FORUM QUESTION >>My older gelding has recently developed the terrible habit of spinning around and kicking out when I let him out in the field in the morning. I’m at a loss for how to discourage this. He leads TO the field calmly like the giant gentleman that he is, stands calmly to get his halter taken off, and as soon as I slip it over his ears he’ll spin around and kick out before trotting off.
He is a 17.1h old-style Dutch so his hooves are like dinner plates. I’ve been kicked in the back by him when we first got him and he kicked me so hard it sent me flying through the air. I’m getting really worried about this habit but I have no idea how to discourage it. They go on beautiful grass for 8+ hours a day. I let him pause to eat grass as we walk to the field. But he still kicks out.
Any ideas?<<<
(One forum answer >>What they do when free in the field is their own time, and a human’s responsibility to stay out of the way of them enjoying their freedom.<<)
I TOTALLY disagree with THIS!! IMO, no matter what, the horse, being 10 times bigger and stronger with the capability of killing a human instantly with one kick, MUST always be respectful of the human when around him/her. i.e. — handler in turnout; horses (note the plural) spook and run right towards handler. Horse either STOP before running into human or bolt AROUND the human. The stop is the best scenario. And yep — ask me how I know. *grin*
OTOH, the handler must respect the horses AND TEACH THEM what acceptable behavior is allowed around humans. No kicking (even to the point of simply raising hoof to kick at a fly but HOLDING it up, not kicking, until human says OK or gets the fly for them.) No biting, no rearing (unless requested for whatever reason), no squabbling/fighting/bucking etc. around the human — etc. etc. These are BASIC behavior rules that the handler must teach.
The horse kicking out as he is galloping away from the gate is because he’s not been taught that he shouldn’t be doing this. It’s been allowed and reinforced, actually, by being allowed. Need to start from the beginning and teach the horse how to stand quietly and move off quietly a certain distance before he bucks up and gallops off. That’s the human’s responsibility in this scenario. How? Teach and reinforce what you want the horse to do! Simple. I use positive reinforcement with good success (aka Clicker Training) and it’s pretty easy. Takes more time to spend a few moments at the gate teaching but better to spend the extra minutes teaching than to be kicked in the face.
It is excellent to turn the horse to face you and then to BACK out the gate (rather than just walking out) after releasing the horse. This way you can see and anticipate the horse’s behavior. 🙂
I grew up working at a thoroughbred Grade B racing stable. We were always taught to walk the horse through the gate and then turn the horse around so they were facing the gate. Once they were standing quietly, we’d take the halter (or lead) off and then walk out the gate.