Help! New mare kicking door down!

Okay, guys--

my barn has dutch doors that open onto the pasture, as well as regular doors opening onto the aisle. The dutch doors fasten with a bolt as well as double-end snaps onto eyebolts (because Gully used to open the bolts with his teeth.) My new mare, a 5 yo 1/4 draft, doesn't like being put up in a stall. First she was simply leaning onto the door until the eyebolts gave (the regular bolt on her stall doesn't fasten very well, and it tends to be just fastened). Now that I've fixed the eyebolts, she's resorted to kicking the door until the double-end snaps break.

Obviously I need to fix the bolt, but I'm afraid that now that she's learned the kicking habit she's going to keep at it. Suggestions?

Does the dutch door have a top door? Does she still mess wit it if it is closed?

I would suggest,
Open the door to the pasture for her, and leave it open!!

Yeah, why are you insisting that she be stalled?

I kind of agree with the "just let her out" thougth, but on the other hand, I think it's important for horses to learn to be in a stall too. If she ever has an injury, or there is an emergency of some kind, or even if you want to show her at all, she's going to have to tolerate being stalled.

I personally would try to make her stall the BEST PLACE EVER! If she comes in the stall and is quiet, alfalfa appears. All meals are eaten in the stall, and until she's good at stalling, meals are awesome and yummy, with carrots and apples and good things. If she gets any hay, it's in her stall. If I'm going to ride or work with her, I would do it in the pasture.

Barring that, kicking chains? Hot wire (pain in the tushy there, but I'm sure it's effective), or perhaps tieing her in her stall so she can't reach the door to kick (but can reach all other necessities).

Good luck with her....

I'm with above poster, I think feed would work... All grain and treats fed in the stall. And, better yet, make her decide to come in to get it. She should learn to like her stall soon enough!!

With a domesticated riding horse there ARE times when they must be stabled for whatever reason!! That's something every horse should learn to accept...like it or not. I would close the top and bottom of the dutch door and start doing short sessions in the stall where she was fed grain/treats/hay. I would fasten her at the feeding area on a strong tie chain or rope where she couldn't reach far enough to kick the doors/walls. After a brief, kick free time...at MY decision...I would lead her out the door (maybe out through the barn...not directly out her door) and release her. Always on MY terms. It might take a long time to train her, but now you are allowing her to be "trained" to kick the door and break out. Lots of luck!

I have been where you are. One thing that worked was putting a kicking chain on one hind leg above the fetlock. The one I have has rubber tubing on the part that goes around the leg and a 3 link chain that hangs down. Just dont lead the horse around with it or turn the horse out. It is for stall only. After about 3 days try a day without it and see if the problem has lessened. If it starts up, go back to using it. I used in on a fancy show horse and she was a heck of a lot better off than she was kicking the crap out of her feet on the walls.

Oh another thing that worked was giving her a little robaxin powder in whatever meal was near her worst kicking time. Chilled her right out. She used to bust thru the doors too until I added the second deadbolt, which was when the kicking started. They can take out a tailgate in the trailer so it should be corrected quickly.

I just built a new barn. 5 stalls have dutch doors out to 3 runs. 1 stall has its own run then each 2 stalls share a run rather than having 4 smaller runs. Each horse in the stalls that share a run get 12 hours out; 12 hours in. We had the issue of the horse that was in leaning on the lower dutch door but I hated to close the upper dutch door as I want the ventilation. When we did close the upper door the horse inside wasn't as happy. Then we had horses crabby. no major kicking but some starting.

What we ended up doing is putting up stall gates - they are metal and cover about 2/3s of the door opening. Keeps the inside horse off the dutch door, keeps the outside horse from sticking their head in and lets us keep the upper dutch door open for the ventilation.

http://www.bigdweb.com/STALL-GATE-LA...oductinfo/874/

They immediately made a difference in the contentment of the inside horse. Protects the dutch doors, lets the horse see out, the horses haven't messed with them at all and much easier to replace than the dutch doors.

good luck!

Make her a fenced patio or in other words run and control access to the pasture that way. It sounds like she just gets to hot in the barn and needs the fresh air

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gully's pilot

Okay, guys--

my barn has dutch doors that open onto the pasture, as well as regular doors opening onto the aisle. The dutch doors fasten with a bolt as well as double-end snaps onto eyebolts (because Gully used to open the bolts with his teeth.) My new mare, a 5 yo 1/4 draft, doesn't like being put up in a stall. First she was simply leaning onto the door until the eyebolts gave (the regular bolt on her stall doesn't fasten very well, and it tends to be just fastened). Now that I've fixed the eyebolts, she's resorted to kicking the door until the double-end snaps break.

Obviously I need to fix the bolt, but I'm afraid that now that she's learned the kicking habit she's going to keep at it. Suggestions?

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What is she being fed?

Did you see my suggestion(s)? They work. Mine was named "Gilly"... must be something in the name lol. They also sell a thing that squirts them with water automatically when they kick the stall. That sounds like a great investment!