Ariel301
Loving the herd life
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I would agree with stopping the hand-feeding. Many young horses already have a tendency to be nippy or explore things with their mouths (just like young children, everything goes in the mouth) and if he expects your hands--or pockets--to contain treats, it's just encouragement to look for them. If you want to feed treats, make him eat it from a bucket or on the ground if a bucket is not handy. I make it a routine practice not to feed young horses from my hand, and preferably not older ones either. My last mare was a bad biter when she was a yearling, and I started with the smack in the mouth technique when she would bite. However, she quickly learned to bite then jerk her head high enough I could not reach it, so she would not get hit. She KNEW she would be punished, and rather than avoid the behavior she knew was wrong, she would get sneaky to avoid punishment. So, I started putting a stud chain over her nose while I worked with her and kept her on a short lead, and when she would nip then jerk her head away, the movement of jerking against the lead rope/chain would make the chain pop her across the nose. It worked very quickly as she could not figure out how to get away from that. Now, if you aren't into using a chain, you could use a rope halter with a couple of extra knots across the noseband. Something that will get his attention. I have never seen a horse become headshy from being smacked for biting, if it is done fairly. Obviously, do it immediately, don't cause him injury, and don't beat him for five minutes.
It seems to me that perhaps he has associated pawing with being fed. Sometimes it happens that a horse will make a connection between food (or other pleasant occurrence) and an unrelated activity, through coincidence. I trained a gelding once that had decided he would only get his feed if he shook his head up and down standing near the feeder. So every time he was hungry, he would shake his head up and down. I have heard of another horse that would always urinate right at feeding time, because it somehow made the connection that it had to do that to get fed. Maybe your horse thinks that pawing is what brings the food, so you are on the right track with not feeding him when he paws. Also, check that he's not doing it out of boredom or irritation from flies. Use fly spray or some other repellant measure if you do not already. Find him some toys for his corral. (You can make up your own if you don't want to spend lots of money on storebought horse toys, which are pricey) If he paws while tied for grooming, carry a riding crop with you, and when he lifts the foot to paw, give him a firm tap with the crop (it works to make your arm longer so you can reach him, not as a weapon) on the offending foot, so he knows what part of his body is in the wrong, and say NO, loudly.
One thing that seems to calm down problem behavior is lots of hard work. Many horses today get fed a lot of food, but don't do much work. I don't know how hard you work this horse, but maybe an increase in exercise would help him. Horses often act out from boredom and too much energy.
It seems to me that perhaps he has associated pawing with being fed. Sometimes it happens that a horse will make a connection between food (or other pleasant occurrence) and an unrelated activity, through coincidence. I trained a gelding once that had decided he would only get his feed if he shook his head up and down standing near the feeder. So every time he was hungry, he would shake his head up and down. I have heard of another horse that would always urinate right at feeding time, because it somehow made the connection that it had to do that to get fed. Maybe your horse thinks that pawing is what brings the food, so you are on the right track with not feeding him when he paws. Also, check that he's not doing it out of boredom or irritation from flies. Use fly spray or some other repellant measure if you do not already. Find him some toys for his corral. (You can make up your own if you don't want to spend lots of money on storebought horse toys, which are pricey) If he paws while tied for grooming, carry a riding crop with you, and when he lifts the foot to paw, give him a firm tap with the crop (it works to make your arm longer so you can reach him, not as a weapon) on the offending foot, so he knows what part of his body is in the wrong, and say NO, loudly.
One thing that seems to calm down problem behavior is lots of hard work. Many horses today get fed a lot of food, but don't do much work. I don't know how hard you work this horse, but maybe an increase in exercise would help him. Horses often act out from boredom and too much energy.
