What to do next? Destructive horse.

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Grinchmass

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So I have had my loan horse since approximately september.

In that time he has broken:

3 stable doors
1 door chain
A wooden bar to lock horses into the large barn
He has also broken out of a paddock into a mans garden and uprooted his fruit tree :eek: needless to say he wasn't impressed.
Oh and he has tried to destroy my shoulder recently by being a general barging sod. :o

Really don't know what to do with him as he seems like he's on a one horse path of chaos. This isn't a settling in thing as apparently he's good at breaking things, and quite the escape artist. He can even remove a kick bolt.

This is probably a bit of a pointless post, but what to do with a destructive beast who is hell bent on destroying everything in sight?
 
Unfortunately some horses are like that. All you can really do is make sure you have extra strong stable, bolts etc. and be tough on him if he barges or otherwise doesn't respect your personal space.
 
Make sure you have at least 3rd party insurance, in our village someones horse escaped from the field and trashed 2 front gardens managed to get a branch caught in it's tail and dented 2 cars.Horse was fine but owner had to repair the damage. Hard to defend your horse when it is standing in middle of garden surrounded by chaos eating hoof printed grass !
 
If it was me, first I'd be looking at whether there is a reason (other than sheer bloody mindedness!) why this is happening.
Is he kept stabled with limited company/food for long periods, is the stable big enough, is there adequate hay/grazing/company in the field?

Asap I'd be looking to get him out 24/7 in a well fenced paddock (I have 1 normal fence, and about 1 foot inside an 8 foot safety fence) with plenty of stuff to investigate.
 
Gloi said:
Unfortunately some horses are like that. All you can really do is make sure you have extra strong stable, bolts etc. and be tough on him if he barges or otherwise doesn't respect your personal space.
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He was originally fine to lead with lead rope over the nose in a head collar, although he was on loan to a teenager before myself so don't know if he's just learnt to take the pee? In general he tries to barge past other people, doesn't tend to do it with me but has took to dragging me across the yard last week, pulling all the muscles in my shoulder :mad: so I have started to lead him in a bridle until he learns some respect.

I do think YO may be a bit miffed is she finds he has broken another stable door though :o

I think I'd more like to know if there is anything I could put up/ on the stable door to stop him killing it off completely. Any ideas.

(appologies the rest was just a bit of a rant)
 
Metal bar inside door like a breast bar. We used an old scaffolding pole. Put pins in it at end so it can't be dislodged. Need a sturdy door frame. You can duck underneath it to reduce the amount of time door open.
Lead in a chifney. Transformed our cob. He is perfectly happy in it and knows who is in charge. Less fiddly than bridle.
 
HardySoul1 said:
Metal bar inside door like a breast bar. We used an old scaffolding pole. Put pins in it at end so it can't be dislodged. Need a sturdy door frame. You can duck underneath it to reduce the amount of time door open.
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This works well. We also did it with a heavyweight chain across instead of the bar with fittings welded to a metal door frame. That also meant that the door could be left open so it didn't get kicked all the time.
 
My old mare was a little dangerous in sthe stable to start with as she has never been stabled before the stall chain wasn't strong enough she kicked the door and would off make a bif for freedom when ever i entered, i got 2 slip rail brackets mounted them at chest height either side of the door on the inside then found a very heavy thick piece of timber that would fit the slip rails fully so couldnt be easily lipped out by horse this forced her to stand back from door by 5" so she couldnt kick it as easily and also meant she couldn't barge out when i opened the door this helped massivly. Filled her stable with toys for distraction even a ball hung from ceiling for her to take her bad temper out on which really helped gave her a jolly ball with a handle she could pick up and fling around she took this to the field with her too. for her fireld we had to make her a fully electrified pen inside the post rail so she couldnt lean on kick at or bite and sestroy the perimeter fencing. Its frustrating and depressing to ahve a destroyer but slowly but sirely you find crafty ways around everything they figure out how to destroy, good luck
 
Firstly can you find a pattern? My friend had one that just used to walk through literally anything, including a 5' breeze block wall. Solid wooden doors or post or rail he had no problems with. But there was a pattern to it. If you put his breakfast in am then immediately took him out, he was good as gold. If you left him 5 mins he'd simply walk through the wall or door. Likewise in field, if he found rooting for grass too much work, he'd just walk through the fence to a better food source. The solution was just finding a management routine that avoided him feeling the desire to escape. Failing that some mains powered electric tape?
 
I think you have to work out why the horse is doing this. Is the horse bored or alone?

The other part is the leading. When you walk with him he has to have respect for you, at all time. A good way to work on leadership is working form the ground. I found this website: http://www.katelynkent.net/article_09.php

It can be that I sounds as a softy, but I think that groundwork with a horse can help with some problems.
 
DGeventing said:
If it was me, first I'd be looking at whether there is a reason (other than sheer bloody mindedness!) why this is happening.
Is he kept stabled with limited company/food for long periods, is the stable big enough, is there adequate hay/grazing/company in the field?

Asap I'd be looking to get him out 24/7 in a well fenced paddock (I have 1 normal fence, and about 1 foot inside an 8 foot safety fence) with plenty of stuff to investigate.
Click to expand...

He has company when stabled and when out, he has adlib hay/haylage, always has some left in the morning, and plenty of hard feed. The stable is huge, bigger than the one on his previous yard, think it may be a mare and foal box as he's stabled at what used to be a stud farm.

He was out 24/7 but lost weights, so have stabled him at night until he gains some weight, which - when he stays put - is working.

He does have a field friend who is also Houdini and just likes to escape, so this may have something to do with the previous field escape antics :rolleyes: not really convinced though. He has since moved paddocks for winter and (touch wood) hasn't escaped from that.

The field is in excess of 10 acres for 4 horses, and there is plenty of grass, and hay.

I have spoken to his owner, he has always been a Houdini horse, can remove kick bolts, undo latches etc etc. he has also been known to jump over a wheel barrow to escape. The funny thing is if he gets out he doesn't seem to know what to do next and just stands there looking rather confused...:rolleyes:

Have put swedes in stable, licks, I am going to get a treat ball as I think it may be boredom related possibly.
 
Littlelegs said:
Firstly can you find a pattern? My friend had one that just used to walk through literally anything, including a 5' breeze block wall. Solid wooden doors or post or rail he had no problems with. But there was a pattern to it. If you put his breakfast in am then immediately took him out, he was good as gold. If you left him 5 mins he'd simply walk through the wall or door. Likewise in field, if he found rooting for grass too much work, he'd just walk through the fence to a better food source. The solution was just finding a management routine that avoided him feeling the desire to escape. Failing that some mains powered electric tape?
Click to expand...

Hmm good idea with the electric, he has a chain and I got a text off my friend this morning to say he had broken it, :( so may try a pole next, and electric wired fence tape! It's not that he walks through things (although the daft sod did walk through the rail in the barn - but thankfully nothing else - yet) cant see a pattern, some days he's fine, others he's broken something...

He's got manners in the stable, doesn't get vicious or dangerous, he has tried to barge my friend out of the door occasionally but as of yet hasn't done it to me. He has learnt to respect me enough not to barge past me, but obviously not when I'm leading him. Which I am going to work on. It's also not that he barges out, just that he is destructive over night, I'll get there in the morning, a bolt with have been pushed against so it's hanging off, or he'll have some how managed to break a chain. We put the chain on as an extra barrier so he couldn't lean on his door.

Oh and he is insured, for vets fees and the maximum public liability, thankfully :rolleyes: I'm glad I opted for the highest amount discovering his Houdini antics.
 
We had a bargy horse who door kicked the door the whole time. I made up a square frame of electric rope by screwing the round loop type insulators to the inside of the door frame, the top one high enough to be above rug level to zap him if he pushed too close to the door and the lower ones at knee level, used electric gate handles for access into the box. This kept the electric frame a good distance away and although he could still see out over the door it stopped my horse from leaning on the top of the door, and from kicking the lower half and turned him into a politely mannered boy! The electric rope then went from the inside out over the door through a length of hose (To stop it shorting) to the electric box planted in the ground outside. I also fettled up a portable version on a metal frame I had made that I could hang on the door at stay away shows otherwise there would have been a pile of kindling where there was once a portable stable! Worked a treat! Want a drawing? pm me!
 
Have you ever tried to set up a video camera to video him in the stable to see what he is actually doing? This might help you with a plan, and may also (possibly) identify a trigger factor of some sort?

It would be interesting to see from a video whether he seemed to be panicking, or whether it is as you suggest a boredom thing that he works on gradually.
 
Gentlegiant88 said:
He has also broken out of a paddock into a mans garden and uprooted his fruit tree :eek: needless to say he wasn't impressed.



Sorry but this really made me laugh!


This is probably a bit of a pointless post, but what to do with a destructive beast who is hell bent on destroying everything in sight?
Click to expand...


I have aDraft horse who is more destructive than any other horse I've ever had, so you have my sympathy. Admittedly she is so big that if she leans on something that is less than sturdy, it collapses but a few weeks ago she kicked out at the stable wall and moved it. That stable has at different times had 2 xClydesdale mares, a 17.1hh Shire mare and a 16.3hh IDx and never succumbed. Other horses have kicked out at the neighbouring stable walls and made holes without moving the wall.

I think we've stopped her. My Dad came and hit the wall with a very large hammer and reinforced it with a metal bar. She was still in the stable at the time and in her usual bombproof fashion just carried on eating. However I have told her that he will be cross if he has to do it again. I don't know if she is worried about the hammer or what but since then she has banged the wll with her bum and squealed but not lifted a leg.

On a more serious note I have made sure that we don't run out of Aloe Vera because she does seem to get grumpy without it.
 
I have one and fixed it with the plastic hoops screwed into the boards and energiser on mega warp with a tractor battery.

She has improved after 6 months with me, but was generally a rude bargy, do what I like, type of cob who had never been taught any manners.

She is in a large barn now with scaffold poles and pins. Various things have improved her, she was terribly itchy when I had her and would rub until the building fell down. We dealt with the itch and the rubbing stopped.

The barging and lack of patience was dealt with via a big stick and a rope halter.
 
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