Kicking out

[Roxi Anderson <roxwelling@yahoo.com>]

I had the pleasure of riding a known kicker.  Was told
and warned at the time of purchase to use a huge red
caution sign on her tail because of an episode at one
particular ride.  So, I took her on a training ride
with a friend, asked the friend to crowd her, when she
did and the mare started to pin her ear and swish her
tail I just made the situation really unpleasant for
the mare.  This only took once.  In the 3 yrs of
riding this mare she only kicked out once, this was
after a rider kept climbing up my horses butt all day
(red ribbon and all my warnings) so she gave a warning
kick.  Really ticked me off because, of course, I had
to discipline the horse and really wanted to
discipline the other rider.  So, I just pulled off
trail, regrouped, and stayed back.  Guess my feelings
on horses that kick is this.  Kicking while being
handled should be the last thing on a horses mind,
however, just like people, they have limits.  As
riders, we need to be responsible and aware of others
around us, these animals have minds of there own and
for your own safety leave room.  Have any of you seen
what type of damage can be done to a rear leg tendon
that has been stepped on by a horse followiing to
close?  Not a pretty sight and most likely will put
your horse out of business, especially if the tendon
sheath has been torn.

Thanks for the time to unload.
Roxi

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