Training Tip of the Week: Mouthy horse tip: Make the horse correct himself.

A great way to get a mouthy horse to stop his unwanted behavior is to make him think he’s punishing himself. For example, a lot of young horses like weanlings or yearlings get mouthy. They’ll come up to you and start nibbling on the sleeve of your shirt or your jeans. If your horse walks up to you and starts playing with your sleeve, without even looking at him, flap your elbow out to the side so that he runs into it with his nose and feels uncomfortable. You have to time it just right so that at the same time he leans forward to play with your shirt, he runs into your elbow. The secret is not to look at him or act like you’re moving your arm on purpose. It’s like your elbow just developed a nervous twitch. If you look at the horse, it’s like you’re acknowledging that you’re the one making him feel uncomfortable. You want the horse to think that he’s doing it to himself. Every time he leans in to nibble on you, he runs into your elbow. Horses always learn faster when they teach themselves the lesson. It won’t be long before your horse is like “Man, I really need to keep my lips to myself because I seem to be running into his elbow.”