# How do you stop a horse from door kicking constantly??



## spottydottypony (17 August 2013)

My 5 yr old Fell pony is stabled next to my new pony. The minute he sees me he constantly kicks the door. This has been an on going problem but since my new boy arrived it has escalated. I have tried in the past to pad the door, it works for a bit but them it comes off. He has actually split his wooden door even with the kick bolt on. I donot want to make him headshy and try to ignore him but i cannot even stand by my other ponies stable he goes nuts!! I have looked at the quit kick devices but they are too expensive. Any suggestions???


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## Roasted Chestnuts (17 August 2013)

Id take the door out of the equation, its what i did with my door banger, she has a bar across the stable door with a door net thing underheath is as she used to go under the bar 

She boots and boots and it drives me mental, so took the door away and she just stands and occasionally paws, Ive tried soaking her, water buckets in front of the door, smacking the door with a stick, chaing her back the works and as soon as you move away shes back at it, even tried ignoring her but the door was getting destroyed so cant have that.


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## Brightbay (17 August 2013)

spottydottypony said:



			My 5 yr old Fell pony is stabled next to my new pony. The minute he sees me he constantly kicks the door. This has been an on going problem but since my new boy arrived it has escalated. I have tried in the past to pad the door, it works for a bit but them it comes off. He has actually split his wooden door even with the kick bolt on. I donot want to make him headshy and try to ignore him but i cannot even stand by my other ponies stable he goes nuts!! I have looked at the quit kick devices but they are too expensive. Any suggestions???
		
Click to expand...

It's simple.  Reward him for not kicking, do not reward him for kicking.

You will need to work out what the reward he's currently getting for kicking is - because if he keeps doing it, you ARE doing something to reward the behaviour.  It may be as simple as attention - walking towards him, even growling at him is paying attention to the behaviour.  It may be he's kicked until taken out of the stable - which has rewarded it.  It may be he's kicked until he's been given feed to keep him quiet.  You need to make sure all of these stop.  There is no need to punish the behaviour - just stop rewarding it.

At the same time, you need to reward NOT kicking.  Try to set it up so that if there is even a moment's pause, you get right in there, scratching/praising/paying attention.  This may mean lurking nearby until there's a moment's pause - sometimes easier said than done.  It is not necessary to reward every single time he doesn't kick, that's the beauty of the reward system   On the other hand, this is why using punishment doesn't work - you need to punish every single kicking session instantly, or you're actually strengthening his motivation to try harder.  So don't try doing that unless you're willing to stand outside his door day and night 

So simple - stop rewarding kicking, start rewarding NOT kicking.


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## twiggy2 (17 August 2013)

Black Beastie said:



			Id take the door out of the equation,... she has a bar across the stable door ..... 

Click to expand...

this is what i did i also put rubber matting down in the doorway so she did not start pawing at the floor


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## Bryndu (17 August 2013)

A friend of mine gathered some gorse (big strong gloves) and made a big sausage of gorse across the front of the door at the bottom on the inside...about 2 feet high....that would swing with the door when it opened....his h/w hunter never kicked the door again.
Bryndu


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## AnnaGHDT (17 August 2013)

Exactly what BrightBay says. Until you establish what the horses motivation is for kicking in the first place, and then what he is achieving by doing it, it will be almost impossible to change it. Just follow instructions from Bright Bay, be consistent in what you do, and you should be able to get on top of it! Good luck!


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## philamena (18 August 2013)

If you can't take the door out of the equation, and you know it's just a bad attention seeking habit, I had great results with the QuitKick. It's not cheap, but it stopped mine almost instantly and she's now just forgotten about it as an option even though she hasn't had the unit on her stable for almost a year. It has a sensor you put on the door, and a unit you put on the window / bars, and if they kick they get a (very very gentle!!) squirt of water. It works because they don't get a different result first (ie the 'attention' from you). I know some would say it's a short cut and I should have been thorough and consistent, but she's on a livery yard and I just couldn't be there all the time to deal with her. Would far rather she got a squirt of water than hurt a leg / kept getting growled at by the yard staff.


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## noodle_ (18 August 2013)

with kickers in the past (mine) ive kicked the door back.... generally worked


but mine now if she kicked -  id probably get  water pistol now......


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## putasocinit (24 August 2013)

Tie door back or latch it and put up a chain or web grill in place, no damage done, kicking the door will lead to leg problems as well, good luck.


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## ILuvCowparsely (28 August 2013)

Here are some ways

http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/vices.html

 gathered to help people with this.

I personally have and do use bottom bars




.


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## dangermouse (29 August 2013)

I used padding designed to pad stable walls, really thick so didn't make a noise and my horse stopped when she realised it wasn't having a great impact at drawing attention.


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## putasocinit (29 August 2013)

My cob used to kick the door when i first got him, now i just chuck a handful of hay over his door when i arrive, he is happy, everyone is happy and i can go about my business without him getting upset. Anything for an easy life.


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## RobinHood (29 August 2013)

QuitKick. We have plates on the doors of frequent offenders and I put the box on before I go to bed. I move it around every few days as the effect does wear off after a while.


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## loopylucifer (30 August 2013)

Any persistent door bangers at work have bracelets on. Basically a spur strap with several heavy duty nuts on it. when they bang it bangs coronet they stop banging works well but put it on both feet as they will just do it with the one otherwise. Cheap and effective. And as other have said don't reward (even accidently) the door banging as this will just reinforce the banging. Problem with quit kick can be they can learn to kick without putting head over door same happens when you put a door grill up too. And as for water pistols works while your in range but horses being clever will just wait till you are not in range!


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## 3Beasties (30 August 2013)

We've got one on box rest at the moment that was door kicking (not great when he's using his 'damaged' leg). We added a full grill to his door which solved the problem instantly, he can't get close enough to kick it now.

Not ideal long term but I wonder if it would help to break the habit? Might be worth trying for a month or so.


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## nikkimariet (30 August 2013)

Whilst our livery pony is a darling in every other way, he kicks like hell. We tried roping off the corner in front of the door... He would just reverse up to it and kick with his hinds instead! And also used to chew through the rope, or lean on it until it broke and we were worried about him hurting himself by doing so.

Solved the problem by hanging a square of rubber matting in front of the door, attached to rings with clips and chains. 

Et voila. A silent door kicker!

Interestingly enough, he has almost stopped kicking the door since there is no reaction from doing so.


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## Sterling92 (1 January 2021)

Bryndu said:



			A friend of mine gathered some gorse (big strong gloves) and made a big sausage of gorse across the front of the door at the bottom on the inside...about 2 feet high....that would swing with the door when it opened....his h/w hunter never kicked the door again.
Bryndu
		
Click to expand...

Interesting!


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## Pinkvboots (1 January 2021)

Zombie thread


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