Kicking the door - any solutions??

[LizScott]

Just wondering if anyone knows of a miracle solution to cure a serial door kicker???

My mare is on a mission to get very fat and as I haven't been able to ride her much she is on limited rations. Trouble is that when she's in she constantly kicks the door when the yard staff are around. She has now started flying back in the stable whenever anyone approaches her as I guess someones scared her

I know kicking is a bad habit but I don't want a head shy horse either...

If anyone has any ideas on how to stop her I'd be grateful to hear them

 

[seche]

We used to nail a strip of thick hessian door matting (like the stuff you wipe your boots on) its brown and prickly to the lower half of the door - its certainly a good deterant!!

 

[LizScott]

That's sounds like an idea! Presumably it doesn't damage their legs then? (guess it can't do anymore damage than kicking the door itself lol!)

 

[jewel]

screw broom head to the bottom of the door

 

[zoeshiloh]

Broom heads on the back of the door work well. Again, they are prickly, so when the horse goes to kick, they get prickled and do not persist. As the bristles are not too rigid, there is no chance of the horses hurting themselves. However, I have known this to backfire, as my friend's horse chewed all the bristles off!

One of my horses had a stall guard fitted, so his door could be left open, meaning he was unable to kick and make noise. He learnt to kick the doorframe instead!

There is now a thing you can fit to the bottom of the stable door, so that when a horse kicks the door, it sprays a jet of water upwards. I have never used them, only read about them, but they seem to be quite effective.

 

[oofadoofa]

Bit extreme, but could put a grille up so she can't get her head over the door to be able to kick?

 

[joeanne]

we used to use tyres, cut them in half and then fix them to the door, fixing again in the middle so the blows are cushioned

 

[dwi]

Put very full water buckets in the doorway, up against the door. If they kick the door it will shake the bucket and splash water out on their legs. If the stable has a window where you can hide without the horse seeing you try squirting it with a water pistol. Shocks them out of doing it but shouldn't make them scared of you

 

[happy_talk]

i've seen advertised somewhere a thing which you fit to the inside of the door- horse kicks door and water jets shoot up. no idea what it's called but only takes a few kicks for the horse to learn!

 

[LizScott]

Thanks everyone! I'll try the broom head thing I think!

I've seen those things that squirt water up but she has a habit of bashing her head (very badly) on door frame if something scares her so prob not good for her.

 

[xnaughtybutnicex]

My old loans automatic drinker used to squirt her in the face and she loved it lol

 

[Boater]

My boy kicks the door too, so I fixed a rubber mat to the inside which muffles the sound a bit.

 

[Maesfen]

We had one that was a nightmare, we called him Pele! We put a rail across the corner of his box so he couldn't reach the door, meant we could also leave door open and just duck under to. Worked a treat, didn't stop him if he had the chance but stopped the noise and very easy and cheap to fix.

 

[kerilli]

one of mine used to do it. i took a tidy car tyre (no wires protruding), tied thick rope around it to fix to the top of the door, packed the inside solidly with newspapers and wrapped the whole thing with duck tape, so that it was solid (couldn't get a hoof stuck). then when she tried to knee or kick the door she hit the soft, sound-deadening tyre instead. it works like a charm (as long as they don't strip it with their teeth.... the mare i did it for, it lasted for years. for her daughter, it lasted 2 days!)

 

[carys220]

I had a horse who used to do it for attention.

We put carpet samples on the door so it didn't make a noise. You also need to ignore the horse when she does it - they realise very quickly that they aren't getting any attention and give it up.....you also need to make sure everyone else on the yard does the same.

Re the headshy thing, I would make sure you talk to YM or YO about this ASAP as it sounds like someone has been abusing your horse, and this is unacceptable whether she is a nuisance or not!

 

[LizScott]

I always thought ignoring them was the best policy but yard staff don't agree! The stupid thing is that them shouting makes no difference at all whereas a handful of hay would shut her up (I know that's not ignoring her either but it's better than getting cross!)

 

[atot]

water buckets in front of the door....

 

[Bosworth]

We fitted a slip rail - about a foot back across the door way- had to use wooden blocks to take it in by a foot - but that meant she couldn't actually touch the door if she tried to kick it and actually stopped her behaviour. I have also used a water pistol on persistant door kickers but from across the yard so i dont appear to be giving in to their attention seekers. I have found that some owners make them far worse because they shout at the horses or go to it as soon as it kicks so in effect their behaviour has been successful.

 

[carys220]

[ QUOTE ]
water buckets in front of the door....

[/ QUOTE ]

My mare broke lots of water buckets and ruined lots of shavings!

The thing is, it's your horse and the Yard Staff should listen to you, if they are going against your wishes and (maybe) making your horse headshy, I would find somewhere else to stable her if it was me.

 

[Laafet]

Its called the kickstop and yes it does work. We had a serial door kicker at the yard I ran in Hampshire and she had been doing it for years. Fine when she lived at her owners home, but not fine on a busy livery yard. We tried everything to stop her, even one of those dog collars that has a remote controlled electric shock thingy. Cruel but we were desperate, this just made her wary of putting her head over the door. In the end the owner bought a kickstop having seen it advertised in H&H. It worked fantastically and we used it on loads of other horses too. They did not get head shy or door shy and they even seemed to laugh at us when we forgot to switch it off to open the door, resulting in us getting a soaking!

 

[JM07]

not a miricle, but it works......

use a "supersoaker"......everytime they kick the door, squirt them with water...

2 days and they wont kick again......

 

[Laafet]

Our one got wise to the super soaker, that's why we put the dog collar on her, so we could zap her without her knowing who it was. Bit cruel though so the kickstop was a much more humane idea.

 

[ponypatter]

I have a very persistent kicker! We've tried water (actual hosepipe on full blast with me sleeping outside his stable), all sorts of padding (inadequate when stable is but 10foot from your bedroom window), shutting the door (kicked the walls instead), water buckets (kicked them over), and almost everything else short of electric fencing in his stable. Eventually I got an old spur strap and threaded a load of nuts and washers on to it. Do it up fairly loosely around the pasterns and voila. The first morning we tried this there was the usual 4.30am BANG, followed by a very quiet tap about half an hour later then silence! The idea is that the nuts rap their shins as they kick. Maybe not the nicest way to go, but cheap and effective! He doesn't wear them any more as he only kicks at feed time in the evenings now.

And incidentally, He's out all day and doesn't hate his stable, he just think breakfast should be delivered with the sun!

 

[louise4208]

My horse has a large peice of foam fitted to the inside of his door. He used to kick the door non-stop, to the point where the yard owner was woken several times throughout the night. The foam lessens the noise quite a lot, and he seems to just kick a couple of times now and when he realises he's not making a noise, he stops... as far as I have seen anyway, no complaints after that though!

 

[PeterNatt]

Measure the inside of your stable door and buy a piece of ply to fit to the inside of the door. They buy some Rubber backed Industrial grade Coconut Floor Matting and glue it with adhesive to the ply. Then secure it to the stable door by using screws. Then fit angled metal around the edges to stop the horse from attempting to bite or seperate the coconut matting off.

This will last for many years and also dampen the noise of any kicking.

 

[Richlight]

Hello,
Does anyone know where I can one of the kick stop machines, perhaps someone has one I can hire or buy second hand?
Thanks

 

[sachak]

nail carpet or rubber matting to it worked a treat for mmine!