God Damn Door Kicker is keeping me awake!! How do I stop it?

[jayvee]

Effing 2am this morning, I could hear murphy kicking the bloody door again from my bedroom!!! I live across from the yard. I couldn't sleep cos forever listening for when hes gonna do it again, was gonna get up and go out, but had second thoughts and tried to ignore it!!
He does this before feed times often starting at 7am (I get out at 7.45am and refuse to go earlier), or when seeking attention. It's driving me nuts!! And will eventually trash the door! I shout at him and run at him when in yard and he knows its wrong, have even ignored it but makes no difference.
I have hidden beside the stable and lunged at him with a crop at the precise moment of him doing it! Poohs his pants and does stop for a while. but I can't stand there all night in the hope it will stop him all together! (my theory= want attention? that behaviour gets wrong attention!). Its not fair on the other horses who have to put up with noise either.
Dont want ot buy any fancy gadgets and can't hammer on a pillow or things as not my stable to do so. Have only attatched a rubber floor mat as thats reasonably discrete.
He's not a highly strung horse by far, and only comes in at night with everyone else so boredom cant be that bad and he gets a 3rd tea at 9pm.
Please help , Its just not on this childish behaviour!! And he is childish by nature, which I think stems from being taken off dam at 4mths old and hand reared from there! (this was all before we owned him btw, he's 7yo now and does it with front feet).

 

[Enfys]

I'd be going mad too

. Does he HAVE to be in? I'm sure you've gone down the stable toys, ad-lib hay route already. Try putting a rail up over the door so that he can't get his head over comfortably to bang? Or putting up a full grid? Not something I'm that keen on but if it works ........

 

[Law]

We've one on our yard that does this. There was a post like this in stable yard recently and the things suggested were, carpet the door to dampen the noise. Rubber mat the door, same thing. Or put a small frame of 2by2 wood on the door and then carpet/mat the frame. Theory is that if the horse is striking a hollow piece of carpet they should realise it's not effective and give up.
I know exactly how frustrating it is (apart from i'm not in bed when it happens, i'm trying to turn my horse out)
Good luck

 

[xxcharlottexx]

if you cant put anything on the bottom of the door id second a full grid so he cant get his head over the door and cant kick the door unless he intentionly kicks forwards

you can just put in on overnight so its not keeping you awake and then take it off in the morning so he can see over his door again

after a while you can try taking it off all together and see if it has stopped his habbit

 

[jayvee]

Has to come in cos the others have to come in and he'd be far worse and stressy out alone.
The grids sound a good idea but mean at the same time (but would try for temporary period, can you get ones that hook over/on the door? I can't start hammering, bolting fixtures as not my stables.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

We had one on our yard and the owner bought this thing that attaches to the bottom of the stable door, and everytime it kicks the door a fountain of water squirts up - worked wonders i highly recomend it as the horse doesnt associate the negative with you but with kicking the door

 

[Happytohack]

Tilly is a door kicker (typical gypsy cob - thinks breakfast should be at 4.00 a.m.). To stop her, I put a bucket of water (no handles) just inside her door so that every time she goes to kick the door, she kicks the bucket of water and splashes herself. The best buckets are those slightly bendy skips as they splash well! This stopped her kicking straight away. However, she is pretty clued up and if I don't put the bucket of water in, within a couple of nights she is back to door kicking. This really is worth a go - your horse won't associate the water with you, and you can put as many buckets in front of his door as need be. Good luck - let us know if it works!

 

[jayvee]

Ha , hes 1/2 gypsy cob! But dont you get a soaking wet stable though too??

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

I will try and find you the link to the think i mentioned above

 

[Happytohack]

[ QUOTE ]
Ha , hes 1/2 gypsy cob! But dont you get a soaking wet stable though too??

[/ QUOTE ]

No - Tilly is on rubber matting and shavings/chopped straw mix. She only kicked the bucket a couple of times and splashed herself and then stopped trying to kick the door - most of the time she just drinks out of the bucket now! Gypsy cobs are so clever, that they work it all out!

 

[TinselRider]

one of the horses on my yard used to do this the owners stopped her by placing a sheet of tin on the door...........she kicked it once and never did it again.

My preffered method is padding the door with foam then puttin carpet on the top.

 

[lizzie_liz]

my mare is a door kicker but we managed to move her to a different stable on the yard as she was right next to the hay! so everytime she banged she was given hay or attention! she now looks out onto a wall and is almost hidden from people so she gets no attention and can't see whats going on!!

but someone at our yard has invested in this
http://www.robinsons-uk.com/products/Productdetail.asp?ProductCode=42703
and it has worked a dream as the horse has nothing to bang on so u get piece and quiet, but put some rubber matting down incase he decides to paw the ground!

 

[Happytohack]

There have been accidents with stall guards when horses have been left unattended.

 

[izzyxxx]

i wouldn't say leave your horse with a stall guard over night,and being 1/2 gypsy cob you can't trust the little devils my mare camando crawls under electric fencing so god knows what she would do with a stall guard lol i would say carpet is the best thing as suggested above good luck!! and i hope you can get some sleep oh and about not being able to attach things to the stable (if you decide to go for the grid which i think is also a good idea)because its not yours just ask the owner and say its better to attach that then the horse putting a hole through the door or damaging it in a nice way ofcourse i am sure they wouldn't mind

 

[jayvee]

Thanks guys, I will try the water first as I can do that tonight and continue that no prob and wont cost anything. failing that will look into the top door guard, but i think he will still be able to kick as throws his leg forwards. He is on rubber mat floor too.
I didn't realise gypsy cobs are clever by nature, have to say, Murphy is very switched on and very human child like too in his moods, thoughts and tantrums (well i think so).
The stall guard I think he will just plough through it, I would be nervous to use that. His other half is Clydesdale and comes with the feet, hence the banging is extra loud lol.

 

[jemima]

You could try a strip of coconut door mat - or those plasticky tufted doormats - nailed on the inside of the door where he bangs. It feels horrid on their knees but won't do any damage.

 

[lizzie_liz]

yeah saying that a cob will break the stall guard down, as this horse rubbed its bum on it and it broke!!
they also used electric fencing! but then that could end up electrifying the whole stable block!!

 

[jayvee]

[ QUOTE ]
You could try a strip of coconut door mat - or those plasticky tufted doormats - nailed on the inside of the door where he bangs. It feels horrid on their knees but won't do any damage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats given me an idea.... To use a long headed broom head running along bottomish half of door! But question is how to fix to door. That would be well irritating and would stick out enough hopefully to stop, as he kicks with toe and not knee, but may still get an irritating spike from that on the pastern or somewhere.

 

[Sooty]

What sort of bed is he on? If he's on shavings he may be banging because he has run out of hay and wants to chew. Give him some straw to munch on, or more hay at night if you aren't watching his weight. We tried the coconut mats and it only muffles the sound, doesn't stop the kicking.

 

[jayvee]

He has plenty of hay, infact he's a sod for not eating enough and have issues on that which I have posted in the past!!
The rubber matt on the door hardly deadens the sound either. Must only take some shock out of the door and thats it.

 

[gailt]

I tried the water with my lad only to find a soaked stable where hed jumped in it, it has just taught him to kick higher...lol..but good luck

 

[brighteyes]

We put water-filled 25 litre plastic containers with no lids on just inside the door of a 'kicker'. It stopped her. However, waterbuckets didn't deter a crafty gelding which simply drank the water or tipped the buckets over. We put a strand of electric fencing up in front of the door and he learned to stand back to kick. I would construct a quarter door with a rubber flap hanging down - the top part too deep to crawl under but higher than his knees. When it was kicked it would be very unrewarding and not very pleasant.
Real pains in the aspect, door kickers

 

[Cobnut1]

my horse used to kick the door, every night for 3years...ended up with a RSI, now he's out 24/7. no problems since.

Can Murphy be turned out? as well as the constant noise that's annoying you at night, it won't be doing his feet/legs any good... ot can he have a large peice of carpet against the door, but with a space between the carpet abd door if you see what i mean, so he's kicking the carpet, but not connecting with anything... Another sloution might be to change his box, to one that gives him more excitement

 

[Cobnut1]

Hi Gail!!!! \o/

 

[teapot]

Shouting at him, and running across the yard is giving him the attention he wants. And the more you shout, the more he'll be going wahey someone's talking to me.

We had a stamper/pawer on the yard once and we all had to be very brave and not shout. Soon got bored.

Have heard that a well aimed hose works well

 

[jayvee]

Yeh I done the shouting out of shear frustration. And just as much ignoring too with no improvement. Like the hose idea but its being armed right at the moment, which is very difficult.
Cobnut1.. He is fully clipped and although could llive out he would be the only one out there at night and that will stress him out! He loves coming in etc.
I would give him a snack ball but then everyone else would have to have one and they dont need them. I'd feel cruel giving to one and not the others cos they can hear it rattling around and know what it is. Are there other silent toys available?? He's not that intrested in licks.
didn't Richard Maxwell come up with a bracelet that stopped them? anyone know about that?

 

[teapot]

Regarding hose - why not a garden sprinkler set in just one position - that might work

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

mine used to be a door banger, so when we used to hay used to put some on the floor and then used a large haynet with another haynet inside stuffed full. gave him something to do and made him eat slower, could also not hay on floor and use 2 large doubled haynets. worked a treat

 

[Baggybreeches]

I might get shot for this, but if we have door kickers we tie them up. They soon get the message. It can sometimes take a few days but it makes life nicer for everyone. Shouting throwing and smacking won't work as the horse is recieving attention for the undesirable behaviour.

 

[wonkey_donkey]

We do the hose thing - works a treat !!