Filly biting cattle.. :(
 

Hi everybody, so my filly has seen and worked cattle about 3 times now. She is bred for working cowhorse, so she gets very excited and curious when she sees cattle.. Well we did a cow clinic last weekend and she really got into it and tried to bite the cattle, she would pin her ears and try to bite them! I was told by the guy who led the clinic I can't let her do that as that will cause deductions if we were to compete down the road.. He wasn't really specific on how to stop her from biting the cow though... She is 3 years old paint, very smart, learns like a sponge.. The problem is she is very dominant to anything that moves (she respects me and other humans ofcourse) I mean she dominates other horses, cattle, goats, dogs.. and wants to follow any animal that happens to get into her paddock. She is young still.. what would be the correct way to let her know it's NOT OK to bite the cattle.. do I spin her around and take her away from the cow??? I just don't want her to loose her interest in cattle, she really seems to enjoy it and me too!

Perhaps as soon as her neck stretches and she pins her ears move her away and work her tail off, then position her again. You may have to do this three or four times before she figures it out. The clinician is right, major point deduction or asked to leave the ring. Same applies with cutting.

<--------- thanks I will try that tomorrow as we are going for the same "new to cattle" clinic, last time the attendance was made of few timid riders, I have a feeling they will not really let me work her hard if she mis-behaves, because it's taking part in a very small indoor arena with about 7 riders.. We shall see :)

I would tell the clinician about the problem before you go into the arena and ask him for specific exercises to train her out of the aggression to the cows. That's what you're paying for! :-)

I will stop them, back a couple of steps then hustle them back up into position.
Every once in a while my horse still thinks about it and all I have to do is bump the bit(not jerk) and it is enough to remind him.

I will.. I am not sure he will allow me to take a "private time" though.. it's a $50 group lesson for VERY green horses.. When I was there last weekend, there were mostly horses that never saw a cow in their life and most were really afraid of them.. It's very hard to find anybody in my area who has cows.. (Chicago suburbia). I will try and let you all know how it went. :)

Just tell him you need a "5 min. aside" with him and explain the problem. The $50 lesson is no good to you if you cannot a/ask questions of the clinician and b/gain the knowledge you need to succeed.

Will do.. :)

Ok update - the trainer suggested to just give her few bumps on the bit to let her know it's not OK to do that... We really got maybe 2 more tries after that to go through the cattle and she did good.. only had to "bump her" 1 x .. She gets really into it.. she just walks right into the heard ears pinned. They are done doing clinics for the season so I will need to wait to find someone with cows in spring to practice..

Sounds like you made some progress though, so you were able to end on a good note. Excellent!