Kickers don’t belong in the hunt field.
I agree with everyone that a horse that has shown a tendency to kick should be at the rear - but only until the behavior is under control.
Otherwise - find the horse another job.
It’s not fair to everyone else who has to avoid infringing upon poopsie’s large territorial bubble - and pity the poor hound that does.
But I admit I’m a safety nut.
[QUOTE=JSwan;4558511]
Kickers don’t belong in the hunt field.
I agree with everyone that a horse that has shown a tendency to kick should be at the rear - but only until the behavior is under control.
Otherwise - find the horse another job.
It’s not fair to everyone else who has to avoid infringing upon poopsie’s large territorial bubble - and pity the poor hound that does.
But I admit I’m a safety nut.[/QUOTE]
I have to agree with this 100%.
If you can’t correct the behavior find yourself another hunt horse.
Although I’m more of a h/j, kicking in any discipline is a BAD thing. .
I can’t stand it when people don’t discipline their horses.
Bleh, I can’t imagine how bad it would turn out if you were clumped together, all galloping full speed, and somebody kicked! As is, I freak out if we’re walking && some horse kicks! Although, I have been wanting to try hunting. It seems like a lot of fun. . eventually I will. 
[QUOTE=Beverley;4558456]
But Brigit, if you are hunting a confirmed kicker, the etiquette is put that red ribbon on the horse’s tail AND you stay to the rear where no one can get on your horse’s business end! [/QUOTE]
I agree! If you are on a confirmed kicker, it is your responsibility to put yourself in a spot where the you have the least chance for an incident.
I keep picturing the kicker scenario in an arena at a show where it’s hard to “stay in a safe spot” with horses going various speeds and passing etc. I think it’d be fairly easy just to keep your horse at the back of the field while hunting if they’re going to kick.
Agreed there too. I’ve seen some people with the red ribbon in their horse’s tail that just think “Ok I’m good, now everybody watch out for me!”. Not so much.
People need to step and call spades, spades.
I was waiting to enter an arena for a trail horse competition in a covered, open sided arena. On the rail, not 10’ from the entrance, stood a teen with his horse. They’d competed hours beforehand, but he wanted to stand and watch the rest with his horse in hand. So he’s facing east, her butt, west. I was riding my horse back and forth, making circles, etc in the warm up, about 6-8’ behind his mare from time to time. No ribbon, btw. He turned and said hey look out now, she kicks!
I stopped and asked then WHY is she parked by the ingate where everyone is warming up? You aren’t watching her, since you’re watching the competition… You already rode…so again, WHY is she HERE? At the ingate? In the warmup?
Boy he wasn’t happy, nor was his momma, but he did go put her away.
Common sense is short nowadays. I’ve popped a horse that’s kicked at mine if I’m quick enough with my stick, yes, I have. If the rider won’t step up, If I can…I’m going to protect me and mine.
The one time I took my mare hunting, she was rammed into from behind and kicked out at the horse. People were yelling at me to smack her - which I don’t disagree with, except that the other horse was still within kicking range, and she is one of those mares that can be very sensitive about the whip; its use usually makes her kick out, so I was hesitant to smack her while in the middle of the pack.
That said, had I known that the mare was a kicker, she wouldn’t have been hunting in the first place… she is a FANTASTIC hunt horse, great around hounds and is perfectly fine in the back, but even so I haven’t hunted her again. I can control her, but I can’t control who is going to run up behind her, even if I stay at the back.
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