Hanging mats for stall kicker

Have a mare that is sometimes cranky & will double barrel the stall divider & blow out 2"x6" dimensional lumber boards. She’s serious about stuff.

Planning on hanging rubber stall mats on the walls she kicks. Have seen them just screwed into the boards on the wall, have also heard about hanging them from a 2x4. I think I kind of like the 2x4 idea, but would like to hear pros/cons of each.

Also if you do the 2x4, do you just leave the bottom hanging with no support?
thanks all

If she’s kicking that hard, she’s going to still blow through the lumber even with the mats.

I’d be trying to get her to stop kicking. Can she see her neighbor? Can you provide her more privacy? When/what scenario is she kicking in?

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Kicking chains or 24/7 turnout.

She will still kick through it with mats.

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An alternative to hanging solid stall mats I have seen used are “anti-fatigue mats.” They are thick rubber, widely available as workplace standing mats. Some are as thick as 3/4 inches and are perforated with small holes. The holes make them lighter and easier to hang than solid stall mats. I have even seen them screwed to 2x4’s top and bottom, with thick sheets of memory foam or other padding inserted between the hanging mat and the wall to add to the kick-deadening effect.

I have one that just kicks when the feed cart goes around. She is tied in her corner until “dinner is served.”

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I did this for a mare who kicked at feeding. Old barn, so her stall had the perfect place- a beam about 4 1/2 feet up the wall that stuck out 8" or so. I screwed a regular stall mat to it, and it hung to just above the floor, and the space between the mat and real wall meant that if she kicked, the mat moved, absorbing much of her energy. The mat has to be heavy enough to absorb the energy, and far enough from the wall so the horse doesn’t connect with the solid wall, or it doesn’t really work. But the lack of noise, and lack of satisfying thump took most of the joy out of it for her, as well as it kept her from hurting herself or the barn. And it was quiet so the rest of us were spared. So yes, it can work - heavy mat at least 8" away from the solid wall. She still kicked sometimes but it was easier on everyone.

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remember to use washers with the screws!

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We had one that kicked. We put up mats screwed directly into the wall. He also scraped the wall w his teeth. He quit both behaviors w the mats. YMMV🤷🏼‍♀️

This is the kind of information I am looking for, thank you . So no anchoring at the bottom?

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That’s right - it just was screwed to the beam at the top - and seconding Mroads’ advice about washers - the mats are heavy to begin with and kicking them creates more pull/force. So big hardware - and at least 5 to make sure it doesn’t gap.

If your barn doesn’t have a large beam exactly where you need it, you will need to add that - and I would use a 6x6 attached to the wall so there is enough of a gap between mat and wall.

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specifically use Fender Washers

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you should do the 2x4 spacers. It buffers the kick and she is not as likely to connect with solid power.
Plus it might just make the kicking uninteresting. No thump no hard contact…

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I had a boarder at our barn who kicked the wooden stall walls. The horse moved to a different barn, a barn that had cement walls in the stalls. The horse stopped kicking the walls. It wasn’t fun any more.

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My Lipizzan gelding was a stallion until he was 11 and has always been rather territorial about his stall. He has had rubber mats lining the lower half of his stall from the time he was young but a couple summers ago he started kicking above those mats and split a couple of 2x10 boards. We hung additional mats and I bought a StopKick box and that is what really fixed the problem. The cost of the device was money well spent after one kicking session landed him at the clinic with and injury that cost me $3000 in vet bills. Stop Kick USA

Here’s a photo of his “rubber room” - he does get turned out every day but the kicking seemed to be triggered but one neighbor who was able to peer over the top of the wall or if another horse was walking by the stall too closely. The pesky neighbor was moved and a shorter horse was moved in and that seemed to reduce the problem significantly.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159362393606953&set=pcb.10159362403281953

I had a boarder mare who was lovely in every way except this behavior. I couldn’t convince the owner to keep her out 24/7, so my solution was to take a 4x4 and drill it to the wall partition just above the horse’s hip height. Hang the stall mat from the 4x4, and yes, use extra large washers.

I did not anchor the bottom of the mat back to the wall, but I did drill a standard 2x6 plank to the inside bottom of the stall mat (so facing the stall wall). That little bit of space and weight significantly dampened the kick noise and also power in the kick. The open space between the matt and the actual stall partition kept the noise down significantly.

The mare mostly stopped the behavior after that. I think for her, it was as much about the big noise and expression as it was about declaring she was hungry.

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My mare is a fence kicker, even in turn out (needed to be turned out with no other horses on the other side of the fence). She doesn’t kick inside the stall or during feeding, only when she can see another horse.

These have saved her hind legs in the run outside her stall. I have two layers, both sides. It’s expensive but worth it and have held up well for three years.

https://www.ridingwarehouse.com/Paddie_600D_Horse_Trailer__Stall_Padded_Divider/descpage-PHTSD.html?from=gshop&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=891983263&gbraid=0AAAAAD-YUQPX8U42dOogZtpIDEnJa5oMA&gclid=CjwKCAjwwNbEBhBpEiwAFYLtGNj-cg-MpRYUPfIsNl0RShVcUmCcy-ITP_UY4Y-vJDIU1VKUTEWRbxoCSI4QAvD_BwE

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much less than a vet visit

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I don’t need these (at least right now!) but what a great idea! Thank you for sharing.