Do horses learn to bang their stable door?

Shadowdancing

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My horse was always the most well behaved animal in her stable, but at her new place she's in a big American barn where she can see quite a lot of her neighbours. She happens to be next to two geldings who both bang their doors.. much to my horror, I came up the other morning to discover her also banging her door!!

Is this something they can pick up on and learn to do? I ignored her completely and didn't touch or feed her till it stopped but I really REALLY hope it's just a fluke and she hasn't started this particular habit as it is INCREDIBLY annoying!!
 

milliepops

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they definitely can learn it, particularly if they get a response when they do it, so IMO you did the right thing. Make sure other liveries aren't fussing her when she starts kicking the door though, or else it'll become a confirmed habit! (tricky I know, it's so tempting to go and see to them when they are making a racket) :eek:
 

MissJessica

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I believe they can pick it up. But that's not to say they all will.

My gelding was once kept at a yard that has a mix of DIY & part liveries.
Most of the horses were part & most banged their doors at food time when they saw the yard manager & I too was horrified when my horse started to do it too, but never got his feed because he was DIY.

I left this yard to total DIY & he has never done it since therefore I think he only did it because of the environment.
 

rifruffian

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Yes, they learn it as a way to get your attention.

But there could be a good reason they need your attention. Example: hunger, need food. That's my own experience. (No, I didn't kick my stable door).

I haven't had a horse that kicked door simply to get close attention, for the sake of it.
 

JillA

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It is something someone has inadvertantly reinforced, by giving if not food then attention. It really is hard to break, especially if there are people around who take notice of her. The classic way to stop a behaviour is to either have an aversive (squirt water from a bottle? or water pistol) or ignore. You can actively ignore by turning and walking away, and that can work so long as everyone else is on the same page
 

GirlFriday

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My horse was always the most well behaved animal in her stable, but at her new place she's in a big American barn where she can see quite a lot of her neighbours. She happens to be next to two geldings who both bang their doors.. much to my horror, I came up the other morning to discover her also banging her door!!

Is this something they can pick up on and learn to do? I ignored her completely and didn't touch or feed her till it stopped but I really REALLY hope it's just a fluke and she hasn't started this particular habit as it is INCREDIBLY annoying!!

I know a whole yard (RS) where they stopped door banging almost completely by changing the diet. Turnout was really very (too) limited and the feed was quite low volume/high value. After they swapped to much bulkier, less sugary feeds the banging stopped - fewer sugar highs and lows expected.
 

Shadowdancing

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She was definitely banging when the yard manager and staff were around. She is part livery but I see her every day and I'm the only one who feeds her. She sees the other horses getting fed I guess- tho not all of them. Her immediate neighbour and the horse opposite her are both chunky natives who live on fresh air and get no feed. After feeding all go out between 9 and 3.30 and she likes being out so maybe impatient for the off, I dunno. I'll be keeping ears out for it happening again.
 

Shadowdancing

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they definitely can learn it, particularly if they get a response when they do it, so IMO you did the right thing. Make sure other liveries aren't fussing her when she starts kicking the door though, or else it'll become a confirmed habit! (tricky I know, it's so tempting to go and see to them when they are making a racket) :eek:

Even shouting to shut up at them is surely some form of validation for it- like with dogs learning to bark to get yelled at cos at least they notice them! I didn't even look at her but I can't be sure what happens when I'm not there. If I notice it again I will highlight to the barn manager and ask that no one acknowledges her when she does it.
 

Amye

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they definitely can learn it, particularly if they get a response when they do it, so IMO you did the right thing. Make sure other liveries aren't fussing her when she starts kicking the door though, or else it'll become a confirmed habit! (tricky I know, it's so tempting to go and see to them when they are making a racket) :eek:

This.

I think they can learn it, but it normally stems from someone reinforcing it. If she started banging when another horse is banging and the YO or another livery pay her any attention at all, that's rewarding and she'll continue.

There's no way anyone is treating her or something? Are all other horses fed at the same time? Maybe they give her a 'treat' as she's not fed? Or if they go and turn her out when she's door banging that's a reward for her too!

In our block of horses we only have 2 door bangers, the rest are fine. The 2 that door bang are owned by the same owner, one started doing it for his food and then the other followed, they get fed at the same time so learnt off each other. Whereas the other horses are all owned by different people and fed at different times as it's largely DIY. None of them door bang when them or another horse is being fed.
 

Wagtail

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Yes they definitely can pick it up from others and it's not just for food. Any kind of attention will do (even negative). My old mare used to do it and I tried everything but never cured her. The only thing which almost worked was the hose - a quick squirt on the nose from a distance whenever she did it. Soon if you just picked up the hose, she stopped. But it was impractical because she still did it when you weren't near the hose and so I gave up in the end. She passed her habit on to two other horses on the yard. I got so used to it in the end that it didn't bother me, except for one cob who would start banging in the middle of the night as soon as he finished his hay net. He was on a diet and so had a trickle net but he could still finish that before dawn. He never got rewarded for it but did it all the same. He frequently woke me up at 4 in the morning so I was pleased when he left the yard!
 
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buddylove

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If I had a yard I would ban those ruddy treat balls!! I am often first on the yard and there is one horse that (I am sure on purpose) starts whacking it against the door as soon as I'm there. It makes a right racket and drives me insane. I only hope she doesn't do it at 4am and wake the yard owners!
 

rachk89

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I definitely think they can learn habits off others! Mine has an annoying habit of scraping his shoe along the concrete when he's waiting- YOs new boy now does it too!

Yeah mine does that. He door bangs too but more worryingly he doesn't just kick he bangs the door with his body. That's only in the morning when he wants his breakfast and if you are paying attention to another horse or cat and not him. We ignore him but it makes no difference he is attention seeking.
 

HashRouge

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They definitely learn it, very easily! I do think it depends on the general temperament of the horse though, as some would never dream of banging the door even if those around them are. I don't think there is anything much you can do to stop it once a horse has started, unfortunately. On both pro yards I've worked at we had lots of door banging around feed time. Usually in the half hour running up to it and then as feeds were being distributed. I think the problem on that sort of yard is that everything happens at the same time every day, so the horses all know exactly when to expect their feeds, and because they all get fed at the same time, once one starts banging they all know that food will be on its way soon so they all start doing it. On the yard I was manager at we had one mare who'd been there for years who was a door banger. What we didn't realise though was that she was *the* door banger, almost invariably the one who set everyone else off am and pm. Once she was sold, there was a massive reduction in the noise around feed time. They only started when the grooms came out of our house in the morning and when we went into the feed room in the afternoon. We thought they'd been judging the time by how hungry they were, but it actually looks like she was time keeping for them all!
 

Lintel

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My boy is now "a door banger" much to my dismay.

I doesn't matter if I ignore him, I know others don't and give him what he wants- attention or food(mostly the latter!)
Hoping when we get moved and settled into our own place he will give it up - and he'll be out more of course so won't be able too!

.. but yes they allllll learn it!
 

cobgoblin

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Put rubber matting or thick carpet on the inside of the door...they soon give up when they can't make any noise.
 

TeamChaser

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New horse does it but as he's settled into new routine does it far less. He's quite young and it's impatience with him. He'll bang a couple of times when I'm mixing evening feeds and will also paw and wave front legs about at yard fence whilst waiting to be tacked up - dork! Other 2 haven't copied at all as yet and he's been here 4 months now. They do get a lot of turn out though which I guess helps
 

Dubsie

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Yes, there was one that used to bang on the door to get attention, he also then learnt to not bang if it was me nearby because I'd deliberately ignore him but if/when he stopped I'd dash over and make a fuss - meant I could stop and chat by his stable without him banging. He'd bang for everyone else though!

Same with cribbing, last yard horse was on a corner next to a cribber & windsucker he would do this a lot, and she could see him crib and so she cribbed round the frame of the door when he did. Moved yards, but no cribbers next door - and she has not cribbed round the frame of her new stable.
 

fburton

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Yes they can. Quite easily and even if you make sure they are NEVER rewarded for it
Yet there must be something in it for them - i.e. they must find it rewarding - otherwise why bother? It might not be something that a person did (or stopped doing) - although I would wager it is in the vast majority of cases. We may not be able to discern what that something is, but rest assured it's there!
 

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Mine door bangs when he wants attention and nothing else has worked, usually when he can see his dinner sitting waiting for him outside his stable and can't reach a net to sneak a bit and if he sees me walk past him and ignore him without giving him his dinner.

He will also kick the wall in the tie up bay if he's been left alone by himself for a while and I think he thinks he's been forgotten about, although he's got much better now.

He seems to only door bang as a last resort, as he will also make faces at you and curl his top lip up for attention first and he only bangs if you walk away and stops when he realises you're not coming back for him. It's also much easier to tell if he was given his lunch on time or not by the yard as he will also door bang if lunch was very early and he's eaten it all or if it was very late.
 

Annagain

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They can learn it but as others have said it can also be for a reason. My share horse hates weeing in his stable. He's normally out in the field before he needs a wee but if he stays in longer than normal to be ridden or if we're going somewhere he bangs the door when he's desperate for a wee. We take him out straight away and take him to the nearest patch of grass for a wee. The only problem now is he's got a bit wise to it so does it a bit before he's desperate and will have a munch on the grass for a minute or so before having a wee.
 
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