Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker.
Various methods have been proposed from time to time for stopping a horse from kicking in the stall. Here are several gleaned from various sources:
Strap a piece of chain, about 18 inches to 2 feet in length, to the horse’s pastern so that it will fly back and hit him each time he kicks. A trace or stay chain will do.
Pad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw kept in place by sacking. When the horse kicks at this and does not hear the sound of his foot striking the boards, he will be scared and quit kicking.
Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse’s body back of the fore legs and to it fasten a small double pulley placed under the belly. Now place straps with buckles on them on each of his legs below the fetlock joint, having a ring in each strap. Take ½ inch rope, tie to the ring on one front foot, run it up through the pulley, back to the hind foot on the opposite side and tie, then do the same with the opposite feet. Leave the rope long enough for the animal to step. When an attempt is made to kick, the pulley raises the front feet. Use this in the stable until the kicking habit is cured.
To cure a barn kicker pack an ordinary grain bag tight with hay or straw and suspend it from top of the stall by a rope or strap, so that it will swing free from the side of the stall and near the place the horse strikes the boards when he kicks. When kicked the bag will swing back and hit the horse on its return trip, and he will climb into the hay mow, if he can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag on each side.
Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions whether in a single or box stall. The partition kicks back each time it is kicked by the horse.
An “Old Timer” writing in the Breeders’ Gazette, suggests the following plan for a pregnant mare that is a bad kicker:
“Have a collar made of 1½ inch first-class heavy harness leather, long enough to go around the mare’s neck at the point where the collar fits, with 1¾ inch ring at the breast, then get a strap 1½ inches wide, the full length of a side of harness leather, cut tapering to 1 inch or less at the tip of the light end, with 1¾ inch ring in the other. Then get a 2½ inch strap just long enough to go around the pastern of the hind foot with ¾ inch ring in each end. Have the edges of this strap slightly champered. Slip the collar on the mare’s neck, put the short strap around the pastern of the left hind foot, the thin long strap through the rings on the pastern, then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and slip up snug and tight: next, run the strap between the fore legs and through the ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw it up snug when she is standing in her natural position and secure it with a slip-knot so that it can be easily removed when necessary.
There will be no excitement about this, and no punishment. It does not interfere with the mare’s lying down or getting up; all it will do for her will be to prevent her from kicking, simply because she cannot, and she will soon learn to live in peace with her stable mates. We have used this for many years without a failure, and we would be pleased to have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long chain or heavy swinging block or padded stall.”