Banging the Door - sorry, rant to follow

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Flicker

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Bit of a tricky one this...
Cob on our livery yard bangs seven bales out of his stable door with monotonous regularity whenever someone walks past. It gets even worse when his owner arrives on the yard.
Problem is:
The owner totally ignores him - occasionally remonstrating quietly with him. He totally walks all over her on a daily basis so has not one jot of respect for her.
Owner's daughter has informed us all that he will not grow out of it and it is just 'tough sh*t' and we should become selectively deaf to it like she has.
YO really doesn't want to know - we are DIY and she's only really interested in the full liveries.
It is a beautiful yard, gorgeous facilities, lovely people (mostly) and I'm b*ggered if I'm going to take my horse off it because theirs is badly behaved.
Any suggestions for how the rest of us can surreptitiously 'coax' him out of his habit (obviously without causing him any physical or psychological trauma)??
Any advice gratefully received because I think I'm becoming hearing-impaired and the poor headshy horse opposite him is becoming a nervous wreck!
 
whilst there are things which can be done to nip this in the bud, the owner giving the horse attention is the worst thing she could do. So you complaining that she's ignoring it... well, she's doing the right thing! I'm not sure on die hard door bangers but there are a few things which might help. Maybe suggest she carpets the inside of the door? reading up on the subject and offerig USEFUL ideas is more likely to get results.
 
She is actually doing the correct thing by ignoring it. However, I would suggest putting some rubber on the door to lesson the noise and prevent damage to the horse and the door.
 
i used to put 2 big buckets of water in front of door on horse side for my pony years ago!!! but beware the owner may return to an extremely wet bed!!!
 
Tilly (coloured cob in my sig) started banging her door - I think it is a cob thing. Friend gave me this tip. Put large trug full of water inside stable door, when horse goes to kick door, it kicks trug and splashes itself. It really does work - might not with every horse, but it certainly cured Tilly. Mind you, she still has to have her trug of water otherwise she kicks the door again. It is a good method as horse doesn't associate you with anything nasty and also if the culprits owner is soft, she might be persuaded to give this method a go.
 
We have a horse at the yard that does that. Doors are metal so it's really bad! We ignore him (he's about 4/5 and was used to getting loads of attention whenever he wanted it with his last owners) and after a while he realises we won't give in and give him attention.
 
Waterbuckets in his stable by the door, hanging lickits, carrots and apples in his hay net, thick carpet and rubber matting against his door to deaden the noise a bit. My horse at her last yard (superb facilities, lovely place) did it, because she didn't have enough turnout ....how much does this horse get?

ETA - I had the same problem, and I can't remember if it was me or someone else who gave the advice, but it was interesting anyway! Someone suggested using a water pistol, but when you used it you had to be out of sight of the horse....I've never used it though.
 
I believe the only way to stop the horse banging is not giving it the attention he is asking for by banging. So ignoring him and then praise him when he has been quiet. Banging normally happens when the horses are fed all at the same time to stop the banging you need to stop this reutine by either feeding at different times or not giving breakfast at all. At our yard they all get fed by the first up in the morning and then the owner feeds whenever in the evening. By cutting out the breakfast the horse will learn that he doesn't get rewarding by banging. My horse broke a few doors by banging I tried everything shouting at her, carpeting the door and water pistols but they didn't work. Shouting still gives them the attention they're asking for. Carpeting just masks the problem - they still kick and water pistols take too long you need to be sitting outside provoking the banging for it to work. Change the reutine and dont give him any attention.
 
Definitely ignoring the horse is the right thing to do. Echo what others have said about lining the door with rubber matting/carpet. My friends cob was a swine for door banging, she used to squirt a water pistol at her!
 
Henry bangs his door sometimes. I have asked everyone on the yard to ignore him completely - even shouting at him he still sees as attention (albeit negative), which is ultimately what he's after! So it's best to ignore the horse, don't shout, or throw things, or make an issue of it at all! Henry has got a LOT better since people have listened to my instructions, so hopefully this horse will too.

btw it got to the point at feeding time that if he banged the door I would just stand away from his stable, holding his tea until he stopped. Once he stopped banging, he got his feed! Didn't take him long to cotton on!
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. Some really good and helpful suggestions. His turnout is good, but he doesn't get nearly enough exercise for his type, personality and age. I think a lot of it is just boredom. I'll have a word with the owner and see if she'll put some carpeting or matting up.
 
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Thanks for the advice everyone. Some really good and helpful suggestions. His turnout is good, but he doesn't get nearly enough exercise for his type, personality and age. I think a lot of it is just boredom. I'll have a word with the owner and see if she'll put some carpeting or matting up.

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Hmm, then that might be the problem - maybe when it comes to his birthday or something, you could buy him a lickit or something fun in his stable as a present!
grin.gif
 
I agree it's best to ignore door bangers. You could also point out to owner that repeated door banging can lead to concussion of the foot and joints and result in many problems. I've known a couple of horses put down young (9 or 10) due to door banging. She may be willing to try some of the methods above then...........................
 
Im probably going to get told off for this, but when Bailey was a baby he started door banging- me and YM went out and bought water pistols.... We would hide round the corner and everytime he banged his door one of us would squirt him! It took a week or so for him to realise the two things were connected. He has'nt ever done it since.
 
I often use water pistols to stop bad behaviour, it doesn't harm them. Totally agree though, you shouldn't give attention when they start kicking doors/walls etc.
 
I have always believed ignoring them is the best thing to do aswell. Could the YO put a piece of carpet or rubber mat on the door to reduce the sound.
 
Agree about the water buckets, also, a bale of straw infront of the door is good and less noisy...QR...but she can invest in a hose pipe type machine that squirts water every time he kicks (water buckets are better)
 
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