From: Catherine
Dear Jessica,
My horse kicks at feeding time and it's making all of us crazy. The other horses get excited about their food, but not like this fellow. He is only six and I want to keep him forever, but this kicking is hard to tolerate. We have tried feeding him first, feeding him last, and feeding him in the middle (we have six horses here) but it doesn't make any difference, as soon as anyone goes out to feed, Sam starts kicking and making faces. Now he has added something new to his annoying behavior: he makes faces and flips his head around with his ears back and teeth out, but he's smart enough to know that he'd better not bite at a person, so he pretends that he's going to bite his own sides. It would be kind of funny if it wasn't so annoying. Luckily the other horses haven't started imitating him, but I worry that this will happen. I would like to know why he does this and how we can get him to quit! Is there a punishment that would work?
Your fan, Catherine
All of those are common reasons for kicking. I suspect that in your Sam's case, there may be something else going on. MANY grain-fed horses - as opposed to those that are fed only hay or pasture - develop gastric ulcers. Horses secrete stomach acids around the clock, which makes sense when you consider that they are meant to eat low-calorie, high-fiber forage around the clock. If they are given "meals" only at certain times, they are likely to produce a lot more acid when they begin to anticipate each meal, and if they have gastric ulcers, the sudden increase in the flow of acid will HURT. You said that Sam kicks AND makes faces and twists his neck to bite at his own sides - this is a fairly typical reaction of a horse to feelings of pain from within. I think that you need to ask your veterinarian to take a close look at Sam and perhaps check him for ulcers. In the meantime, at least talk with your vet on the telephone. You may be able to help Sam by changing his diet - if he DOES have ulcers because of grain consumption, giving him a more natural, all-hay diet (with whatever vitamin/mineral supplement your vet may recommend) may make him more comfortable. If you can manage to turn him out to graze, or keep grass hay in front of him all the time when there's no grazing possible, he'll be a happier horse. Gastric ulcers appear to be all too common in confined horses fed grain - and relatively rare in horses that are fed forage and live out.
There's no really effective punishment I can suggest, and in any case I don't think that punishment is appropriate here. There's a very good chance that Sam is simply reacting to pain, and I'm sure that you wouldn't want to punish him for that. The pain isn't under his control. If ulcers are involved, he's already being punished in a way - he's hungry, he wants his food, and the hungrier he is and the more he wants his food, the more pain he experiences.
If the vet DOES find that ulcers are his problem and a change of diet is necessary, and if there is no way to turn Sam out on pasture full-time, there are some useful gadgets that may help you manage Sam's feeding in his stall. The easiest and least costly option would be the traditional haynet, or rather haynets (for a horse like Sam, you should double- or triple-net the hay, so that one full net will keep him busy for many hours, just as though he were outdoors grazing a pasture with sparse grass. Have someone - your vet or the barn manager - show you how to fasten a haynet so that it won't droop low enough to become dangerous when it's empty... and be sure to make every effort to keep it FULL. If you're interested in a more costly, mechanized option, there's a spring-loaded hay-feeding contraption called "The Grazer" (you can find out more about it at www.stallskins.com) that is quite effective at slowing a horse's hay consumption. If you can keep Sam busy and chewing hay for most of the day and night, you should see a change in his attitude in just a few weeks. You didn't mention what kind of work Sam does, or how much of it - he may not need any grain at all. If he's in hard work, can't maintain his condition on hay alone, and needs to be supplemented, talk with your vet about alternatives to grain. Pelleted feeds and extruded feeds might be more suitable for Sam. There are ways to slow down his consumption of these, too. The inexpensive traditional method would be to put a few large rocks in his manger so that he would have to eat around them; the more modern solution would probably involve one of the containers designed to keep confined animals (including horses) eating a bite at a time. A popular version of this in the UK, very helpful in pasture situations, is called Snak-a-Ball (http://taliskerbay.com/dist/italy.html); another design, popular in the States and perhaps more practical for stall use, is called Pasture Pal (http://www.horseballs.com/whatsnew.html). There are other, similar items available from other manufacturers - these just happen to be the ones with which I'm most familiar.
Be patient with Sam, talk to your vet, and try changing his diet in accordance with your vet's suggestions. You may find that the kicking will stop when Sam is more comfortable.
Jessica
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