How to stop a door banger that's doing my head in !!!

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thatsmygirl

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It's constant from the min I walk into the yard.
If I don't listen to him it just carries on but if I tell him to shut up he looks up in the air and looks around as if to say " what me"
I'm at my witts end with it he's doing my head in and he copied it from a liverys horse and now my pony who iv had 7 yrs done it tonight as well. I feel in a while we are gona have a stable yard off door bangers.
 
Shouting at him won't help as you're praising bad behaviour by reacting to it. Of course he'll stop once he gets attention from you. You unfortunately have to ignore him and put something on the inside of the stable door to muffle it.

I hear hoses work too.
 
Tyre on the door - or rubber matting - no noise, no satisfaction therefore stops... or at least is quieter so doesn't annoy you quite so much... or get a chain and leave the door open -- this was the only solution that worked with my old cob that banged for Wales...
 
I SO know what you mean, I have a livery mare who does this and I so want to kill it!!
there was a m&m producer featured in H&H a couple of months ago, and she said that any attention seekers were tied up at the back of the stable (naughty step), can't remember what else she said but it really made sense.
Water pistol?
Leg amputation?
 
Put a covered chain across the doorway then he won't have anything to bang against. I have to admit that one of mine manages to swing his leg round and bang the open door!!!
 
With Daisy I used to put her water buckets in front of the door and that stopped her. Tried it with Lil and she just kicked them out of the way and soaked her bed before resuming banging.

The key really is to make sure that you and everyone else on the yard ignores them. Its attention seeking behaviour so if they get a response, even if you're telling them off its better than not all to them.
 
Yep chop legs off, good plan I like.
Tried rubber matting and carpet but the carpet got ripped off and chucked at us and rubber matting has made much difference, seems to bang harder.
It's not like he's stabled long, out most off the time.
Ha ha my partner just had a idea, put a dog electric collar thing on him and zP him everytime he bangs. Great idea but thing I might have a frazzled horse at the end off it with smoke coming out his ears. Ha ha
 
We put those small carpet samples on the doors, really quietens them down and some do stop from not hearing the noise. I cant see hitting the door with a whip for 20 mins working very well....
 
My old shire used to do this first thing in the morning, I mean from 5am ! He could see the kitchen window from his box so if you came down to the toilet in the early hours it had to stay dark and you had to duck below the level of the sink! (I kid you not!) I tried all the shouting and arm waving, even squirting him with a hose but he just looked as if to say,'good now you're here I'll have my breakfast and go out thanks'! We put a length of 2x2 on the inside of the door and attached a free hanging length of rubber matting to it. Carpet would probably work but he was a big lad. That way when he kicked it, it just flapped and he didn't get the satisfying noise and I could ignore the flapping!
Admitted we ended up with most of his box done the same way but he did finally take the hint! Rip Basil loved lots, missed greatly!
 
This is probably going to sound a bit cruel but it does work.. Screw broom heads to the inside of the door. When the horse goes to bang it gets the stiff bristles instead. Mine only did it once then learned. Carpet, matting etc didn't stop her and I was ready to try anything to stop the 5am wake up call! Another one is to run electric tape around the door but mine soon realised there was no electricity!
 
Take the door off and replace it with rails, or, is it possible to put a breast bar infront of the door so he can't reach it, or put a rail up above the door so he can't get his head over? He can't bang the door if he can't get close to it - well, unless he turns around and wellies it with his back end.

I saw a door the other day that had a rail (hinged and with a proper bolt on it) with a big bit of rubber hanging down (a bit like those awful trailer partitions - sorry, I loathe those things)so that it still looked solid. The horse still banged away for all his worth but it didn't irritate anyone anymore.;)
Sorry, I didn't see, Fallen Angel already mentioned that.
 
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teapot said:
Shouting at him won't help as you're praising bad behaviour by reacting to it. Of course he'll stop once he gets attention from you. You unfortunately have to ignore him and put something on the inside of the stable door to muffle it.
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Yes, the horse must find either the banging itself or people's reactions to it rewarding otherwise what is there to motivate it? Even though we think shouting is an appropriate response that ought to get the desired result, it's obviously not punishment as far as the horse is concerned. If it were, the horse would stop!

Trouble is... it is extremely difficult to completely ignore what is undeniably a highly irritating behaviour - and much easier to react, thereby giving the horse the attention that he desires. If you're going to punish the behaviour, you have to do it properly - instantly (not just within 4 seconds), consistently (every single time), and preferably without going overboard and frightening the poor beast witless (you don't want injuries). But it is hard to do properly unless you're prepared to be on alert outside the stable with a water pistol or whatever for hours on end.

So maybe ignoring really is the easier option, combined with sound-deadening measures.
 
Mennonite remedy I was told of, they don't take any messing about.

Make a 'bracelet' of large metal beads (or the like) and tie it around fetlocks and above knees. Unless a horse is stupid in the extreme it quickly figures out that too much movement isn't comfortable.
 
My horse is a bugger for this. I had to act when I found other liveries were feeding her mints to ‘stop it’ – doh !!! Thick rubber matting lining the door solved mine. YM has had success with electric tape but didn’t need to progress to that.
 
I went to a yard once where a horse had a strip of live electric fencing tape across the front of its stable, apparently it banged the door so much it injured itself!

I've also seen someone tie prickly gorse to a stable door which should have worked in theory but the horse in question still banged the door!
 
Monsters said:
Yep chop legs off, good plan I like.

Ha ha my partner just had a idea, put a dog electric collar thing on him and zP him everytime he bangs. Great idea but thing I might have a frazzled horse at the end off it with smoke coming out his ears. Ha ha
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I have one of these and have been sooooo tempted. The on on my yard even waves its leg in the air in the field if it thinks it should be coming in.
 
My old horse done this.. We either tied him up STRAIGHT after he kicked the door, or we put up an electric bungee from one wall to the over over the front of the gate so he cant get close enough to kick at it. Just get an old car battery or something to electricfy it and it should do the trick as he'll be too scared to go near it :)
 
Watch it with the broom heads, bristles could snap off and get stuck under the skin causing abscesses, they are also difficult to attach to a door securely enough. Plastic doormats however, or the stuff they use for spikey lorry mudflaps is easy to attach, deadens the noise, cushions the horses leg but is uncomfortable for the horse.
 
I had a livery who had a horse that did it all the time, What i found worse was her keep shouting at it and feeding it hay every time it kicked. So we all decided to ignore it , fed him last and put up carpet tiles and all had water pistols it did make him stop eventually.
 
If he doesn't stop after the first 'NO!', then always have a water spray container (you know, like for plants, etc.) and just spray with water. It soon stops.

Just make sure you don't say anything else. No talkingshouting - that just works as praise.
 
I'd look at the routine first- does he get hayed everytime someone arrives at the yard? is he stabled a lot and would benefit from more turn out?/hay?-has he been made to wiat for feeds? if it's not routine related then I'd either use a water spray at exactly the right time when he does the door kicking (there is also a product on the market that does something similar but can't remember what it's called!), I'd also fix something like carpet to the inside of the door as well.

Also I really don't like them personally but may be useful- for a while, until he get better you could try using a weaver grid with the infill in, that way it's more difficult to be able to kick the door- but I wouldn't use it for ever more, only until he learns he must'nt do the kicking!- consistency is the key I think!

Nothing worse than a door kicker- hope you resolve it!......
 
Most of the replies so far are aimed at stopping the action through inflicting pain/fear, etc! So the horse is more scared of what will happen than its desire to bang the door. Not great training really or very empathetic with the horse. How about working out WHY the horse is banging the door and working on that instead??? Maybe the horses head is being done in so thats why hes taken to banging the door???

:rolleyes:
 
Agree. Am surprised no one has suggested changing the horse's management such that it doesn't feel bored/frustrated/hungry/whatever is causing it to bang.

Horse are designed to live out on plains and graze most of the day not stand around in tiny boxes bored out of their minds waiting for the next high-energy feed.

Not saying this is how you keep your horse OP, but many people do! Would suggest you have more of a management problem than a banging problem though...
 
With horses on our yard that kick the door, we put a large piece of carpet securely attached onto the door filled behind with straw, so sticks out a bit like a buffer. It has worked a treat on the ones who kick.

No idea why, but the straw filled system with carpet overlay works for us :)
 
Agree with teddyt and Tickles - you might want to first examine why the horse is kicking the door.
We've got two kickers on our yard - one does it out of sheer boredom, the other is very dominant and is demanding attention.
Unfortunately the bored one's owners can't get off their bored backsides to do anything with the horse so it still kicks, but the dominant one is heaps better after owner, trainer and everyone else involved in its care and routine adopted a more dominant manner when dealing with him. It has only taken a few weeks, but he's been put right down the pecking order, is out with a more dominant gelding too, and he hardly kicks at all. He's also getting lots more turnout and heaps more work, I should add...
 
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