Ridecamp: [RC] horses that kick

K S SWIGART katswgi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
After giving some thought to my post from earlier this morning while on the train into work, I realized that there may be some people who would think that I might be suggesting that I thought that nobody should bring a horse to an endurance ride unless it cannot, under any circumstances, be provoked into kicking.

I do not think this.  I merely wished to demonstrate that it is possible to teach horses not to kick even when provoked, that there is no reason not to correct a horse for kicking even when provoked, and that much of this training can be performed at home.

It is also true that some training cannot be done at home and that all endurance horses (actually all horses) are a work in progress, and yes it is okay for me to school my horse at an endurance ride.  However, I need to be aware that that is what I am doing and try to avoid as much as possible subjecting other participants to my horse?s lack of schooling.

I think that everybody accepts that stallions need to be taught not to mount mares (even ones that are teasing them) at an endurance ride and that owners of stallions need to keep their stallions out of situations where this might happen.  Despite the fact that all stallions can mount a mare and that it is a perfectly natural thing for them to do.

Everybody accepts that horses that bite the other horses on the trail need to be corrected for this behavior and that their owners are responsible for keeping their horses from biting the unsuspecting or even the provoking.  Despite the fact that all horses can bite and that it is a perfectly natural thing for them to do.

There are all kinds of vices and antisocial behavior that horses have that makes them difficult and/or unsafe to deal with in group situations, and it is my responsibility as an owner to keep other people from being subjected to my horse?s antisocial behavior until I can teach the horse not to behave that way.  Wearing a sign on my back that says ?watch out for my boorish horse? and then to blithely go about my business and expect everybody else to avoid me.

For me, kicking falls into the same category.  If I have a horse that is easily provoked into kicking, I will do everything I can at home to teach the horse not to do this, I will put a red ribbon in my horse?s tail to warn people, I will do everything I can to keep my horse?s back end away from other people and their horses, I will try to avoid getting my horse into a situation where it has nowhere else to go if another horse does approach, and if I have no choice but to be in a situation where it has nowhere else to go (i.e. on a single track trail with no room to even step off), I will attend very closely to what or who may be coming up behind me so that I can give them plenty of warning. 

What I won?t do is put a red ribbon in my horse?s tail and just expect everybody else to notice it and stay out of my way.

And if it requires too much attention on my part and is too much trouble to be watching out for everybody who might come up behind me at a ride, and the horse doesn?t seem to be improving, then I might decide that I don?t want to have to deal with it and find a less crowded activity for my horse.

Lots of people decide that stallions are too much trouble for them and elect not to keep or compete with them.  Personally, I happen to like stallions and therefore will take the trouble to properly train my stallion how to behave in company and to keep my stallion out of other people?s way.

If I have a kicker, I will also take the trouble to keep my kicker out of other people?s way.  And make no mistake, keeping a kicker out of other people?s way in a large, milling group at the start and on narrow single track trails is not easy.  Certainly not as easy as putting a red ribbon in its tail.

kat
Orange County, Calif.


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