Striking

© F. Thomas Breningstall

"Have you heard of any method that would be good in breaking the bad habit of a striking horse," writes Debbie Zimmerman of Guysville, Ohio. "I just bought a 5-month-old Belgian colt that is 14 hands high. I bought him from a farm where he was running around with a lot of other horses and colts. Now whenever anyone gets close he strikes at them. I would like to keep him as a stud and would really like to break this action now. Do you have any suggestions?"

The responsibility of training or breaking a horse is up to the owner and should be done as soon as possible after the foal is born. If horse owners would imprint in their foal's minds that people are part of everyday life, then breaking and training grown horses would not be so dangerous.

The reason horses kick are many. If you don't know the horse's history, then trying to figure out why it kicks is only a guess at best. Please work careful around an animal with a history of kicking.

Horses kick as a means of defense (to fend off) or as a means of offense (to attack), but either way it's part of their inherited fight or flight instinct. They kick when they are:

1. afraid,
2. attacking to defend,
3. just plain malicious,
4. hurt and fighting pain or the possibility of pain,
5. remembering a time when pain was inflicted (getting quicked by a nail, nippers, or knife or beaten by someone who wanted to hurt the horse).

The safest way to trim or shoe a kicker is to have your veterinarian in attendance to administer medication to help the animal overcome its phobia. The type of drug used is up to you and the veterinarian. Please be aware that a drug is not a training aid; the drugged horse will not learn well under the influence. But the safest way to get the job done is with drugs.

I offer the following advice on restraints and training aids as information only. Please do not try any of this stuff without the assistance of a professional horse trainer or handler.

A twitch is a loop of rope or chain on the end of a long handle. The loop is placed over the horse's upper lip or nose and then twisted to create pressure on the nose and calm the horse.

A stud chain or lead chain is a chain with a clasp on one end and rope on the other. Cotton rope is best -- it will not burn your hands as will nylon rope. Put the chain through the left lower ring on the halter, then over the bridge of the nose, and attach the clasp to the lower ring on the right side of the halter. A quick jerk on the lead rope will sometimes change the ill ways of an animal that acts up. This chain may also be placed under the upper lip, over the gums; when he acts up, give a quick snap only.

Scotch hobbles and side lines may also be used to tie up legs or to hobble the legs together, but only by someone with the skills to use them. We don't want to injure the animal just to trim his feet.

Some farriers use stocks to restrain an animal for trimming and shoeing (see "Horseshoeing Stocks," The EVENER 1997).

I don't include a lot of detail on these methods of restraint because I really don't want you to try to break your kicker by yourself. You may ask your farrier to help, but only if he agrees, is capable, and is paid for his time.

When a horse is afraid, the use of restraints may make it more afraid. If the horse is mean or angry, the use of restraints may make it more irate. When the horse hurts, using restraints may add fear and anger to an already unpleasant experience. If you have tried restraints and still can't trim or shoe the animal, your only recourse is to call the vet to give a pharmacological aid.

Desensitizing the animal to the fear stimulus is the best way to train it not to kick. Retraining an animal takes time, skill, and sometime drugs. In the long run, the skills of a good trainer can be of great help.

Not to disappoint you, but some horses are just plain nuts. In such a case, euthanasia is the only safe way to stop a kicker from hurting or killing someone.

I have been kicked and kicked at by normally calm horses that have been startled by me or by audio, visual, or physical stimuli no one could have predicted or controlled -- thunder and lighting, gun fire, wind, rain, snow, kids playing, dogs barking, car horns blaring, trucks rattling, horses running, and cats jumping, to name a few. Anyone who works around horses is never really safe. Treat any horse as you would treat a bundle of dynamite with a short fuse that could blow up at any time without warning.

A horse kicks if it thinks it has a reason, good or bad. And the horse will kick as long as kicking gets it what it wants. It has to have a good reason to stop kicking, and you have to provide that reason.

If this foal is your only horse, maybe it's just lonely and doesn't know how to act around people. I have seen older well-trained geldings teach young horses how to behave. Good luck and please don't get hurt. Think safe and work safe around horses at all times.

F. Thomas Breningstall is an AFA and MHA certified full-time farrier living in Fowlerville, Michigan. His column "Hoof & Hammer" appears regularly in RURAL HERITAGE draft-animal magazine, and is reprinted here with permission.

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