Most horses have good dispositions, except for an occasional bout of sheer horse stubbornness, most horses are not prone to biting but if you happen to have one of the small percentage with a propensity for biting, the first thing you need to do is find out why.

Fear is the number one reason a horse will bite and that is usually because he feels cornered and biting is a last resort that means "Stay away!". Pain is another reason a horse may bite because she is feeling pain and is lashing out at anyone and anything because of it.

Association can cause biting. If your horse has been hurt when bridling or saddling by someone in the past he may associate those times with being hurt and bite out of self-preservation. Horses have long memories and nothing but gentle reassurance on your part and showing your horse that you won't hurt him by bridling or saddling will overcome this type of biting issue.

There are a number of soft discipline ways to discourage a biting problem. First try to just use your voice to give your horse a stern, "No." If that isn't working after a week, a swift but gentle squirt of water from a hand pump squirt bottle along with a sternly spoken, "No!" will usually get the biting under control.

Never hit your horse for biting. Harming your horse or causing him pain will make him lose trust and respect for you and chances are it won't eliminate the biting problem and in fact, it may escalate.

And be sure to protect yourself during the process of unlearning negative behaviors. Gloves will usually do the trick if he is going for your hands and many horses seem to go for their human companion's wrists.

Once you begin retraining your horse not to bite, don't waiver or stop or allow even one biting incident to go unaddressed, otherwise your horse will be left with mixed signals and your biting problem will continue.