Have you ever got bitten by a horse? If not, don’t worry it still might happen to you sometime.
I got bitten by a horse once quite hard. It’s a really long time. I was 12 and it was my second year riding on horses, I still remember it very clearly. And I still remember that for a long time I didn’t understand why my horse did it. I didn’t do anything bad, at least from my perspective. I didn’t punish him, I didn’t hit him, and I even didn’t want much from him. I actually wanted very little, because I was scared of that horse.
I was carrying a bucket of water for him, and he all of a sudden turned against me and bit me in my shoulder. I didn’t understand why he did it. I was carrying water, so he can drink. I was trying to help him and all he did was bite me for it.
Because the whole situation seemed absurd to me, and also because he bit me so hard that I wasn’t able to move my arm for a few days I remembered the whole situation very well. I knew that I do not want to get bit again.
It took me a few years to understand why that horse bit me.
Horse can bite you for two reasons
- First reason is that they want gain dominance and show you that you have to listen to them. This is the main reason why a dominant horse is going to bite you.
- The second reason why a horse can bite you is because he starts feeling scared with no way out. It is actually the exact opposite than the first case. A shy horse will most likely bite you for this reason. However, don’t think that your horse can feel scared with no way out only because you are going to be too hard on him. Your horse can feel scared and with no way out also when you show him too much love. If you hug your horse too much, for too long, and he can’t really get away from it, he might bite you just to get rid of it. What feels nice to you doesn’t necessarily has to feel good for your horse as well.
In the beginning of this article, I wrote about how I got bit by a horse. And now I know why he did it. I was scared of him (and horses can always tell) he felt like he can gain dominance over me, so he bit me to tell me that the water is his and he is going to drink it.
If you get bit by a horse, first try to react quick and smack him to let him know that he can not do that. Then, however, as you calm down think about why it happened. Your horse will never bite you for no reason. He either wants to tell you that he is dominant over you and that you should get out of his way, or he wants to tell you that he can’t handle anymore of your certain behavior.
