This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 5/11/00 11:02:28 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Will she probably stop doing this when she gets a little older, or is there some technique that will help break her of this? >> Our yearling, Holly, is the mouthiest baby I've ever met (and after weaning she went through an ear pinning stage, probably cause she was in the pasture with an ornery herd boss palomino). I try not to make too big an issue of her mouthiness. No yelling, no drawing any attention to her mouth, no smacking, etc, etc, etc. When she tries to lick, bite, nudge, etc. I just gently push her head away from me, or remove hand (or whatever else she's fixating on) from the proximity of her mouth. It works really well, for me. It becomes basically a non-issue. The tendency to put her mouth on you is diminishing. She's not head shy or nasty. I think maybe by grabbing your baby's upper lip, Lori, that it may become a game for her and instead of stopping the nippiness, it will continue as long as you fiddle with her mouth. Babies will try to kick also. What I've done is let them know they are not to turn their butts to me. When they do I pick up my foot (before they turn all the way and I'm directly behind them) and PUSH their rear ends, gently and firmly away from me. They get the idea pretty quickly that getting in kicking position is not allowed. I had to do this twice to Skylark and never have had a problem with her turning her rear towards me since. It's definitely something you want them to learn when they are small. Hope this helps you. You know how it is, different methods work with different horse and human combinations. Pamela
