Input needed…my horse is out on a lease. He has only been on the trails once in his life with me. His current lease recently took him on a 10 mile Hunter Pace. She said the every time a horse came up behind he would try to kick it. She even dismounted and he still tried to kick when a horse came up behind him.
She did take him to a few shows prior to the pace and he does not do this in the ring.
Any ideas as to why and maybe some suggestions on how to help us get through this ?
Put a red ribbon in his tail and don’t ride him in a galloping crowd? Or ease him into riding in groups walk trot? It’s pretty normal for horses to kick towards each other running in a pasture, a warning to give space with no intent to make contact. It’s natural instinctive behavior you need to slowly train out of a horse.
Yes, this is an instinctive behavior, but to me, it’s not at all acceptable while under saddle. Kicking at another horse would get a couple sharp spanks with the crop from me and a verbal correction.
They can goof around all they want in the pasture, but under saddle is my time and my rules. Most horses get the point VERY quickly, if you time it right and go forward after the correction.
And yes, a red ribbon in the tail is customary for a horse that has shown a tendency to possibly kick other horses in company.
Well said. Just 'cause a behavior is instinctive does not mean it’s acceptable. This is a training problem. Train to fix it.
G.
Agree this needs to get corrected sooner than later!
Until you & owner settle on a method, the red ribbon is a pretty universal signal to other riders to keep their distance.
Cautionary Tale:
Friend on her experienced trail horse in a small group of other experienced riders…
One of the horses kicked at hers for whatever reason & nailed Friend instead, breaking her leg.
That was a very uncomfortable ride back for her.
People often do not realize how much training goes into being a good trail horse. Of course the horse was out of sorts if it’d only been out of the ring one other time and then went to do a 10 mile pace with horses passing him at speed, etc. you need to drop back and punt. Spend some time out on the trail leading, following, passing and being passed. And, yes, definitely put a red ribbon on his tail.
PS this in no way means that I’d ignore the kicking. Kicking under saddle is one of those 100% absolute zero tolerance things. Feel it starting and correcting it before it happens is always best but… the best instructor I ever had said with things like this- you’ve got about 2 seconds to make them think that if they ever do that again, they’re going to die. Sounds harsh but it’s not.
Do not just tie a red ribbon in his tail and call it a day. That makes everyone else responsible for your inability to control your horse.
How I teach a horse that this is never to be reverted to:
A) Get the horse really, really, REALLY good about moving any and all of his feet wherever they are needed at any given point. A horse who kicks out is a horse who feels the need to be defensive of his space, a horse who does not feel entirely able to rely upon his rider to keep him out of trouble and a horse who is not able to entirely turn loose in his feet. I guarantee this horse has some physical braces somewhere in his body, some movements that are difficult, some way in which you might ask him to move that he isn’t entirely comfortable with. Find those and fix them so you can ask him to pick up and move any foot in any direction and he’ll do so willingly. This will solve two things: it will get get him so he isn’t so sticky in his feet and it will get it so the rider can shape him anyway they need to to show him “if you turn loose to me, I can protect you”
B) Actually set up situations where horses ride up to and pass this horse from all directions. At one of the barns I teach at, myself and the BO host a free group ride night once a week where anyone who wants to come and work on something can come and get some help. It’s incredibly valuable time for a lot of folks because many don’t ever ride in arenas with lots of horses or ever get a chance to work on things that bother their mounts with helping hands around. One of the things we tackle almost every week is someone with a horse who doesn’t like other horses being ridden near it. Within a session or two, usually the first session, the horse’s need to defend himself is gone.
C) Understand the difference between punishment and redirecting. You never want to punish. Punishment does nothing. Making them “think they are going to die” is a rough and tough, antiquated way to teach a horse that what he’s doing is of no use to him and dismissive of what for the horse is an entirely valid reason in his mind for feeling anxious and protective of himself. You need to catch him in the thought of kicking out and REDIRECT him before he actually gets to kicking - if he’s already kicked out, the rider has missed the tensing and re-positioning the horse does before he kicks. Catch him in that phase and redirect his feet immediately, bringing his head around and turning him into a tight circle while rolling over his hind end usually works quite well. The idea is not to punish him but to say “I hear you feeling you might need to respond to that horse, but I assure you that’s a waste of your time and is going to be way harder than if you just tune in to me”
In doing all of this, you TEACH the horse a better way to handle his emotions instead of just thwacking him or ignoring the issue by reverting to the red ribbon and in doing so show him how valuable you can be to him if he tunes in.
Poor horse, he really got thrown into the deep end. He obviously wasn’t ready for a 10 mile hunter pace and should have been introduced to this kind of situation on a more gradual basis. Probably the open field galloping got him worried and put him in self-preservation mode and he could not get himself calmed down.
A desensitizing and groundwork program will help him learn to maintain his composure and settle back down in a new situation. I’d also get him in a group situation and hack in fields periodically. You are calling it a Hunter Pace, he was thinking “stampede.” Not his fault.
I read Abby’s comments with interest. I’m about 95% on board, but there’s a 5% that we experienced that was unusual.
We have Mangalarga Marchador horses, a gaited breed from Brazil. We have always taken the time to prepare horses for their tasks. But sometimes unusual things happen.
Our first Cavalry Competition that we took horses to was at Ft. Knox, KY in 2006 (IIRC; I get confused on years sometimes 
). One of the routine events is a Staff Ride. This is an Army practice where officers tour a location with knowledgeable guides who discuss some event at that location. It’s done on many battlefields. The participants have read about the event in a book and have seen photos but now they get to ride on the SAME ground that Napoleon or Lee or Patton rode. It’s a way to reinforce learning about what happened on that site. Today, in most instances, that’s done in motor vehicles.
Our Staff Ride was touring the Fort and being briefed on events and buildings from the Fort’s long history. We were riding in a “flock” (that’s an Army manual term for a semi-organized group; I’d call it a “gaggle”) and my wive was on her mare to my right and slightly behind. To her right and behind her was our Senior Chaplain’s wife (an extremely experienced rider with a history of vaulting, among other things) riding her Quarter Horse. Without warning my wife’s mare moved sideways and back to kick at Mrs. Chaplain. It was “ears back” aggressive move, not a “you’re in my space” defensive move. My wife kicker her mare clear and apologized as this was absolutely the FIRST time we’d ever seen this behavior. Mrs. Chaplain said, “no harm, no foul” and we moved on. She did keep a larger distance, however. A few min. later we had to move through a more congested area and ranks had to close. My wife watched her mare, saw her size up that QH again, and gave her a good “thou shalt NOT” bump with leg. We then swapped positions so I was now near Mrs. Chaplain. And I caught my mare doing the exact, same thing! Mrs. Chaplain and a couple of other riders noted it as well. We got into some open area where we could put distance between the horses and I ask if I could approach Mrs. Chaplain again and see what we got. I did and the aggressive behavior repeated itself.
At this point I was quite puzzled as this was a new behavior from both horses. I then asked another rider, on a QH, if I could approach and they said “yes.” As I moved closer my mare put her ears back and started to pick an “aim point.” I moved way and she relaxed. The QH rider then gingerly approached and we got the same response.
Watching us was y trooper on a Walker. So I asked them if I could approach, they said yes, and I did. It was a non-event. Then then approached and it was a non-event. Ditto for a trooper on a Saddlebred and another on a TB. Then I found another trooper with QH and aggressive behavior repeated.
For the rest of our ride we shunned QHs.
Can horses be “racist?” This was a conversion we had later in the evening at Water Call (the time when the bar is open :)). Most said they had never seen “breed specific aggressive behavior” but had never looked for it, either. At subsequent events, particularly events where QHs were common, we watched for the behavior and saw it but never to this level. I suspect the horses figured out we’d not tolerate it and thus our “training” had worked. (the horse is always leaning even if you’re not teaching) The answer to the question is, “some horses are reactive to other horses of a specific breed but not to other breeds.” Put whatever label on you wish.
Maybe I don’t even have a 5% disagreement with Abbey, only note that not all horses are created equal and that one size does not always fit all. 
G.
Agree with the others than a 10 mile hunter pace is a hell of an introduction to ‘trail riding!’ he quite reasonably was overwhelmed and scared to bits.
I have a kicker. I carefully manage him. Most of the time he is very good about it. It takes a lot for him to kick but it is still in there. I foxhunt him and he is happiest in the front so sticking to being the last horse isn’t always possible. Also if we reverse field sometime I am suddenly in the front. Or staff may need to pass. I make sure I really pay attention to his body language, in particular his ears. He is not allowed to pin his ears at other horses, snake his head etc… I correct that pretty quickly. I may need to growl at him, lightly tap his shoulder with the crop to remind him that I have it. When I first got him a harder correction used to be necessary.
Where I hunt it is really common to suddenly have to hold hard on the trails in the woods and suddenly you have another horse right behind you. If there is a particular horse he is having an issue with I may try to move away from them.
My horse is not a nasty kicker just a foot flicker but it still not allowed. There is one person I won’t ride with since her horse is a nasty kicker and she does nothing to manage or correct it and does not warn people about it. Generally her horses wants to be last but sometimes unexpected trail conditions mean you need to reverse and now the last horse is the leader. That is how her horse kicked mine. He swung sideways and backed up to kick. Thankfully he connected with my horses girth and was at the end of his range so not much power behind it. But he almost got my ankle. I know a few people that won’t ride with her because of that.
A number of years ago my horse decided that air kicking at another horse was acceptable. We corrected it aggressively a few time that day. The next day we foxhunted for a few hours. Anytime he flicked an ear at anyone he was growled at or tapped with heels/crop as a reminder. At the end of the hunt I had to pony a pony from him and knew he would be fine because we had nipped it the day before and reinforced it that day. He was fine with the pony. When I am riding my horse I expect him to not do that crap. It still comes up but I make sure he never gets to the point of kicking. When other horses pass I swing his haunches away from them if possible. I talk to him to reassure him that he is fine.
I do think that OPs horse was probably overwhelmed. I think he needs to go out on a few low key trail rides in the very near future and give him some good experiences. The other riders need to be aware that he has kicked. The rider needs to correct or redirect the behavior the moment she starts to feel it. This is not a socializing trail ride it is a serious training ride so crop, spurs, two hands on the reins, pay attention to horse not turn around and talk to the rider behind them with horse on the buckle type ride. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
