So Beutiful, Yet He Bites!!

[arabianknight]

so, i posted this in the general section but got no replies- probably cuz i didnt know about a special 'genetics' section :) . my filly is 20 months old and im already thinking of of when shes 4 or 5 years old- when she gets covered :D I have the perfect guy (or stallion ;) ) for her, but he bites. does that mean that the foal that is produced will bite, or are these things unhereditary? *crosses fingers and hopes they are unheriditery*

thanks

[arabianknight]

oh and just so its clear, he bites HARD, but hes actually kinda sweet :p . he bites EVERYONE THat comes close to his room- but me and i dont even have any 'bond' with him.

[crazystevie]

not necesarily. The way I see it, is that no foal is born bad, it's how you trani them. However, if the stallion has a bad temperament overall, then this temperement can be passed on to the foal.

[xXSundanceBayXx]

i dont think so, most bad habits start from boredom or something bad happening. manni bites most people HARD and kicks too, the only person i know hasnt been bitten or kicked is his owner. He adores her and whinnies evrytime he sees her or hears her car. she has taught his to rear up on command and he follows her round jumping courses and everything.

anyway, he wasnt born a bad horse he had a hard upbringing and his mother died so he had a foster mare who rejected him. they were sweet when people were around but when a back was turned the mare kicked and bit him. i think this led to him picking up on her anti social behavior to him and he thought that this was the way to be. :( i cried when i heard this about him, of course there were more details but i wont go into those because they were awful .

[Esther.D]

If he bites hard and aggressively then I'm afraid wouldn't use him, the biting may well have been caused by the way he is kept/something that has happened to him but the first thing I would look for in a stallion is a good kind temperament and then looks/conformation. I wouldn't take the risk of a bad/stroppy temperament being passed onto his offspring when there are plenty of other nice stallions out there with no vices.

[chev]

I'm with Esther on this one. Being entire is not a reason or an excuse for biting.

[FayeObs]

Our stallion doesnt bite, but i personally think that if he wouldnt have been corrected when he was younger he would have done.

The majority of stallions mouth things, dunno why. Our colt is 2 1/2 and although he tried to nip me when i first met him, after a tap on the nose and a stern "NO" he doesnt any more. He'll try it on though with people... but never hard (but then i guess it doesnt matter how hard it is, its the action of biting that matters). All youve got to do to him is say "NO" and he looks at you as if to say "Dam thats another i cant fool with". They both meaning him & his dad the stallion mouth the leadrope when they're been taken anyway.. they chew it. Rather that than my arm though lol

I dont think its a massive thing... i just think he hasnt been corrected enough.

[Soot]

Being a stallion doesn't excuse the biting ...
Being a 4 yo - maybe - if no one's ever taken the time to tell him that humans are not chomping matter.

[Wally]

I would think twice too, you can snog the face off any of our stallions and they won't bite. Indy, in particular, has a very snoggable nosey ;) ;)

Some stalions can be mouthy, and nippy, but if treated properly this can be nipped in the bud.

If it's more than a nip, and the biting is an issue I would find a more gentlemanly stallion.

My Haffy stallion pair were chalk and cheese, the older guy would never bite or nip or mouth things.(only throw his feed bucket over the door when he heard the feed shed door)
The younger guy was forever picking things up and throwing them about and he was always a bit nippy, one day he took a chunk out of me, hard enough to provoke me to have a real go back at him......he never did it again.

[Sexy Sietske]

My rising 4 year old gelding is still 'mouthy' after being gelded back when he was a yearling :p Some are just more 'coltish' that others and I think its down to personality more than anything!

ETA - When I say mouthy I mean explores with his mouth! He will stand sucking on his lead rope quite happily for hours :p

[abisheridee]

I wouldn't use a biter, as temperament traits like that can be genetic.

[Esther.D]

Just realised this post is from 2005, no wonder I didn't remember answering it before :D