Use the navigation bar above to access articles and more discussions on this topic.
| Author |
Message |
    
Dawn Adams (Dawn43)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 - 9:38 am: |   |
I've read the forum information on stall wall kicking and I understand the concept of the chains, I think. Is a kicking chain something I can buy or is it something I need to make?
One of my geldings, who has free access to his stall, goes in and kicks his stall wall for long periods of time. He doesn't kick hard and I have yet to see damage to his hoof, but he does make marks on the kick boards in his stall. Why is he doing this? He is low horse in pecking order and has a tendancy to isolate from the other horses. Could his standing in my small herd have something to do with it?
Dawn |
Amy E. Coffman (Redroan8)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 - 10:02 am: | |
Hi Dawn,
This is interesting, but I think you're on the right track. What else is going on when he's doing this? Are the other horses on the other side of the wall, or has feed or hay just been put out? Is this horse ever fed in his stall? Horses that are in a daily living situation where the pecking order comes into play often tend to become a bit more urgent about protecting their food. Horse social relationships are very complex, but don't seem to be dominance-oriented unless there is competition for resources. Since your horse has free access to his stall (a wonderful setup, btw) frustration at being kept in is not likely to be the problem, but a feeling of protectiveness might be. IOW, if he's used to being bossed by the other horses, he could feel rather protective of this small area that is "his" (particularly if he thinks there's a chance feed is forthcoming), and feel a need to pre-emptively defend it. A horse that is kicking is generally defending something, whether it be his body, a physical space, or a pile of hay he has chosen.
Hope this helps.
~Amy |
Dawn Adams (Dawn43)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 - 2:24 pm: | |
Hmmm, mainly he does this after feeding time (fed in his stall), alone at the barn, after the other horses have gone to the hay ring. This morning it was at 5AM!
Dawn |
Cheryl Anderson (Canderso)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 - 5:07 pm: | |
One of my guys kicks his stall just before feeding time. He used to be quite bad, (hoof marks 6' up the walls) until I put stall mats on the wall.
The cushioning protects his feet (somewhat), protects the walls, but also takes most of the noise away.
The owner of the barn is convinced that the stall mat approach works because it makes kicking 'less fun' for the horse. Based on watching my horse and others in the barn, I have to agree. |
josephine milano (Jojo15)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2001 - 9:19 pm: | |
Its not the hoof you have to worry about its their hocks, too. My mare capped her hock, sometimes it gets scraped when they kick....
I tried kicking chains on the ankle and hock area. both versions work well, but don't stop the kicking when you take them off. I made them with a small (but thick at least 2 inches wide) dog collar and 1 1/2 foot of chain link. easy to make. I now have hock boots put on and they make it hard to kick. They're made of neoprene.
It's a bad habit and hard to break. Now they see me coming and they start kicking thinking it's feed time. |
Beth Seyer (Jacque)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Apr 17, 2001 - 12:26 am: | |
hi--I had a terrible time with my mare kicking the stall wall. We finally hung an appr 4x6 section of restaurant floor matting (heavy rubber with holes in it) on the wall she was kicking........hung it so it dangled from a 2x4 and was not flush against the wall. That took care of the problem. I posted more details on this in an earlier message, so if you're interested, you may want to do more search. worked great, inexpensive and easy to do. The one thing to know, my mare only kicked the wall in one place...if your horse kicks all the wall, it will be more effort and expense to install the kick mats. I also used kicking chains, but again, as soon as they're removed the horse will go back to kicking..and applying/removing them just adds to the "maintenance" factor. good luck! |
sandy p
Member
Username: Iride2
Post Number: 6
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, Mar 11, 2004 - 11:32 pm: | |
Has anyone suggested putting a horseshoe on her hind pastern? I had a mare that kicked and my farrier suggested this and formed a shoe so it wouldn't slip off without my taking it off and I must say, she quit kicking. I put the shoe on her when she's in the stall and remove it before I turn her out or ride. Beleive me! It works! |
ANN COLLIER
Member
Username: Dres
Post Number: 322
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 1:29 am: | |
Sandy how do you put this shoe on and off.? i have a stall 'pawer' , i put a bolt on a thin dog collar right over his fetlock and let it hang, he, at first did not like the way it felt hitting his hoof... then he started chewing on it and pulling at it... i was afraid that he might twist a tendon or .. so i took it off..
darn horses anyway...
Ann |
sandy p
Member
Username: Iride2
Post Number: 7
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 9:27 am: | |
Ann, Have your farrier fit the shoe so it will slip over the cannon bone and slide down to the pastern. It should be loose enough so you don't have any problem slipping it up or down to put it on or taking it off but it won't slide off when it is around the pastern.you can use this on the front feet for pawing or on the back for kicking. Just remember, don't turn him out with it on. That's when you can run into trouble. Good Luck, hope it works for you. I'm sure it will, it did for me. Oh, if he paws with both front feet, use one on both feet.
Sandy |
ANN COLLIER
Member
Username: Dres
Post Number: 323
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 9:51 am: | |
Sandy... ok,, explain again... i will have a farrier close up a shoe just large enough for me to slip it in on the cannon bone... will it then slip down below the fetlock joint to the pastern..? seems it might be a little bit large if going over the joint... did you use a heavy shoe or something lighter like a slider...?
wish you could take a picture or draw one for me...
Ann |
sandy p
Member
Username: Iride2
Post Number: 8
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 10:47 am: | |
Ann, It will be trial and error for the farrier.
just explain to him that he should bend the shoe
so it will slip over the cannon and down over the
fetlock to the pastern. The pastern should be
bigger than the cannon so it won't slip off. I wish I could send you a picture to. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What you can
do is take an old shoe, slip it on your horse's leg slide it down to the pastern.It will be to big but it might give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The type of shoe doesn't matter. I just used a shoe that the farrier had taken off. Any shoe will work, it's the fact that the shoe bangs them along the coronary band or pastern that works. Let me know
how it works for you. Sandy
|
Liliana Velasco Ariza
Member
Username: Liliana
Post Number: 51
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 11:26 am: | |
Hello Dawn,
You mentioned “mainly he does this after feeding time (fed in his stall), alone at the barn, after the other horses have gone to the hay ring. This morning it was at 5AM!
Why is he left alone ?!! does he want to stay in?
When horses do unusual things they are trying to tell us something, so we have to ask ourselves what could it be.
Does he have mice in his stall? is he threatened or bullied by another horse? is his feed enough for him? is there mould on his bedding, do they share this stall? what is behind the wall?
My advice would be that before you go and spend a lot of time and money in trying to restrain this horse, it would be a lot easier to really try to find the root of the problem, berfore it turns into something else.}
All the best
Liliana |
Martha Bartlett
Member
Username: Traveler
Post Number: 4
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Mar 12, 2004 - 12:49 pm: | |
Hi,
I have a boarded horse in my barn that is a problem kicker, she is destroying the barn. In the last month, she has demolished two waterer's and put more dents in the walls. She kicks all the time. The owner says it is because of a stallion nearby, but when we moved her to the other end of the barn while doing repairs and drying time, she does the same thing. I've had to insist that the owner put a kick chain on her. It is just a padded band that fastens just above the hoof with a short chain on it. When she kicks the chain hits her back. It's not long engouh to hurt her or cause any damage. The nice thing is that the pay back is instant and easily managed. They are available at tack stores and in catelogs. Good luck, kickers can be a real pain (sorry for the pun) to deal with. |
