This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >So, here's how we train babies not to bite. -- We let them nuzzle us, and >if they try to be mouthy, we bop them fairly hard (depending on age) >underneath their chins. We do this with a closed fist. It's important to >bob them UNDERNEATH their chins. That way they can't see the hand coming, >and don't get headshy.
Just to prove I'm not the unreconstructed softy everyone thinks I am :) ...I'll tell you about my *exciting* discovery of a new, improved horse-bopping tool. I have one of those cheap stall balls. It has shrunk to about 10 inches in diameter (needs more air). This is not the soft egg butt ball...it is a cheap imitation that is a bit harder. I swing it sort of at random in the area of "my space" when I know a horse is thinking about nipping (this is preventive, not reactive, on my part). A horse who sticks his head in the "my space" area runs into the ball. It is soft, so they don't really feel like they have been assaulted (yeah, I am antropomorphizing...but I think this must be how it feels to them), but they do realize that it isn't fun to have your nose bopped by this big thing that kinda appears out of no where. Unlike swinging your elbow (or a farriers rasp) it covers a fairly wide area of "my space" and takes less timing and coordination....it being out on the end of my arm (in my hand)...I have good control of the movements. Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
