Stall wall liners

[xitmom]

We need to line the stall of one of our boarding horses with something protective against kicking. Yes, I am talking about a padded cell. This horse has been examined by a vet for anything causing discomfort (ulcers, chiro issues, etc) and she found nothing. He gets 7+hours of turnout a day and the kicking does not appear to be targeting a neighbor or specifically at feeding time. It just appears to be a behavioral issue acquired at the show grounds this summer.

We want to protect the horse’s legs from the concussion and the wall from kick marks. We are looking at screwing stall mats to the walls but wanted to see if there are any better alternatives. Ideas?

[OneTwoMany]

No suggestions. Just empathy. Horse that kick or paw can be terribly disruptive not to mention the damage they can inflict on themselves over the years.

[Scribbler]

I think I read somewhere about hanging stall mats a few inches away from the wall so that they move and give with the kick? Something about the noise being satisfying to the horse and this way there is less noise? Nothing I’ve ever tried to do though.

[XXS]

If the horse does not chew on things, you can pin carpets to the wall (and fill the space between wall and carpet with some padding). Sometimes companies that use conveyor belts give away their rubber mats for free.

[Bluey]

Standard is to keep trying different stalls, different stall sizes, different neighbors.
For the walls, fix a 2"x4" to the walls horozontally and hang from it rubber mats or old carpet or belting or anything that the horse can safely hit.
With that space behind the hanging mat, the kicking should be minimized.

We used hock chains with some horses, but didn’t work with everyone.
You hang with a light leather strap, right above the hock, a chain that doesn’t quite reach the floor.
When the horse kicks, the chain “kicks” back.
That is enough to stop some:

horse kicking chains

You have to be careful when introducing that chain,.
Be sure the horse is ok with legs being handled and ropes around the legs.
Wrap the leg so if the horse really gets mad and keeps kicking it won’t hit and hit and hit and cause bruises.
Some horses are not good to try that, the really wild ones with their kicking.
I never saw one do more than kick a bit and quit, but with horses, you never know how they will react to something new.
Some never kick after putting hock chains on, some will start again if something sets them off, like a change of neighbors.

Those horses do better if you can stable them in a big corner stall with solid walls, so they can’t see the neighbor, or a shed where they have more room for privacy.

[tipzythegreat]

Related/unrelated – a horse that caps his hock by bashing into the wall. Literally just backs right into it… not kicking, just… accident prone.

I thought about putting something on the walls as well – you know they have big foam strips for car doors in the garage to protect the drywall. Have you looked into that? Heck that might work for me!

[horsepoor]

Hanging the mats off a board to give some space between the mats and the wall is the way we have done it.

[Pico_Banana]

I saw this when I was looking at stall mats:

https://equimats.com/products/horse-stall-wall-mats/

[ElementFarm]

@horsepoor

Hanging the mats off a board to give some space between the mats and the wall is the way we have done it.

yup, this is what I’ve always seen done.
obviously, try changing neighbors, feeding location, etc, first.

If that doesn’t work:
2x4s hung at 4’ off the ground, and then standard rubber stall mats mounted to them. When the horse kicks, the rubber with the space behind it absorbs a lot of shock. It also makes it quieter.

[NancyM]

We had a boarder who did that in our wooden walled stalls. Constantly. When the horse moved on to a different boarding stable, a barn that had concrete walled stalls, it stopped kicking. Not nearly so fun.

[endlessclimb]

Sounds stupid, but we’ve had some success with hanging feedbags against the wall. The CRUNCH of the feed bag is startling enough that it stopped all but 1 of the kickers.