether when riding as you say, and as someone else said it’s likely led on to bigger issues! Thank you for replying

I need to tell myself this sometimes.

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I do too, all the time.

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I don’t know alot about metabolic issues
But my diabetic cat, because of insulins role, meant he felt he was starving.

I get low sugar/glycemic and feel awful, I shake, feel irritable and hangry. I assume animals feel the same.
It makes sense it would make them upset because being low means they’re less safe, at greater risk.
Animals that feel poorly, in that way, surely can get frustrated and aggressive.

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Guilty of that here too!

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I take my horse for hand walks to graze, or take breaks on longer rides. She otherwise has no access to grass.

I also don’t let her stop to sniff horse manure.

I do let her stop to drink out of puddles, which fascinates her. And she can stop on the trail to run her nose on her leg or bite an itch on her side. I think she does all these out of need, not an evasion.