The bite - flashback

I posted this on a forum and have pasted it here, because it's kinda part of the whole process.

9/24/2007 6:58:50 PM

I know this seems like a strange question. First off, I do have to say she bit our 4-year old daughter one day last week. Kiddo was standing at her head petting her, I was standing beside the horse's shoulder. It looked to me like the horse nosed her and kind of pushed her away. She said "she bit me!" I didn't see any place she'd been bitten but had seen the nose shove, so I held the lead up closer to her halter and took a step more towards her head. (I'd been brushing her.) Just as I did this, she bit my daughter's shoulder. I yelled "NO!" and popped her on the muzzle good with my hand.

I don't know if it was a jealousy thing "back away from my mom" or a herd thing "get back little foal." The bite wasn't bad, and very small so it was really just a nip. Not that I think that's at all acceptable. It's just not as bad as I expected on a 4-year old little shoulder. The horse was pissed at me a few days but didn't try to bite again and seemed to get over it. Obviously, that was not an accident - she meant to bite and I let her know that biting is NOT acceptable.

Today the farrier came for the first time since we've had her. She did really well. I was very proud of her. They gave her a 9+ out of 10 for behavior, especially with being only 3-years old. She didn't try to bite or kick, she did try pulling her leg away some but by the second foot was pretty much okay with it. She's not really great with having her back feet handled for very long yet, but will tolerate some and did much better than I expected her to do. Overall, I was really happy with how she did, and of course she gots lots of love afterward.

The vet came literally 10 minutes later for booster shots, she commented on how much more calm she seemed since they had been out last. She did say she was having some discharge and asked me if she was in heat. Turns out she is, and I didn't know. I haven't read anything about horsey cycles.

I told the vet about the bite, she said some mares will get more aggressive when in heat. I totally understand PMS! So she just just be really watchful especially when she's in heat. Again, she did really well and I was awfully proud of her. I spent a good hour or so with her this afternoon a few hours later and brushed her and groomed her and talked to her, etc. I didn't tie her, she just stood and let me do it.

Then tonight I go out to feed her. I had a gallon size plastic canister with her food in it to take out to her, the same drill as every other night. Our retriever started toward me from across the yard. Horse is standing at the back door. Dog is coming right at her, headed for me. The horse does NOT like the dog, and the dog really wants to like the horse. I do know the dog has growled and bit at her several times when the horse got a little too interested in sniffing her. Point being, I know they are still working out their own issues. I'd told the dog to go back because usually the horse will turn her butt and kick out at her and I didn't want her to get kicked. The dog kept coming.

The horse throws her head and bites the **** out of my thigh. I screamed - out of surprise and pain. I've never been bitten by a horse before. The dog turned and ran, the horse backed up, I dropped the feed container, grabbed my thigh and my husband came running. All in the period of about 2 seconds.

I really do *not* think she meant to bite *me.* I think she meant to bite at the dog who was coming at us and I just happened to be standing there in range. Not that it's any better, but I don't think it was intended for me per se.

My husband is livid. He's not at all a horse person. I went inside, sat and cried a few minutes, had my husband get the dog in and I went out and fed her without any problem from her. The bite is bad, the skin isn't broken but it sure looks like it should be. It's very very purple and bruised up almost immediately and hurts like crap. She meant business.

What am I missing? What am I not doing? What should I be doing? Was this just one of those "accidents happen" and hope that my piercing shriek scared her to death and she doesn't do it again? Is this because she had a bad day, is in heat and I was just standing in the wrong place?

I love her to pieces. Her ground manners are usually excellent. She will let me rub her ears, rub the top of her head, she stands for grooming, braiding, comes right to you, halters and accepts the lead rope without any problems. She's grown apparently and the beginning of last week I tried putting the same halter on her 4 times because I was sure I was doing something wrong or it was buckled wrong. I quit and tried another one, same thing - I just couldn't get it up over her ears. She just stood there and let me figure out the halters didn't fit anymore. So she really is very patient and calm most of the time. I just don't know if this is a problem beginning to surface or something else.

A postscript:

She hasn't bitten or even attempted to bite since that incident. I really think that it was just a combination of circumstances all at one time that threw her into a blind rage kind of thing and I happened to be within range.

I did a lot of searching for what horse bites look like, because I'd never had one. I had no idea if you were supposed to do anything for it or not. There was a severe shortage of pictures, which I think is a good thing. But just for the sake of adding one more to the very small number, I took a picture of my leg. This was taken a week after the bite. It is not for the squeamish. You have been warned. Horse bite