[hey101]

Once a week I haul my mare over to my eventing trainer for a jump school. Last night we were finishing up in the crossties to get ready to head home, and my trainer comes out with an apple for my mare and says goodnight.

I give my horses apples by holding it in my hand, they bite half of it, and then eat the other half. Well THIS apple was juussst a little on the small side, and my greedy mare chomps it down in one bite.

Picturing it lodged in her throat and choking, without thinking I immediately stuck my hand in her mouth to fish it out. And she promptly bit down HARD on my thumb. REALLY hard. Sensing that something was not quite right, she hesitated just an instant in completing her bite.

And in one of those subconscious reactions where the thought doesn't even make it to your brain, I leaned forward and bit her on the nostril.

She immediately let go of my thumb, and I got it out of her chompers pronto. Standing there contemplating my thumb with deep horse teeth imprints on both sides, I thought about how lucky I had just been and how it had all happened in just a few seconds.

And she then proceeded to be a chestnut irish mare and wouldn't get on my trailer for 45 minutes (normally a good loader, she pulls this crap every 20th time or so). And of course everyone had left for the night. You could almost see her thinking "dude, you give me an apple and then bite me on the nose? I'm not getting in that trailer, nyah nyah nyah.".

Horses! Chestnut Irish Mares!

Moral of the Story: Don't be as stupid as hey101!!

[ChocoMare]

OWWWW!

I hate those moments when, after the painful fact, you say to yourself "You idiot. Why did you do that?!"

Ice, Aleve and Arnica will be your friend.

[ImJumpin]

Glad to hear you didn't lose a digit, but yes-- never stick your hand in a horse's mouth. I sadly know someone who lost her pointer finger to her horse's mouth.

[twofatponies]

Ow!!!

[eventchic33]

Oh my I'm sorry I can't help but laugh. Biting her sounds exactly like something I would do. Glad you are ok and that she didn't yank her head and break your nose. Had that happen, not so fun.

[jazzrider]

And in one of those subconscious reactions where the thought doesn't even make it to your brain, I leaned forward and bit her on the nostril.

Who does that??? Where, in your subconscious, did the message that biting her on the nose is the answer come from??? I hope, for your pending wee one's sake, that she's (he's?) smart enough to never bite mom's fingers!

Hope your fingers are ok though!

[BumbleBee]

Who does that??? Where, in your subconscious, did the message that biting her on the nose is the answer come from??? I hope, for your pending wee one's sake, that she's (he's?) smart enough to never bite mom's fingers!

Hope your fingers are ok though!

lol

It was a cave man moment.
I once walked into my totally dark kitchen only to insinctively grab above the microwave and throw what ever it was "stalking" me.

Poor kitty. He wasn't suppose to be up there but I NEVER would have done that. It was a cave man moment. Life or death reaction.

Hope your fingers feel better soon,.... oh and I wouldn't have gotten on the trailer after that either.

[kellyb]

LMAO. Sorry to laugh but you biting your horse on the nose makes me lol. Glad you're ok.

[hey101]

Who does that??? Where, in your subconscious, did the message that biting her on the nose is the answer come from??? I hope, for your pending wee one's sake, that she's (he's?) smart enough to never bite mom's fingers!

Hope your fingers are ok though!

jazzrider- NO idea! In the light of day, with two working thumbs (albeit one QUITE sore! ), there are a million reactions I could have had- use my other hand to pry open her jaws (although if you gave me $10K, I couldn't tell you what my other hand was doing during those 3 seconds), used the other fingers on the trapped hand to push on her tongue, palate, etc, not been so FREAKIN' stupid as to do it in the first place??

But at least the reaction that I had, weird as it is, worked. And for ever more, hey101 will crush apples under her foot and then feed the pieces to hungry horsies.

[DairyQueen2049]

My old mare (RIP sweet girl) bit me in the a$$ the 1st time I went to pick out her right front hoof - I refused to let go of the hoof to spank her, or the hoof pick, and bit her on the shoulder in immediate response.

She never ever bit again.

And yes, we both left teeth marks.



Glad you still have your thumb hey101!! Thanks for sharing.

[jazzrider]

But at least the reaction that I had, weird as it is, worked. And for ever more, hey101 will crush apples under her foot and then feed the pieces to hungry horsies.

And forever more, biting a horse on the nose is a sensible solution to extracting a limb stuck in a horse's mouth. Hey, I read it on COTH. It worked for hey101!

Karma. Karma will come shortly, in the form of a wee one with wee teeth... And your mare will smile.

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

Just glad you're okay!

[inquisitive]

Haha I'm wondering why you thought to bite her nose too

Glad you're OK...

When I was little I was feeding my pony a carrot in her dark stall and she accidentally grabbed my thumb instead. I didn't think quickly enough to do anything to her but she realized it and let go. Went to the hospital just in case because my thumb was numb for a while but thankfully turned out alright.

Nice post

[Paddys Mom]

My old mare (RIP sweet girl) bit me in the a$$ the 1st time I went to pick out her right front hoof - I refused to let go of the hoof to spank her, or the hoof pick, and bit her on the shoulder in immediate response.

She never ever bit again.

And yes, we both left teeth marks.



Glad you still have your thumb hey101!! Thanks for sharing.

Similar story - walking into my gelding's stall with two full water buckets - one in each hand. He bit my back and held on. I bit his shoulder. It worked but I am glad I never had to repeat it again. Yuck!

[pAin't_Misbehavin']

Similar story - walking into my gelding's stall with two full water buckets - one in each hand. He bit my back and held on. I bit his shoulder. It worked but I am glad I never had to repeat it again. Yuck!

Yuck is right! What are you girls thinking, putting your horses into your mouths like that?

I had this same thing happen to me, only I threw the full bucket at the culprit. Well, of course I had to drop one and use two hands to heave the other. Big splashes, lots of noise, surprised contrite pony, and no horsehair in teeth. It was just luck, though, not skill. I will throw whatever is near to hand without thinking when sufficiently irritated.

I guess some of us are biters and some are throwers.

[marta]

considering how many folks resort to biting, this has got to be some kind of instinctual reaction

[Dressage Art]

Oh no, I know the feeling!
I was about 12 when I gave my favorite horse a hand of grain and he took it together with my hand, bit hard, I panicked and pulled back yelling, he pulled back as well with out letting my hand go. A couple of my fingers were completely stripped out of the skin- he took it off almost like a glove…. But doctors sew it all together and it healed nicely. Always keep your hand FLAT for any horses!

[Auventera Two]

OMH 101, your post made me laugh out loud!!!

I know, it's not funny, but you still have your thumb so I'm allowed to laugh, right?!

A similar thing happened to me years ago. I was leasing a TB mare and I went into her stall to throw her another flake of hay for the night. As I was about to dump it in the feeder, she grabbed it out of my hand, but grabbed my finger right along with it. She bit down so hard and all I could feel was wetness and this blinding pain. I passed out!! I woke up on her stall floor and was terrified to look at my finger. I was just SURE that she bit it clean off. I finally got up the gutts to look. It was still attached but it was purple, swelled to about 3x it's size, was all bloody, and part of the nail was missing.

I was playing tug of war with my dog with one of those rope bones a few months ago. Somehow my thumb ended up IN her mouth where she proceeded to bite down squarely on my thumb and break my nail in half.

But hands down the WORST bite that I still bear the scar of today was from a stupid rabbit. Yes, a rabbit! We were at a show and I was cradling him in my left arm, about to put him up on the show table for the judge. He sank his teeth into my forearm so deeply that he severed nerves that to this day have not grown back. He knicked a tendon and a flap of skin was sticking up about 2" long. His teeth missed the main vein in my wrist by about 1mm. I walked the rabbit back to his carrier, threw him in, wrapped my arm up in a grooming towel and told my mother we have to go to the ER. The funniest part was seeing 3 doctors staring down at my arm trying to figure out (1) How to fix it (2) Do we sequester the rabbit for rabies and (3) Who the bleep has ever heard of a rabbit biting someone?!

The rabbit later died of a neurological protozoan disease so I spent 2 weeks on the phone with veterinary and human teaching hospitals and colleges trying to find out if this protazoa is transferrable to humans. The general consensus was - geeze, we don't really know.

That was 10 years ago and I'm still alive so I'm assuming all is well.

Wow, stuff DOES happen so fast!

[hey101]

I know, it's not funny, but you still have your thumb so I'm allowed to laugh, right?!

Of course you are allowed to laugh! I'm laughing at myself, biting my poor horse on the nose two seconds after giving her a treat for being such a good girl during the jump school. She's so good-natured though, she just ate her apple (whole... !!) and thought evil chestnut mare thoughts about how to get back at me by not getting on the trailer. I so deserved it too!

jazzrider is totally right, karma is showing up to get me soon... baby teeth on areas that might be as much or more sensitive than my poor girl's nostril??!!

[see u at x]

I am so glad for you that you're OK! One of my mares accidentally nicked me with her teeth while I was giving her treats the other night and now I'm even more cautious when I feed her. Then, just this morning, I got the following email from a friend of mine:

Yesterday at a.m. feeding time, "Tessa" decided to hand some alfalfa cubes to a couple of horses, including charming "JJ"..... who grabbed Tessa's hand and tried to eat it. Tessa was scheduled for surgery on her hand at 6:00 p.m. last evening. "Louise" said one of her fingers was likely broken at the knuckle and looked like it was barely hanging on. Hopefully, the surgeon was able to save her finger, but a broken knuckle is very difficult to repair. Louise said Tessa told her that it was her own fault, especially since everyone is aware of JJ's aggressive nature...and especially offering her cubes when feeding was in progress.

Reading something like this always ups my safety practices a notch. I'd never, ever feed an aggressive horse from my hand, period, much less at feeding time. I really hope that her friend will be OK. What's worse, is that I believe she said that her friend does not have health insurance.