Horse kicking at another horse, who gets the blame

[ladyrider]

Yesterday, a boarder at my ranch tied her mare to the hitching post and left her tied there while she went to the tack room to get some things. Another boarder than walked her gelding behind the tied mare. Mare took offense to this, gave a squeal and kicked at the gelding. She missed, but now the two boarders are at odds with each other. The geldings momma is furious, saying mare’s momma shouldn’t leave ‘a horse like that’ tied and unsupervised, and if she HAD kicked the gelding, then mare momma better be ready to pay some vet bills. The mare’s momma says that’s ridiculous, it’s gelding mommas fault for walking her gelding so closely behind the mare and provoking her, and how was she to know her mare was going to kick out… she’s never done that before.

I can see both views, but I think I’m slightly more on mare momma’s side, just because I too am guilty of leaving my horse tied and unattended. I personally think being able to stand tied quietly and unattended is an important skill for a horse to have. And I too would be very surprised if my horse kicked… but I guess there are no guarantees in life.

Just wondering what other people’s opinions are.

[halo]

The mare was tied. She couldnt go anywhere. The other horse was controlled by his owner, he went where the owner led him. Which was right behind a mare.

People who do stupid things will often try and blame someone else.

[tweeter]

My theory has always been - if it has teeth it will bite, if it has feet, it will kick.

Why risk a kick, never walk that close behind ANY horse.

JMHO.

[Angelico]

Good lesson for the gelding’s owner, though it doesn’t sound like she is smart enough to learn from it unfortunately.

Any horse is capable of kicking, striking, and biting at other horses; they are animals. The gelding’s owner sounds like a liability, I’d send her packing.

[My_Two_Cents]

It’s likely the mare gave warning signs that all was not well. I feel it is my responsibility to my horse to keep a safe distance from another horses heels. Sometimes you need to tie your horse and leave it unattended. Even though our horses are pretty well mannered I would never guarantee that none of them wouldn’t kick a horse that passed too closely to their hind ends. Gelding owner needs to have a “respect the other horse” lesson. Glad nobody got hurt.

[jessiesgrrl]

Was there something in the way, or otherwise, preventing the gelding owner from giving the mare a wide berth?? If it was a wide open area then there is no excuse for the gelding owner to be getting within ear pinning distance, let alone kicking range!
Personally, unless your the BO/BM and its necessary, do not pick sides or get involved! lol be as neutral as possible
If the BO/BM ask (as a witness) to explain what happened, stick to the facts not your opinion.

This hopefully is a one time incident and will settle down soon
Good luck!

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=ladyrider;7958162]
Yesterday, a boarder at my ranch tied her mare to the hitching post and left her tied there while she went to the tack room to get some things. Another boarder than walked her gelding behind the tied mare. Mare took offense to this, gave a squeal and kicked at the gelding. She missed, but now the two boarders are at odds with each other. The geldings momma is furious, saying mare’s momma shouldn’t leave ‘a horse like that’ tied and unsupervised, and if she HAD kicked the gelding, then mare momma better be ready to pay some vet bills. The mare’s momma says that’s ridiculous, it’s gelding mommas fault for walking her gelding so closely behind the mare and provoking her, and how was she to know her mare was going to kick out… she’s never done that before.

I can see both views, but I think I’m slightly more on mare momma’s side, just because I too am guilty of leaving my horse tied and unattended. I personally think being able to stand tied quietly and unattended is an important skill for a horse to have. And I too would be very surprised if my horse kicked… but I guess there are no guarantees in life.

Just wondering what other people’s opinions are.[/QUOTE]

The person with the led horse took it too close to the tied horse; within kicking range which is her mistake, likely due to inexperience. This comes under “inherent risks” of horses being horses. Live and learn!

[Pembroke]

Tied horses shouldn’t be left alone and unattended.

Horses shouldn’t be walked right behind another horse.

They’re both partially at blame, imo.

But when horses kick, they don’t miss. The marsey didn’t WANT to kick, just wanted to threaten and be a mare.

ALSO, was there enough room for the gelding owner to walk past the mare with a safe distance?

[Lusoluv]

Gelding’s owner was too close. And if the mare’s owner was there grooming/tacking up her mare and the other rider led a horse near, what difference would that have made. A horse can kick in an instant, so the presence of the tied horse’s owner would have done what??

[SLW]

I am in Mare Mommas camp, hands down.

[mp]

Gelding owner needs to learn the concept of personal space for equines. If there is room to give a wide berth, do it. If there isn’t, change your route.

[enjoytheride]

I expect my tied horses to stay tied unsupervised all the time. Otherwise I can’t take them to horse shows without stabling or trail rides. I tie my horse where it is safe and where someone can get around without getting kicked.

[Gidget]

We ALL leave our horses unattended while tied, even if it’s just for minute. It’s called going to the tack room (or the office, or the bathroom, or whatever). No sane adult would walk their horse behind another that closely and then scream, “It’s not MY fault!” when something happens.

There. I said it.

[ladyrider]

[QUOTE=jessiesgrrl;7958214]
Was there something in the way, or otherwise, preventing the gelding owner from giving the mare a wide berth?? [/QUOTE]

It’s a bit of a tight squeeze. Gelding momma was heading to the round pen, and there are two routes that take you there. Route 1 is the most direct way and goes through the hitching post area. There IS enough room for a horse to safely pass behind another horse and stay out of kicking range IF you tuck your horse all the way over to the side. I did not witness the event (only the aftermath), so I cannot say if she did or not.

Route 2 would completely avoid going through the hitching post area, but involves walking along a muddy trail and opening a heavy gate, so it’s rare anybody uses that route.

[Gidget]

Well, all I can say is I’ve failed the “idiot test” a couple of times myself and each and every time it was my own damned fault. If it weren’t for my lightening fast reflexes, I would have been cow-kicked, bitten and stampeded by now.

Okay, the stampeding incident was technically another girl’s fault, but I still blame myself for trusting her judgment. I “knew” something wasn’t right about the way she was directing the herd, but she supposedly had more experience than I did.

[findeight]

Is there a chance that the gelding owner over dramatized a bit? My experience is even byatchy mares do not let loose a real kick unless they know they can hit the target.

Mare might have humped up, snorted, squealed and threatened with a half hearted swing of a back leg in geldings direction. But if tied, don’t think she could get much power behind it and she knew that so displayed the threat more then seriously kicked. Newbies that think horses are dogs or something often can’t tell the difference. Niether is acceptable but both are typical horse behavior by nature.

At any rate, OP didn’t see it so who knows if gelding owner was as far away as possible and mare really tried or if gelding got into what mare considered her personal space and she reminded him to get out if it. Can’t take sides, don’t know what really happened. And mare did not connect anyway, they need to let it go and take it as a reminder to be careful around any horse.

[HenryisBlaisin]

Both are at fault, IMO.

Gelding owner should not have walked horse so close behind the mare for sure, that goes double if there was room to spare.

Mare owner should not have left the horse unattended and tied since any hose may react in a situation where it feels threatened or crowded and cannot move away. Also, if the horse was a confirmed kicker, the owner, IMO, has an additional responsibility.

Did mare owner know that Maresy kicks at other horses? If the horse is a confirmed kicker, owner should never be leaving that horse unattended, ever and is responsible for letting others know the horse kicks (like putting a red ribbon on it at a show or giving a quick, “Hey, give Maresy some space, please; she’s been known to kick!”).

In a perfect world, every rider would expect every horse to kick and act accordingly and every rider would take extra precautions if their horse IS a kicker, but in reality, people get lax and make mistakes. That happened on the part of both riders in this case.

[findeight]

According to OP, mare was not a confirmed kicker but they will all kick if crowded by another.

Mare owner ideally should not have left mare for long but, you know, it IS called a hitching post because it’s where you hitch the horse while you do something else. That’s what it’s there for, especially on a ranch where that is the accepted place to put one.

[Gidget]

[QUOTE=HenryisBlaisin’;7958359]
…In a perfect world, every rider would expect every horse to kick and act accordingly and every rider would take extra precautions if their horse IS a kicker, but in reality, people get lax and make mistakes…[/QUOTE]

I will agree with the above statement.

It was the gelding’s owner flipping out and assigning blame (instead of taking responsibility) that got me going on this one. When did we become such an angry society???

[Canaqua]

If gelding had actually been kicked, gelding owner would have no one to blame but herself. Since the kick was a miss, gelding owner should consider herself very fortunate to have had an opportunity to learn a lesson without her horse getting hurt.

Just like EVERY dog has the potential to bite, EVERY horse has the potential to kick. There is no such thing as an animal who would “never do that”.

When you get lazy, bad things can happen. I don’t pass within kicking/biting/striking range of other horses. If another horse is in the way, on the crossties say, I either wait for their human to come back and manage their horse or I go around the long way, if one is available. Patience is a virtue and prevents a lot of accidents. Sure, it can be annoying if horse’s owner is dawdling somewhere and leaving the horse in the aisle for a long time, but I always have the option of calling for them or tossing mare back in her stall and going to find them. STILL better than getting nailed…either the horse or myself.

Even without the exact details, the human present is the one responsible. Two horses, one human. The only one with a big frontal lobe, and capable of assessing the situation and making a decision is the human ;).