kicking habit

From: Tammie

Dear Jessica,

I really enjoy reading horse sense and have gotten alot of good information from it. Thank you for providing us with this helpful information.

I have a question about my my baby.  I bought my first horse two years ago and after 4 months discovered she was pregnant.  She had a filly last August, and we love her and she is such a good girl, she leads well, and we can clean her stall with her in it without a problem.  She has about an acre to run in and has two other horses; a 4 and 17 year old to keep her company.  The problem  that we are starting to have is in the stall when we try to open the door, or when she wants her back scratched and I don't have the time and I give her butt a soft push.  She pins her ears back and turns around and kicks out.  When she does that I go to her head and walk her around.  I do not want to hit her because I believe she is doing it because she feels threatened for some reason.  I talk to her when I am coming in and when I'm in the stall with her.  I do not want her to get in the bad habit of kicking out when people are around her, but I know what my riding instructor would say, give her a kick.  Please help.

Thanks in advance,

Tammie

First of all, I'll remind you that at her age, she really should be outdoors all the time, exercising freely, and not standing in a stall. Outdoor foals can work off their energy the way they're designed to do it -- it's good for their bodies and their minds. Most of the habits and "vices" that make horse owners angry -- kicking, rearing, cribbing, weaving, etc. -- are vices of confinement, and develop in horses that spend too much time in stalls.

I understand that you don't want to hit your filly, but by going around to her head and leading her when she kicks at you, you've taught her that you WANT her to kick. :-( She thinks that this is a great attention-getting behaviour -- after all, whenever she does it, you come in and walk her around.

It's safest for both handlers and horses if the horses learn to turn and face the handlers whenever they come into the stall or paddock. Among horses, getting out of the way is a sign of respect -- kicking when touched, or threatening to kick, is horse language for "MOVE YOUR ASS, soldier, you're in the officer's way." In other words, your filly thinks that she out-ranks you, and that she doesn't need to get out of your way, YOU need to get out of HER way.

She's wrong.

You need to convince her that YOU out-rank HER. Right now she's nine or ten months old and furry and cute, but she still outweighs you and has hard little hooves and plenty of muscle. She needs to learn who is "boss mare" soon, so that by the time she is full-grown she won't even think about challenging you.

This doesn't mean hitting her, but it does mean putting in some time on leading lessons. She needs to move smoothly and quietly in whatever direction you indicate: forward, backward, turning with you to the left, turning away from you to the right. She needs to learn to stand, tied or untied, and to move her hindquarters away from you when you poke her with a finger and say "over". This is a very important lesson, not just for your convenience in getting into her stall, but for everything you will do with her in future, on the ground and under saddle. She'll need to learn to move away from your leg under saddle -- this is where it begins, right now, as she learns to move away from your hand on the ground.

Horses are born with an instinct to move INTO pressure, not away from it, so this is indeed something that needs to be taught by you, and learned by her.

Use your voice! A calm, soothing tone tells her that she is a good girl; if you say, calmly, "Ow, sweetie, that really hurt me a lot when you kicked me in the leg just now," she will register only the calm tone, and think that everything is just fine, and see no reason to change anything she is doing.
If, on the other hand, you save the calm, sweet, slow, soft voice for praise, and make a loud, rude noise to indicate that you are displeased, your communication with her will be much clearer. Try my patented game-show buzzer sound -- you know, the one you hear on just about every show when someone gets a wrong answer? Yes, THAT noise: the sudden, loud, nasal, NAAAAAAAH sound. It's VERY effective with horses -- it makes the point clearly, effectively, and immediately. Horses have excellent hearing, and dislike loud rude noises. ;-) Yelling "NO" can also be quite effective, but since "NO" sounds very similar to "WHOA", I prefer to use my buzzer noise when what I want to tell the horse is, indeed, "Wrong answer!" The important thing is to make the noise, or the word, stand on its own. Don't try to slip a command or a reprimand into the middle of a long sentence; you'll only confuse the horse.

When you've used your buzzer noise in response to her ears-back, kick-threat action, just wait. Don't go around to her head, don't talk to her soothingly, don't reward her in any way -- until she turns toward you, even slightly, even just bending her neck. Then praise her -- and wait. Most youngsters are clever enough to figure out what you like and don't like if you make your feelings clear, and that means encouraging the behaviour you want, actively discouraging any completely unacceptable behaviours (biting and kicking), and saying and doing NOTHING in response to a wrong answer (just standing there, or turning her head in another direction) that isn't actively dangerous. When she takes a step toward you, praise her, scratch her neck or withers. You want to create a new habit in her: that of watching you, paying attention to you, and approaching you with her FRONT end. ;-)

Don't do too much at one time; young horses have short attention spans.
Short, clear lessons, repeated daily, will have the effect you want. A few minutes at a time is all you can ask of a filly this age, but you CAN ask her to focus on you for that length of time. Keep your lessons short, kind, and clear. If she kicks and you have to smack the offending leg with a whip, do it -- and make the buzzer noise -- and remember that you are friends again as soon as her foot touches the ground. This is horse-discipline, and she'll understand it. If she kicked her mother, the reaction would be instantaneous: a sharp squeal and a sharp nip, and there would be no hard feelings afterward.

Foals are sweet and cute, but you need to remember that everything you do with them in their first year will either save you time and trouble later, or cause you trouble and force you to take much more time later. Everything you do with your filly NOW is laying a foundation for everything you will do with her later. Firmness now will eliminate a lot of resistances later.
You'll find that being firm and clear with your filly won't make her cranky or resentful; on the contrary, she will feel much more secure and happy once she realizes that she isn't the leader after all.

Jessica

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