Dealing with Horse Biting and Kicking

Posted by Laura Thompson Nov 21, 2008

I recently wrote an article about aggressive behavior in horses, and I was asked several times to elaborate upon the advice given in that article. Obviously, this is an issue encountered by many horse owners, and I can understand the need to nip it in the bud.

When a horse is biting and kicking, either other horses or humans, he is trying to establish dominance. It is up to you to show the horse that you are the dominant figure.

It is essential that you decide from the very beginning that horse biting and kicking, and any other aggressive behavior, is unacceptable. Allowing the behavior to continue unpunished will result in the horse continuing the behavior, and it will take much longer to break the bad habit.

Why Beatings Won't Work

Many of the horse owners I've worked with have taken to responding to aggression with aggression. They meet the problem like a bull in a pen, convinced that if they are big and bad enough, the horse will simply give up. Unfortunately, spanking really isn't an option in the case.

Why? Because horses learn from the behaviors of other horses and of humans. If they see that you are resorting to aggression to deal with horse biting and kicking, they will inevitably step up their game and just become more aggressive. Spanking, slapping, whipping and other forms of corporal punishment will usually backfire.

Creating Consequences

This doesn't mean, however, that you should ignore or, even worse, reward horse biting and kicking. This tells the horse that you are apathetic to the situation, and he will learn that he can get away with whatever behavior he wishes to exhibit.

Instead, create consequences that the horse can understand. In my experience, the best consequence for aggressive behavior is work.

Take the horse into the round pen with a saddle on his back. You can either use a lunge line with a bridle or with a halter, but do not free-lunge for this exercise. It is essential that you have immediate and total control over his head.

Stand in the middle of the round pen with the horse in hand. If he tries to bite, immediately send him out on the line at a trot or canter for several laps, then bring him in again. The goal is to show the horse that biting and kicking will be met with hard labor.

The same goes for kicking. Try to pick up a back hoof or rub his haunches or whatever usually prompts him to kick. If he tries it, immediately send him out on the circle. Then bring him back and repeat the process until he stands still and doesn't bite or kick when stimulus is applied.

Of course, you can also use this technique for when you are going about your daily business. If your horse tries to bite, take him out to the round pen and put him to work on the lunge. Then take him back to his stall or the cross-ties or wherever the behavior occurred and try again.

Horse biting and kicking is dangerous for everyone involved, so it is better to put forth the effort now rather than waiting for your horse to hurt someone else.