Horse kicked me!!!

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madeperfectly007

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This morning was a bad morning 2 horse escaped from the paddock into the front garden ( has nice long grass) Both are mine. I yelled at them and told them get back into their field as attempts to catch them failed. I approached my 16hh
3 yr old Appaloosa from behind (stupid i know) he proceeded to give a buck and kicked out catching me on my ribs and causing me to fall backwards. Ive had him for 6 months not done too much with him as I'm allowing him to mature. But he has never shown this type of behaviour before in or out of his stable. Can anyone shed some light? My older pony has never put a foot wrong so I'm unsure how to handle situations like this. When I got up I shouted louder and flung the lead rope at him, he then ran back through the gate into the field.
Thanks
 
Sorry you got hurt but the horses were clearly wound up and going up to a youngster from behind is probably not a good idea as you have now found out. Next time the best thing to do is to get a bucket of feed, stand inside the field and wait for the horses to come to you. Shouting is only likely to make the horses more wound up and I would only do it if I was standing between a horse and where I did not want it to go, e.g. a road.
 
Shed some light? Why? It's perfectly normal behaviour for a horse to kick, especially in an exciting new situation. You sound surprised, I wouldn't be.
 
I think all of your answers are in your post tbh, youngster that you've not done much with and you are yelling and throwing ropes around-he's doing to you what he'd do to another horse because he's not been taught any different. Plus-winter manners = an incident like this.
 
Firstly, shouting and throwing things rarely achieve anything. It sounds like the youngster kicked out in high spirits and wasn't intentionally aimed at you. Maybe some regular handling to instil some manners?
 
Perhaps because youve not done anything with it and that you were screaming and that you were behind it is probably why you got kicked. I wouldnt approach a youngster from behind especially one thats not been handled very much,
 
I only flung the rope after he kicked me not before.

I was shouting as I was trying to encourage them to go the opposite way into the field.

I will try the feed idea if it happens in future however I am making changes to try my upmost to prevent it reoccurring.

Do you think it was a once off because of the situation and me being a silly individual.
 
Cortez said:
Shed some light? Why? It's perfectly normal behaviour for a horse to kick, especially in an exciting new situation. You sound surprised, I wouldn't be.
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Agree, nothing unusual about a young horse bucking and kicking around in an exciting situation....... or even a boring stituation for that matter. Dont go behind it next time.
 
Shouting is not an encouragement.

You just learnt a valuable lesson. Horses will be horses. I very much doubt the kick was actually aimed at hurting you, sounds more like happy horses getting a bit of nice grass and in high spirits, youngster just telling you to get lost. Shouting at a horse as you walk up behind it is asking for something to go wrong.

Hope your ribs are ok. Maybe next time, just calm down a bit and go an grab a bucket of feed to encourage them back to the other paddock?
 
_GG_ said:
Shouting is not an encouragement.

You just learnt a valuable lesson. Horses will be horses. I very much doubt the kick was actually aimed at hurting you, sounds more like happy horses getting a bit of nice grass and in high spirits, youngster just telling you to get lost. Shouting at a horse as you walk up behind it is asking for something to go wrong.

Hope your ribs are ok. Maybe next time, just calm down a bit and go an grab a bucket of feed to encourage them back to the other paddock?
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Very good reply GG.

Walking behind any horse when wound up is an accident waiting to happen. I'm sorry OP but your horses were only being horse's and you have learnt a lesson.

Hope your ribs are ok and if they cause to much discomfort then please get them checked out as cracked ribs hurt
 
Honestly, I wouldn't read too much into it. I did nearly the same thing years ago with a youngster of ours, thought he'd seen me as I walked up behind him, put my hand on his bum and got double barreled in the chest as I took him by surprise. Completely my fault - it's us that need to learn and not do it again, I don't think the horse did anything wrong. Just chalk it down to experience.

PS: I do hope you're feeling OK... I cracked my sternum when I had my numpty moment, hurt like hell!
 
madeperfectly007 said:
Do you think it was a once off because of the situation and me being a silly individual.
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I would say that was a fair assessment!
Most of us will find ourselves in that situation at one time or another.

I managed to get kicked this weekend, whilst clipping a phobic horse under sedation. My own fault, mental note to stay alert and out if the firing zone next time.
 
That to you that have posted a decent reply!

For the rest of you that have posted to have a go at me please don't!!

I wanted some advice and constructive criticism, I know I should of handled it better but making a fool of me doesn't help
I'm am not a insane lady who has conversations with her horses who screams at them and abuses them with lead ropes.

I am a not highly experienced but have owned my horse for 7 years. I was asking as I wanted to be certain that it was my fault.
Like I said my other pony is a dream and dose actually understand my voice commands and has never bit or tried to kick. So i think I was being really dumb this m
 
* this morning with my new boy I keep forgetting that he is completely different and still a baby.

I'm a little tender but rather lucky I think.
Thank to all that asked!
 
We have horses sometimes escaping where they should not. Depends on the set up of the land, if it is a clear obvious safe escape route and the garden safe enough to drive them forward maybe a lunge whip would have been better and "come on boys back you go"
or a lunge line tied onto something solid and you holding other end and corral them back in.

option 3 and my first port of call is get some nuts in a bucket and rattle them letting them have a taster then try lure them back to the field or get headcollar on one and rattling bucket hope other follows.
 
Hopefully you've just learnt a valuable lesson.

Almost any horse will kick if you put too much pressure on a horse and give it nowhere to go. 'Pressure' doesn't have to be physical, it can be mental too, in this case flapping and shouting. With experience you learn to read the situation amd when to back off before the horse explodes.

If you're going to violently drive a horse away then a) they need an inviting space to move into and b) be aware that they're unlikely to like it and put up a token protest with their back feet (and you therefore need to be safely positioned)

My 4yr old is well handled and never ever kicked but I wouldn't put it past him to lift his heels if I did as you did. In fact, my elderly saint of a cob would probably do the same.
 
I too was kicked by a youngster. Don't think it was meant... the field was very muddy and he wasn't as far away as he thought when he did his usual enormous buck. But, yes I did yell at him as I hit the deck on my already dodgy shoulder ... and he was very sorry and followed me around like a puppy afterwards. But IMHO if an animal does something dangerous I let them know loudly, forcefully and most importantly - Instantly so they understand what they have done is not acceptable!
 
Hope you are ok OP. I think all of us make an error of judgement occasionally, I know I do and I've had horses/ponies for 35 years. My 16 year old son often looks after my lot when he is home from school. It has been great for teaching him responsibility and also how to deal with things when they don't go to plan. In the early days I would get a stressed phone call from the field and by the way he was talking I would assume all three had broken their legs or got out onto the road. Usually one of the ponies had ducked under the fence while leading the other through and gone into the long grass or something similar. I have managed to teach him to "keep calm, deal with the situation, and panic once it's all over". Hope that helps and you are not too sore tomorrow. x
 
Being somewhere they damn well know they shouldn't be is very exciting, next time get the headcollars on and lead them back, that normally restores calm in my lot if they obscond, trying to shoo them back in the field would get me squished!
 
Hope you're ok. They can be b**gers. I am sure it was just excitement and misjudgement on your part. We have all done similar. One of the oldies was stood against the wall the other day and I took her boots off from the front thinking "it's only Flobs"cue her walking forwarding kneeing me in the face and nearly knocking me out. Totally my own fault it is so easy to take them for granted!
 
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