Kicking out at wall when feeding or just out of fustration ?? ...

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

I have always noticed my 3 year old madam kicking out at the wall when shes feeding ...(the shadow comes to get her

) .

I have noticed it more now in that she does it even when shes just standing in the stable, At the minute shes on box rest due to blood clot/ haematoma and that I am sure is the result of her kicking the wall , although not entirely sure if thats how she injured herself , that part is still a mystery .

Anyhoos ....
Have looked on ebay and found rubber matting (EVA) for the walls .

How could I possibly stop her from kicking out ?
Trying to prevent at the minute with rubber matting .

I am hoping its just her getting fustrated with being stabled

 

[janet68]

My 5yr old always kicks back when feeding(only bucket feeds though not haylage) he has done this from being a foal i just think it the way he is and i know never to go in stable while he is eating or he will knocked off my feet. Dont know why he started doing it and no idea how to stop it.He also does it sometimes when just stood there

 

[smiffyimp]

I know this one well! My 30yo has cost me a fortune in stable repairs, kicked his own leg badly 4 times and ended up at Rossdales the day before my wedding with a cracked cannon bone - 3 places

Gladly he's fine, never went lame and just has a few scares to prove it -
anywayz, I came to the conclusion that he got stressed, if a horse was in yard near his door at feeding time, off he went. He was also in an indoor block with stables facing him - off he went. As soon as we 'caged him in' and he used the back window he was happy again.
Now on private yard, with no traffic, full grills at door and (touching lots of wood!) nothing at all. He also used to get a very colicy gut, again since he's all quiet, nothing (touching tonnes of wood, he's 30 - colic not allowed

)
I put up wall mats which save the walls! But also bandaged back legs. I hear the good ole sausage boot works, as soon as they lift a leg to kick, the boot rises up the leg and wacks down on the coronet, it hurts they stop kicking - never tried though

 

[Doris68]

Interesting - my home bred youngster started to do this age one year. He then included biting himself whilst eating and kicking out violently at mythical things by the wall. It was very disturbing to watch as he would run backwards and lash out. The self-harming bit was also quite shocking.

He had always been well looked after and never, ever wanted for hay or short feed. I reckon it must have been in the genes, although his dam is a complete sweetheart and very calm and nice! The sire perhaps...??

 

[hadfos]

It seems to be a common problem,some horses develop different habits,but i personally believe they get frustrated with themselves because they cant eat what they have in the bucket fast enough

Re the sausage boot??Fail to see how that would work when they are only made of rubber?

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

Doris68 ..... Sounds very like missy .

I have had her since she was 6 months old and again like your lad , shes never wanted for hay or short of feed .

And her dam is quite sweet, Will definitely have a word with her breeder to find out a little more on both parents .

Smiffyimp ....
Definitely going to put up wall mats , Unfortunately I can't bandage her legs due to blood clot/haematoma .
May give the sausage boot a go though , Although may be slightly concerned that she would try and kick that off or worse try and bite it off

Richie_is_a_loony .... Horses eh ?

who would have them

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems to be a common problem,some horses develop different habits,but i personally believe they get frustrated with themselves because they cant eat what they have in the bucket fast enough

Re the sausage boot??Fail to see how that would work when they are only made of rubber?

[/ QUOTE ]


Definitely the case with madam .... I have had to really soak her feed as she does gorb it and has had choke several times, but since soaking it shes been fine, She just makes one hell of a mess

 

[hadfos]

I know it a clat but how is she if she has tea outside and you hold her??
Good idea re rubber matting though,will reduce the impact on her legs

 

[Doris68]

Colleen - My lad was by an RID stallion (no longer with us) and his dam is (probably ID x TB - breeding unknown but came from NI in the 1990's). I still have her and she is still a sweetheart!

Would be interested to hear what you find out from the breeder? PM me if you wish.

By the way, we lined all the wall of his stable with thick rubber matting, but he still managed to bash through it and the upper part of the back stable wall.....!! Dear boy - NOT!

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

She loves to knock the bucket out of your hand if your holding it

..... and if its on the floor she loves to knock it down and trying to get bute into her also . Its a pain in the backside , But if needs must and all that . I know if I stand with her whilst she eats and she goes to make a kick out ...I basically just have to shout .... " NO !! or AHHH AHHH !! " but then as soon as my back is turned shes at it again .

The girl that stables her horse beside missy caught her doing it last night and with no hard feed in sight .

I personally think shes doing it out of fustration

.

As soon as I know shes in the all clear leg wise , shes going out into the field for a few months .

I think I may just have to feed her outside the stable even though I doubt it will make any difference as she has been now seen to do it randomly now .

 

[smiffyimp]

I only read about the sausage boot, I think its the force they snap their leg up and out that bashes the boot on the coronet, like I said, never tried, just read

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

[ QUOTE ]
Colleen - My lad was by an RID stallion (no longer with us) and his dam is (probably ID x TB - breeding unknown but came from NI in the 1990's). I still have her and she is still a sweetheart!

Would be interested to hear what you find out from the breeder? PM me if you wish.

By the way, we lined all the wall of his stable with thick rubber matting, but he still managed to bash through it and the upper part of the back stable wall.....!! Dear boy - NOT!

[/ QUOTE ]


Ouch hes quite sore on himself then

.

Missys breeder... I know very well as I still keep in touch with her, Would be interested in her telling me how missys dam was at feeding time , Her sire who is rachelle comet is still around and I know the owner so again will have a word with him .


Hopefully the yard owner won't mind me putting up rubber matting

.

 

[hadfos]

Not a bad idea the turning out thing

,she may well forget about ti with her being so young...which as you say could be part of the problem,especially if she feels a little claustrophobic!!
My lad(all his life and was given no reason to(i have had him all his life

) weaved and ran backwards and forwards at his stable door when stressed)
He is now 14,5yrs ago i moved somewhere were he lived out for 2 yrs,no stable option,he seemed happy enough

,moved him again,all his mates were stabled for the winter,i left him out till november and felt sorry for him being on his own,brought him in at night..now...he hardly weaves and the running backwards and forwards has stopped completely

Worth a shot

if you leave her out in some shitty weather she may well appreciate her stable space

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

Just have to wait until the 6 weeks are up

.

Also giving her some rescue remedy , Doesn't look to be doing any good though

We shall have just wait and see

 

[Toast]

[ QUOTE ]
My 5yr old always kicks back when feeding(only bucket feeds though not haylage) he has done this from being a foal i just think it the way he is and i know never to go in stable while he is eating or he will knocked off my feet. Dont know why he started doing it and no idea how to stop it.He also does it sometimes when just stood there

[/ QUOTE ]

My yearling is EXACTLY the same.. god help me if i go in the stable with him when hes eating a hard feed. He's always done it too, right from being 4 and a half months old. But i think it comes from his mum battering him as a proper baby for stealing her feed! its become a bit of a built in quirk. Hes fine when out of the stable, just not in it
x

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

It's not frustration or wanting to eat it as fast as possible. Horses in the wild only eat when they're on the move, ie nibble grass, move a step, nibble grass, move a step etc. The subconscious brains of those horses that have this instinct a little stronger than others will "tell" it to walk a step, eat, walk a step, eat etc. Of course if your dinner's in a bucket on the ground, you can't do this so the feet try to walk anyway. You see a similar thing when a horse is being made to stand still but wants to be off - some will paw the ground - feet need to be moving!

I suppose you could sort the wall kicking if you tied a long bit of rope to your ned's feed bucket and gently pulled it along the ground. If you do try this, WE NEED THE VIDEO!!!!!

 

[Annagain]

My friend's otherwise reallly polite, sweet gelding did this, not when he was eating but just randomly in the stable. He was completely calm when he did it and totally happy in. He seemed to do it out of boredom and just liked the "reaction" he would get from the wall (ie the noise). He was losing shoes all the time doing it. My friend put rubber around the walls and as soon as he wasn't getting that noise reaction he stopped. Now keeping his shoes on thankfully!

 

[Riverboy]

My friends gelding does this - not just at feeding time but randomly whenever he is in. It seems to be linked to there being other horses in the stables next to him - he doesnt like other horses being too close to him, in fact he's just not a big fan of other horses!

Frustrating as he doesn't really do it when she's there, but we just leave him alone and he settles eventually. He's done it for the last 2 years at various yards so I suspect its just one of his quirks...

 

[kellyeaton]

my friends horse did if and when he wanted.

 

[sportsmansB]

We have a mare who does it at feeding time and occasionally just out of general annoyance, she kicks the door to get her feed and then kicks the wall while she eats it! We have had several others from the same breeder/owner who never show any signs of this kind of behaviour, and have had a full brother and two half brothers (one on each side- dam and stallion) who never showed any signs at all
We keep her out as much as possible and just shout at her in the stable when she does it but it doesn't seem to make much difference!

 

[Annagain]

[ QUOTE ]
We keep her out as much as possible and just shout at her in the stable when she does it but it doesn't seem to make much difference!

[/ QUOTE ]

Shouting just makes it worse as they often do it just get a reaction or attention. They see any reaction, even shouting as a positive result. The best thing to do is ignore them and remove anything that will cause a reaction (even the noise they make themselves they can see as a reaction) If you put some rubber on the door so they make less noise, completely ignore them (I know it's hard!) and only feed them when they're not kicking the door they soon learn not to do it.

 

[Tickles]

One RS I helped out at found that changing the feeds to something lower sugar (Simple Systems in that case but lots other options/just hay & supplements of course) really helped with both this and impatience for food. More natural bulky foods with lower sugar content don't give the same sugar highs (think how we feel low if hungry and will eat chocs/donuts/whatever then feel perky really fast) and of course they tend to be consumed over a longer time-period. It was really obvious that even for horses stabled 24/7 the mood swings were much reduced - led to a much calmer & happier yard... might be worth a shot along with some of the other suggestions?

 

[Sooty]

I have no idea what causes this, but am so relieved to read this thread! Fraser does it, and is the first horse I have come across who does. We put it down to stress, plus he gets very grumpy and possessive around food. I sometimes growl at him when he picks his foot up, and he just puts it down again.

 

[Honeypots]

Benji will do this if you so much as look at him when he's feeding.
He is pretty much bottom of the pecking order in the field and I guess its his way of protecting his feed.
I avoid it by simply putting down his feed and walking away. I don't look at him at all until he's about half way down then he seem's ok...just pulls a face but no kicking out violently.
Do you watch her when she eats....maybe she just needs leaving alone like my boy.

 

[Honeypots]

Its a kind of insecurity.
Is your mare stabled with lots of other horses around her? Could you move her to a quieter box?
Benji will still do it of fed outside...in fact he is almost always fed outside cos he lives outside..lol...but he generally doesn't do it if you dump the food and walk away without looking at him..

 

[Sooty]

If you walk away and don't look at him, how do you know if he does it or not?

 

[KatB]

My mare does it, although she has got LOADS better. It used to be a warning to other horses around her not to steal her food, but now she knows she gets fed and left aone when she is in, and has no other horses over looking her, she is slowly getting out of the habit. When she is fed in the field she still bucks whilst eating, and stands on 3 legs a majority of the time

 

[Honeypots]

[ QUOTE ]
If you walk away and don't look at him, how do you know if he does it or not?

[/ QUOTE ]

Smartarse

Benji meldrew comes with sound effects.....from a distance I can tell if he is cribbing/winsucking or bucking while eating by the noises he makes....plus we have a spy hole

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not frustration or wanting to eat it as fast as possible. Horses in the wild only eat when they're on the move, ie nibble grass, move a step, nibble grass, move a step etc. The subconscious brains of those horses that have this instinct a little stronger than others will "tell" it to walk a step, eat, walk a step, eat etc. Of course if your dinner's in a bucket on the ground, you can't do this so the feet try to walk anyway. You see a similar thing when a horse is being made to stand still but wants to be off - some will paw the ground - feet need to be moving!

I suppose you could sort the wall kicking if you tied a long bit of rope to your ned's feed bucket and gently pulled it along the ground. If you do try this, WE NEED THE VIDEO!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]


Nice logic ....

With regards to the bucket and gently pulling it along .... hmmm I think I will give that one a miss LOL !
Unless I really want to P1ss her off

.

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

[ QUOTE ]
One RS I helped out at found that changing the feeds to something lower sugar (Simple Systems in that case but lots other options/just hay & supplements of course) really helped with both this and impatience for food. More natural bulky foods with lower sugar content don't give the same sugar highs (think how we feel low if hungry and will eat chocs/donuts/whatever then feel perky really fast) and of course they tend to be consumed over a longer time-period. It was really obvious that even for horses stabled 24/7 the mood swings were much reduced - led to a much calmer & happier yard... might be worth a shot along with some of the other suggestions?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that