Door banging

[Auslander]

Any bright ideas?
I have a newish horse here, who is a relentless door banger. She doesn't get fed til she stops banging - I'm really strict about that. She doesn't appear to give a single s**t about being made to wait - and although she gives up in the end, I can feed and hay 4 other stabled horses, and 5 that live out, before she stops.
It isn't gentle tapping - she literally hammers the crap out of the door - not good for her feet, and not good for the door. If I open the bottom door and put a chain across, she kicks the (iron) door frame instead - and she still bangs just as effectively if I shut the top door. I can't physically get to her stable with a feed before she starts banging.
It's driving me crackers and more importantly, her next door neighbour is starting to revert to an old habit - grunting and kicking his wall, which was all but eradicated when he moved here, and realised he had a nice quiet stable at the far end, and couldn't see or hear other horses while he was eating.
If she were mine, I would buy a Quitkick, but I'm absolutely sure that her owner will push back. Owner is a very gentle soul, who has strong feelings about not doing anything that will alarm/distress her (whole other story!) so I pretty much know what the reaction will be to the concept of her getting squirted for banging!
I'm very close to the end of my tether with it - any suggestions?

 

[twiggy2]

Can you hang a rubber curtain from the metal bar and just don't feed her or have eveything in the stable before she comes in and nothing gets topped up whilst she is in?
If that's not possible arrive and take her out to a tie area (rubber floored if she scrapes) with no food whilst you deal with everything and then when yard rounds are finished put her back in the stable?
I can't stand door kickers and my mare became one when people started feeding her bits when their did their own horse in a block of 8, I moved blocks into one where others would not feed and it stopped apart from when myself and my cousin were there, we went in and only did her so it stopped then too.
I don't like the quitkick the horse is kicking cos it's stressed, yes it gains attention (historically) but it is stress, what started that stress who knows but it exists and I prefer to find a way round it to solve the problem and treat the cause rather then hide the symptom.
Failing all of that just feed her first, it reduces stress to yourself staff and other horses.
Good luck- I hate door bangers.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I feel your pain my mares are stabled opposite a gelding which kicks like that, occasionally the owners use a long rope tied diagonally across the door area..keeping him back from the door area. Perhaps worth a try?

 

[Sandstone1]

Just feed her first? I know it seem like giving in but for the sake of the door, her feet, the other horses and everyones sanity just feed her first! Or give her a treat ball or something to keep her calm.

 

[Trouper]

Think I would take out very first thing and tie up elsewhere if possible. If the owner is soft on discipline then she must surely realise that it is certainly not good for hooves to be doing this and that can be your reason for removing from stable? I'm also a believer that the more you can "ignore" the behaviour the quicker it ends - any sort of attention by remonstrating is a reward

 

[Quigleyandme]

What about attaching a piece of thick carpet to the inside of the door to not only muffle the noise but protect her hooves? If she can’t make a noise perhaps she’ll give it up.

 

[Auslander]

I'll answer everyone in one hit!

Ive tried lining the inside of the stable with a thick crash mat - she destroyed it in one kicking session!
Her stable is at the far end of the yard (the quiet end-ironically), so the banging has already started before I can get to her. Cant move her to the other end, as those are the larger stables for the bigger horses (she's only 14.2hh).

I really don't want to let her bang/give her attention (ie;taking her out) as she then starts banging all the time (even in the field) She's a very strong minded little cob, and she is very quick to revert to bad behaviour if she senses the advantage!

I've told the owner that she risks doing herself some serious damage - that's how I achieved permission to ignore her and not feed her til she shuts up! Baby steps

 

[ycbm]

Put up a grill to keep her back off the door? I guess she'll just kick something else?

I think the 'no feed till she stops' should work in time, but only if you can wait by her door and reward immediately.

 

[Auslander]

Put up a grill to keep her back off the door? I guess she'll just kick something else?

I think the 'no feed till she stops' should work in time, but only if you can wait by her door and reward immediately.

A grille is one of the options, although she still bangs with the top door closed - she is VERY determined!
It's very frustrating, as she seemed to have cottoned on that nothing good happened til she stopped, and was great for a few days, but she has now redoubled her banging efforts!

 

[dorsetladette]

Could you turn her out first thing?

 

[joelb]

What about attaching a piece of thick carpet to the inside of the door to not only muffle the noise but protect her hooves? If she can’t make a noise perhaps she’ll give it up.

This. You could be describing my mare OP it's exactly what she does, you move one target and she simply finds another. The only thing that helps is to muffle the noise, I used a thick yoga mat but carpet stuffed with straw is super effective. Had mine 10 years and nothing has ever stopped her. In that time she's had many helpful liveries and YO try to fix her by feeding her polo's, shrieking, launching skippy tools at her, breaking a broom on her, throwing buckets of water over her and training yard dog to bite her muzzle when she put head over door.......all of which made it worse through stress. She is out as much as possible now and literally does a couple of boots as I cross yard with feed bucket.

 

[Auslander]

Could you turn her out first thing?

I do! She goes out at 7am - I've tried taking her out to the field before she gets fed, so she doesn't associate her stable with being fed, but it makes no difference to the infernal banging, which starts as soon as she knows I'm in the area! The dog got to the yard before I did this morning, so the banging started before I even walked onto the yard!

 

[Auslander]

This. You could be describing my mare OP it's exactly what she does, you move one target and she simply finds another. The only thing that helps is to muffle the noise, I used a thick yoga mat but carpet stuffed with straw is super effective. Had mine 10 years and nothing has ever stopped her. In that time she's had many helpful liveries and YO try to fix her by feeding her polo's, shrieking, launching skippy tools at her, breaking a broom on her, throwing buckets of water over her and training yard dog to bite her muzzle when she put head over door.......all of which made it worse through stress. She is out as much as possible now and literally does a couple of boots as I cross yard with feed bucket.

I like the sound of carpet stuffed with straw - she might struggle to destroy that!
I would give up looking after peoples horses for them before I resorted to that sort of violence. I'm perfectly happy to give a horse a smack for biting/barging/other things that put me in danger, but I'll be damned if I lose my temper with a horse who has a deep seated learned behaviour that I can't figure out a fix for

 

[Auslander]

She has hay btw - I give her two haynets at night - and she always has half a net left, so she isn't starving!

 

[babymare]

I think the equikick is the way forward not just for your sanity but the horses feet. Our dog was dreadful at barking at anyone walking up neighbours back garden, if thier dog barked etc. I got a water spray bottle and after a couple of squirts I now only need to say " i will spray you" and she knows and thinks twice. Then she gets praise . 100% improvement. Can you do any research on the harm kicking can do to show the owner?

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

A grille is one of the options, although she still bangs with the top door closed - she is VERY determined!
It's very frustrating, as she seemed to have cottoned on that nothing good happened til she stopped, and was great for a few days, but she has now redoubled her banging efforts!

So I know a lot more about babies than horses (!) but with stubborn babies/toddlers the standard pattern is that you make some slow progress and then there's ALWAYS a period where the behaviour reverts back to even worse than it was. But if you stay consistent then it does improve again, and usually in a more permanent way.

But I'm talking about keeping toddlers in their own bed, or stopping them biting etc. I've got absolutely no idea if it's remotely similar for horses!

 

[Polos Mum]

Similar to carpet is a couple of cheap spiky door mats nailed to the door. They won't hurt her but they certainly won't be comfortable to bang against, it muffles the noise as well
You can pick them up easiliy and usually rubber backed so easy to nail up

 

[dorsetladette]

I do! She goes out at 7am - I've tried taking her out to the field before she gets fed, so she doesn't associate her stable with being fed, but it makes no difference to the infernal banging, which starts as soon as she knows I'm in the area! The dog got to the yard before I did this morning, so the banging started before I even walked onto the yard!

Sorry - I really feel your pain. My mums old cob stallion did the same, but with his knee and then his hocks. He wore boots on both as his knees would swell and his hocks were capped from it.

Can you put something on the door that's prickly or rustley that she won't want to touch or bang against.

A few rows of that hedgehog cutter guard stuff maybe??

 

[ihatework]

I would attempt to talk the owner into that water spray device, and I’d pitch it that this banging is significantly increasing the horses chance of deep seated bruising or orthopaedic damage - do by not addressing it by a bit of water that won’t hurt the horse she risks laming it instead

 

[rabatsa]

A horse I knew had internal rails round his stable, perhaps one on the front would keep the pony back from the door. It would not prevent kicking but would reduce the contact a bit.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Mine did this he gave himself concussion in the hoof and needed vet treatment.

I was worried about a quitkick because he is not brave with water and I didn't want him charging through his door through fear. I used a quitkick for a few days only and it stopped him. I also used a water pistol (and a lot of patience).

I also tried walking to his stable with his dinner. If he kicked the door, I stopped. If he stopped kicking I walked forward. If he didn't stop banging I took a step backwards. He's a clever horse but I was going backwards so much I was back in the feed room.

No problems in his new stable, he's much more relaxed about feed time...not sure what caused the change other than the new yard seems to make him more relaxed overall.

My advice, pressure for the quitkick, it can be a short sharp fix.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

Our little 12hh does this like an absolute demon and is the same - will kick the door frame if the chain is across. We put a rubber stable mat on the door and make sure the door is shut so she can only kick that. We were going to try putting a brush across the bottom or some sticky outy stuff on it but the mat seems to be ok at the moment.

 

[CouldItBe]

Water pistol

 

[wren123]

I'm afraid it's insist on the quitkick, stress to the owner how it could harm the horse long term.

 

[doodle]

Robins buddy gets his 2 water trugs directly in front in the door. This stops it completely. He can’t get close enough to kick and if he tries he gets wet. He has only knocked buckets over once or twice.

 

[VRIN]

QUitkick is amazing and works really quickly - mine was driving me mad and I couldn't get out to him early enough before the banging started. I was very sceptical about the quit kick but was at my wits end. I installed the quit kick the behaviour stopped immediately - TBH if anyone had told me this I would have thought they were exaggerating. The behaviour has never returned (this was a couple of years ago when I got the quit kick) even though the quit kick is not switched on. It only sprays a fine jet of water - more of a surprise than anything/ Why don't you get one and have the owner stand in the stable and activate it - she will get a bit wet but will realise its not very dramatic.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Have you got a deep enough stable so you can fix a line of tape at least 3ft back? That was my last resort with one..... apart from using hobbles.... yes, I've done that too, but not for many years!

 

[Auslander]

I would attempt to talk the owner into that water spray device, and I’d pitch it that this banging is significantly increasing the horses chance of deep seated bruising or orthopaedic damage - do by not addressing it by a bit of water that won’t hurt the horse she risks laming it instead

That's exactly how I'm planning to broach the subject! I had a long hard think while I was mucking out, and I'm just not prepared to budge on this one. It's the fact that it's affecting another horse, who has blossomed into a happy, settled creature since he moved here that is bugging me the most. I have a waiting list, so I can easily fill the stable if he decides he doesn't want the problem sorted!

 

[Auslander]

Robins buddy gets his 2 water trugs directly in front in the door. This stops it completely. He can’t get close enough to kick and if he tries he gets wet. He has only knocked buckets over once or twice.

I might give that a go tonight!

 

[Auslander]

Have you got a deep enough stable so you can fix a line of tape at least 3ft back? That was my last resort with one..... apart from using hobbles.... yes, I've done that too, but not for many years!

Good idea, but owner definitely won't be happy about that!