Ex racehorse cow kicking

[paradisewalk]

Hi I've recently bought an ex racehorse who seems to cow kick a lot. She still needs to learn to stand when I mount and on hacks but when I make her stand to mount or tack her up she cow kicks which gets annoying, she also does it when I make her wait whilst riding. I've guessed it's due to being impatient and its certianly not due to ill fitted tack or teeth as they are both checked. I'm not sure how to deal with trying to make her stop as I've never had a horse to do this before. :/

 

[JillA]

I'd be checking for gastric ulcers - a high percentage of horses in racing are known to suffer from them, and if that is the case and you can treat them and adjust her diet you may find you have a much much nicer horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr05hMmLCY4

 

[paradisewalk]

Thanks for the link, I checked her like it told me too and there was no reaction from her. She only really cow kicks when she's being impatient I'm just not sure how to get her out of it.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Mine cow kicked quite violently at first. Being tacked up in the stable he'd put dents in the walls!
As he's chilled and become a riding horse not a racehorse he just stopped totally, he hasn't cow kicked now in years.

 

[Tammytoo]

My first though was ulcers - stats say that up to 90% of racehorses suffer from them. As a precaution I would change his diet to a fibre only one.

As an ex racer he has probably never been taught to stand still whilst being mounted, the lads are generally legged up the minute the horse comes out and ridden away. They don't stand around whilst being excercised, so the concept is alien to them. You will have to teach him to stand still from scratch.

I discovered with mine that she stood still if I didn't take up the reins. I simply stood her next to the mounting block, got on and then picked up the reins.

 

[TommisMum]

My youngster cowkicks when she is irritated by my carrying a schooling whip or an activity near her hind legs. I've been desensitising her by riding with boots on ... and popping travel boots on in the stable for about 10 mins twice a week.
That's not quite the same as your situation but might help.
and as per most of my posts ground work .... halt and make her wait .... repetition til bored!!

And be careful that you don't get bored first!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Mine cow kicked when I first got him. He hadn't had his feet touched in a year, the farrier reckoned, he had on extremely thin worn shoes, hanging on by a nail or two.

It took bribes, growling and frequent attempts to get his feet up without kicking, plus a more confident person than me who went straight at him and took no nonsense (but was never nasty). I'm not dismissing the ulcer idea, but at the time, I didn't know about the link so didn't consider it.

He also used to be a swine to mount: it took practise galore and even now he can be a bit iffy so I had a block made to measure and I can walk round on top of it if he moves.

 

[Enfys]

Sometimes we overthink things. In no way am I suggesting that you discount a physical reason but the horse may just be showing impatience, and bad manners.
Personally if o
ne of mine did that it would get a good slap. Being an ex-racehorse doesn't make a horse any different from being a polo pony, or any other animal that has changed profession, bad manners are bad manners - period. It isn't an excuse and I fail to get my head around why ex-racers are treated like a superior species. They aren't. I have worked with dozens of them, they are still just tbs.

 

[HerosRomeoDeputy]

Oh my goodness that sounds like my ex racer!! He usually only does this when he's being impatient i.e being rugged up first thing in a morning, being made to stand still for too longer period or if his mate leaves the next door stable he gets edgy and aggitated. He has perfect manners otherwise and will lift his feet for me when relaxed but has a mind of his own at times!There's no ears back or look of intent, in fact when I growled at him he looked round baffled (I sometimes think his brain isnt connected to the rest of his body ) I will say they do improve with time, i've stopped worrying he's just a highly strung sensitive soul of a thoroughbred this evening we had a cow kick episode (because it was wet and the trees were making a noise in the wind so he was upset when he came in) I picked his front feet out, went to do the back and he basically said...NO I dont want to and kicked out...so.....I went back to the front feet and picked them up simultaneously (praising him when he was good) when he got fed up and offered them willingly I went to the back ones and picked them out...I repeated all four in the usual routine 3 times until it was seemless, good boy lots of pats! (and in my head i'm thinking..you pig headed little sod!) Don't rise to it just smile to yourself and try to make it easy for him to do right, this usually does the trick way better than getting into a battle if he's already wound up (I am not saying don't give him boundaries at all or not to correct him, just stay safe and pick your battles

 

[madmav]

Just out of interest, why do so many racers suffer from ulcers?

 

[moonlightride12]

Just out of interest, why do so many racers suffer from ulcers?

No one really knows definitively, although quite a few studies have been done, but it could be related to stress. In people, "stress" is known to make gastric ulcers worse, although it doesn't necessarily cause them. Obviously, it's pretty difficult to categorically define "stress" in a horse, but many people would agree that a racing career is stressful. Also, transport is stressful and many racehorses will travel a lot.

Diet is probably the main factor though. In horses there is a continuous secretion of acid into the stomach because they are naturally trickle feeders. Feeding more concentrates (i.e. reducing time spent feeding)/less forage/denying horses access to feed means that the acid isn't constantly been used so levels can build up and cause ulcers. There's still a lot of research being done, but these are just a few risk factors.