Fixing the stall kicker

[EventingMaff]

Since moving to the barn we’re at now, my mare has developed a terrible stall kicking habit. Other horses at the barn kick at their stall walls around feeding time, my mare seems to lately be taking it to the next level.

She’s never been the best socialized horse, and is a bit of a b**** lead mare with other horses – although if they stand their ground at all she’ll back off (she’s all bark). Now though, whenever there is a horse she doesn’t know well near her (i.e. any horse not in her turn out group, so 46 of the 50 horses at the barn) she’ll start kicking out. She’s fine being around other horses when I’m leading her or have a direct line on her (bridled, riding, whatever)

A few weeks ago she kicked out and knocked one of the stall bars out of her stall divider (they’re half walls with bars the rest of the way dividing the horses…so horses can see and smell each other but there is a barrier) and the bar hit the neighboring horse in the face requiring a few stitches :eek: I felt horrible!! Now that it’s winter they go into outside stalls if their stalls are being done not during their allotted turn out time (as turn out is on a strict rotation), the outdoor stalls are just half walls with no dividing bars, and horses being able to put their heads over into “her” space makes her kick even more.

It’s not just social though. If she finishes her hay but any of her neighbors are still eating theirs, she’ll start kicking out too, even if no horse is near her. It seems like a frustration/control issue.

Any suggestions for addressing this? Yelling/growling does nothing…in fact it seemed to make it worse as she’d kick then look eagerly at me for my reaction :no:.

I’m NOT pleased about this habit she’s picked up. Argh!!!

[Cruisesmom]

May not be politically correct, but we had a mare at our barn that was tearing the walls down with kicking. She got stall matts screwed to all four walls of her stall and a set of kicking chains. Seemed to do the trick fast.

[Edinborough]

I agree with Cruisesmom. Put up stall mats. Some horse get addicted to the sound of their own kicking. When you muffle it, it suddenly becomes not worth doing.

[demidq]

Well, good luck. I feel your pain! My dear departed mare was a stall kicker for many years, sometimes more, sometimes less. She was also a wimpy “alpha” mare, quite bitchy if there was no other strong leader. She did best turned out with a quiet older gelding. What helped the most inside was kicking chains around her hocks. The other helpful thing was hanging half tires against the wall so when she kicked they would swing and bop her. Stall mats just reduced the noise and damage. The best barn set-up was a corner stall and plywood across the bars to block out the sight of her neighbour. And turn out, plenty of turn out. A busy barn with very little turn out may just be too stressful for her.
The vet suggested that it might be ulcers, but a full course of treatment didn’t make a difference. Calming supplements weren’t a significant help either. It is a real “vice”, very hard to break the habit. If you have the stomach for it, you might try a shock collar but your timing will have to be instantaneous and impeccable to catch her just as she kicks. Don’t ask the BM or stable help to do the collar.

[goodhors]

Kicking chains in the stall. Not a good idea to use the chains in turnout or paddock settings where horse might try move quickly or run about. I also put them up around the hock to hang down. I don’t want horse stepping on the chains while walking around the stall.

Does seem to be the only thing that works with some animals. I like that the chains are ALWAYS working, correct poor choices even if no one is around. Horses do GET IT, so they are good ALL THE TIME in stall, even if no people are around. Self-correcting training method.

[Tuffytown]

If you attach a flat 2x4 to the walls and hang the mats on that leaving the void to reduce the impact it takes away the concussion lessening both the physical damage and the satisfaction the horse gets from the impact and noise.

[CrowneDragon]

I would cover her walls so she can’t see her neighbours. That can be a huge help. You can do a trial with simple tarps to see if it works, just make sure that you cover all of the gaps around the edges. If there are types of horses she tends to hate more (other mares, submissive geldings, whatever) try to arrange her neighbours accordingly.
I also endorse the “floating” rubber mat idea posted by Tuffytown above. I have had reasonably good luck with kicking chains, but be sure there are absolutely no places she could get the chain stuck in her stall, like gaps between boards where they can be wedged. I used to use them above the fetlocks because I had a hard time finding any that would fit above the hocks, and that worked. You just have to make sure the chains are short enough that they won’t get stepped on. It will be annoying for a horse like yours that also kicks during T/O, because I don’t like making the horse walk with them on and it would be a pain to have to take them off and put them back on every time she gets led somewhere.

Good luck. Frustrating and dangerous issue. A horse at one of my last barns kicked through the solid wood wall and got his leg hung up and really did a number on himself. :no: Aside from acute issues like that, or fractures, the long term damage on joints from wall kicking is really not good, so I applaud any efforts you can make to stop her. You are fortunate (other than the poor horse that she hit!) that she kicked the bar out instead of kicking and bending them and getting her foot caught. That could have been game over. Leaving her out 24/7 may be the easiest solution, but I understand that it won’t work for everyone.

[Indy]

I know people who have had success using the QuitKick system (you can get it from Dover). It’s this gadgety thing that gets put up along the side and back walls and whenever the horse kicks the walls, the vibration causes the system to squirt the horse with water. They seem to learn pretty quickly that getting squirted is annoying and stop the kicking. It’s pretty expensive, though, so it’s a commitment…but both of the horses I know whose owners bought the QuitKick for them were doing physical damage to themselves with the kicking so the cost of the system was less than all the vet bills.

(you do have to be careful with the system if you have sticky stall doors…one of the poor horses would get squirted if you slammed his door too hard - oops!)

[LookmaNohands]

Keep it simple.

Remove her from the stall.

[demidq]

I made kicking chains long enough to fit above the hocks- broad nylon dog collars that I lined with neoprene and fleece. I attached 2 chains to the ring. I would never turn out with kicking chains, any movement faster than a slow walk would be very painful.

[Goforward]

My horse sustained a fracture from wall kicking.
I hung mats in the stall (a lot of work but worth it) and put plywood up between he and his neighbor. He can see out the front of his stall and hang his head out but he can’t get in trouble with the horse beside him. It’s made a huge difference. I NEVER turn him out anywhere where he can get to another horse with a single fence line between he and the other horse.
I bring tarps to horse shows with me to hang between common stall walls if he can see the horse next to him. He loves my husband’s horse and they can stable next to each other but I don’t take chances with any other horses. He has kicked the bars out of his windows on more than one occasion.
I’ve been thinking about getting him a nibble net to make his hay last longer too. Hay makes him happy and keeps his legs on the ground longer.
After a fracture and long lay-up my advice to you is to be very careful and take precautions to keep your horse (and others’ horses) safe.

[beowulf]

I agree – put a few pieces of plywood down (padded about 3" from wall) and you will have a huge noise reduction. Half the time I think they are just being asshats and want to make noise. Put a kicking chain on her too, I would do it on the hock like other posters said, especially if she is outside.

It sounds like she is being a huge brat (no fault of your own, OP!) and that makes barn staff very cranky. Best to get this nipped ASAP.

[Corky]

Can anyone send me a picture of a set of kicking chains for above the hocks? I’m only familiar with the usual fetlock ones and my mare has decided that kicking the wall is fun. She caught her door last night tho and kicked out the top hinge (half height door) and the bottom hinge bent and her door fell flat, letting her run amuck in the barn aisle for the night need to try something and this seems like the best/quickest solution.

[demidq]

Make them yourself- see my post above. Took me less than an hour and cost about $20.

[Woodsperson]

I used regular above the fetlock kicking chains and they amused my kicker. I replaced the little wimpy chains with big thick chains (think chain on a trailer hitch) and it worked like a charm. He no longer needs them, but they have been passed around to all the kickers in the barn.

[arapaloosa_lady]

Sounds like she’s really upset there. You can fix the kicking with the suggestions above but make sure you’re not ignoring the underlying behavioral issue. Can you move her somewhere with turnout?

[Simkie]

Could she see her neighbors in her previous barn? It really sounds like she might want a bit of privacy in her stall. I third (fourth?) the suggestion to hang some plywood over the bars so she can eat without feeling like she’s got to defend her hay from the “interlopers.”

[Pennywell_Bay]

Ample turn out a feed adjust ment fixed mine.

[quietann]

The barn setup sounds… less than ideal for any horse but especially for a wimpy alpha mare. My guess is a lot of the horses there kick at mealtimes because they’re defending their food.

There’s a barn near me that has similar stalls, wood partitions up to about 4 feet and bars above that. They found that many mares just could not deal with other horses staring at them that closely at mealtimes. So some of the bar sections were modified with plywood partial partitions so the horse had more privacy when eating.

[kdreger]

[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;7951354]
Ample turn out a feed adjust ment fixed mine.[/QUOTE]
I agree. ^^^^
My question was going to be is she hungry? Sounds like she feels she is not getting enough to eat and needs/wants more.