Peculiar kicking behavior

[Fruitarider]

Could use some COTH wisdom on my horse’s new peculiar behavior of kicking the outside of the barn walls.

I have two horses that I keep at home. Harley is a 21 year-old quarter horse and has arthritis in his hocks, stifles and one front with low ringbone. He’s used for light riding three times a week. He lives with his buddy who is 25 and they share a large dry lot and a large stall inside the barn which is metal. The inside of their stall has wood panels.

They are fed inside the barn using hay nets with orchard grass hay three times a day and get about an hour of pasture turnout every day. Harley is also IR so we have to limit his turnout. Harley’s diet is 1 cup of soaked orchard pellets, Mad Barn’s Amino Trace, Horse Tech’s Hylasport ER and an Equioxx pill for his arthritis.

Earlier this summer Harley started kicking the outside of the barn wall and doors causing dents and scrapes. Just recently he started kicking even harder and causing large dents. I find him lined up along the outside barn wall and kicks out with his hind foot. Both horses are barefoot. This usually happens an hour after getting breakfast and again around 2:00 am. I work full time so I’ve not seen or heard him kicking after lunch, and at dinner time I’ve not seen or heard him kicking, not until around 2:00 am.

Something also new is he is super itchy from his withers to his tail. He occasionally rubs on the barn posts but doesn’t rub out any hair. When I come into his stall or while grooming I could scratch him forever and I don’t’ think that would be enough. I just stand in place and he moves around me to scratch his itchy places.

Is this a learned behavior or physical discomfort? Vet is involved and stumped.

[Angela_Freda]

My horse had sticky stifles and would kick out as if they (stifles) pinched.

The itchyness could be a few things. My horse also had DSLD/ESPA and weird skin issues and itchyness are sometimes a symptom.
He was always a “don’t groom my belly” ticklish horse until his DSLD, when he suddenly became the “lift my leg like a dog for belly scratches” guy
It’s not always dropping fetlocks/coonfooted-ness

[4horses]

Is he kicking at another horse or is he kicking at bugs? Maybe put a camera on him and see if you can catch him doing it. Or try a fly sheet.

[Marla_000]

Agree with Angela , stifle discomfort
My mare has a previous stifle injury and some days she kicks out pretty violently when the stifle catches or bothers her.

[Fruitarider]

I forgot to mention we did a round of Pentosan back in July. Maybe it’s time for another dose.

4horses - when he’s kicking he is alone. Thankfully we’ve had freezing temps and the bugs are gone. I’ve found him standing along side of the barn and he kicks out.

[Phaedra1]

This is just a random guess, but he could have mites. When the mites are in the fetlock hair, it can be painful because they bite the skin. Sometimes, the horse gets impatient and starts kicking to try to get the mites off. It wouldn’t explain the timing though.
like I said random but possible.

[Fruitarider]

Thought I would share an update. Vet felt it could be food aggression and asked if I moved one of the horse’s hay nets outside so there was distance between them during eating. It seemed to work. Until this morning, I was able to witness on my security camera they are fighting with each other through the barn doorway. One horse was inside the barn and the other outside. They have occasionally done this back and forth with each other and I always thought it was just play since no one had bite marks or got hurt. But for some reason it has escalated to something more aggressive with the kicking. Vet recommends separating them. In the interim to add a magnesium supplement to help calm them.

[Willesdon]

Teeth? Older horses, new behavior. Is one feeling the other is getting through the hay faster so they are in competition with each other?