Naughty, Nipping Pony

My pony is biting me. He got my arm twice and my bum once, and he’s even bitten my cousin. Now I am afraid of him. We’ve thought about using a muzzle, but others have said to just whack him hard on the nose. What do you think?
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Q. My pony is biting me. He got my arm twice and my bum once. Now I am afraid of him. He bit me again this weekend, just a little pinch when I was just leading him around the paddock when my little cousin was visiting. So now I'm not allowed to have any friends near him until he stops. I need a new pony that doesn't bite. My mom wants to try to fix this pony before we think about getting a new one. My dad thinks that all ponies bite, and we should get a small horse instead. My veterinarian said that you have been telling kids with ponies like this to try some special muzzle. But my mother's trainer friend says a muzzle is too harsh and won't really fix the problem. She thinks that the muzzle will be hard to get on, and it will make him mad and he might just whack me and my friends with the muzzle anyway. She hits him back and now he doesn't bite her. She thinks he bites me because I don't hit him hard enough. She wants me to whack him hard on the nose. What do you think? If you agree that I need a new pony, please explain it to them?

Jillian, via e-mail

A. Thank you for questions. It sounds like you are lucky to have a number of caring adults all trying to help out. To give you and your team a complete, professional answer, I would really need to know more about your pony and the situations in which he is biting. The best approach would be to get a conference call going with you and the entire team, so we can try to figure out your pony and so that everyone can share their thoughts and come up with a plan. But in the meantime, I can explain to you a bit of what I think about biting ponies in general that might help your situation.

Ponies bite for different reasons. And the first step is to figure out exactly why he is biting

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Written by:

Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

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