Hi,

I have a horse that kicks terribly in the trailer.  He kicks not just when stopped, but pretty much all of the time except on the highway.  He wears kicking chains and they help a little but not very much.  He recently dented someones Titan trailer even with kicking chains on. I am considering putting hobbles on him, but most people I have talked to including the vet and trainers, said that it could be dangerous for the horse.  He could break an ankle in the trailer or fall.  Would breeding hobbles work?  That would be kind of strange on a gelding, but if they would keep him from kicking, I would try it.  At least the breeding hobbles dont tie his legs together so he wouldnt fall or break anything but I dont know how affective they are.  Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

have you tried slaming the brakes on when he kicks it will make him want to keep all 4 feet on the floor after a few hard slams you just tap them as a reminder worked for me

good luck

You can try hobbles or kicking chains but the problem with those is that once you take them off they will usually start kicking again. Slamming on the brakes won't help either, and could actually cause more problems, not to mention unsafe. You might think that everytime he paws or kicks and you slam on the brakes causing him to brace himself will stop his behaviour because he will learn that if he kicks or paws, the trailer will suddenly stop. This won't work because he may start fearing being in the trailer to begin with especially if he gets hurt in the process of you slamming on the brakes!

Sounds like your horse needs to learn some better trailering etiquette. Your horse sounds alot like a horse I used to have that I sold. He drove me nuts and everyone knew I was coming by the sounds of him pawing and banging around in the trailer. I don't miss him at all!

I have heard of people putting their trailer in the paddock with the horse or up against the paddock in place of the boards, in between posts. Put their food and water in the trailer and allow them to go in and out of the trailer. If you have a slant, tie the dividers back or take them out, same with a straight load, remove the center partition. If you have an open stock trailer, even better. Pretty soon they will learn that being in the trailer isn't all that bad and may settle down.

Another problem with your horse is that maybe he hasn't learned to tie and stand still. How is he tied in the barn or to a post? He may need to be tied somewhere  by other activity and learn that it is okay to be tied and that it isn't going to kill him to be by himself.

This has been brought up before on this forum so you could do a search on here for "kicking" or "pawing".

Good luck to you! Hope you have better trailering rides with your horse!

I have a horse that goes in stages.  There's times he's good and then there's times he has no patience so he starts pawing at the wall.  Sometimes I'll let him stand tied for hours to learn we can stand quiet.  Another thing I try not to do is let him out when he is pawing.  You can actually teach them to paw without knowing it.  If you let them out when they're pawing, it actually rewards their bad behaviour, so when they want out, they paw.  When I travel and stop for break, I'll open the back door for air but also to show them that just because the trailer has stopped and the door opened doesn't mean it's time to get out.  One time when he was exceptionally bad, I gave him hay and water in the trailer and he got to spend the night in there.  He's a veteran at trailering and has spent several 6-10 hours trips on the road in the trailer but there's times he's still bad.  The behaviour happens only when he's traveling alone so being alittle herd bound is an issue also so that's partially why just being tied alone is a good thing for him.

He only does it on start up and take off?  Since he is blind in one eye, he may be afraid that something is approaching him and he cant see it and then settles down when nothing scary happens.  How often has he been trailered and what type of trailer?  I used to have a blind appy, she could see shaddows, and she always had problems in the trailer.  It really scared her when traffic would pass us, so I "closed" her stall.  My trailer has stock sides (no drop downs yet!) so I put up some plywood in front of her and it really helped.  It cut down on the "whooshing" of traffic going by and she couldn't see the shaddows racing up to her.

I own a 'reformed' trailer kicker. Got her when she was six, off of the track.  Hauled her in a slant-load or in a box stall for the first year.  Didn't just kick the trailer, would blast side of the trailer as hard as she could, even before you could get the divider shut (just a little dangerous)   Kicked her right hind shoe off more times than I can count.  Dented the trailer really good in several places.  Tried pinning back the dividers in the slant so she would have a box, only resulted in her breaking the support the divider latched to...won't try that again.  I guess the box stall just gives them more room to swing (just like standing behind them) 

Next I tried some rubber booties on the back feet. I think mine were davis protector boots (could probaby use easy-boots too)  This kept the shoes on and the foot intact...but didn't solve the real problem.  Hauled her in a friends side-by-side (totally by random chance), and it was like getting a whole new horse.  Shoes stayed on, no broken trailer, and only an occasional half-hearted kick.  Hauled her a couple more times like this just to be sure it wasn't a fluke...and ran out and got new side-by-side trailer.              Best of luck