cow kicking

Question
QUESTION: My neighbor gave me a horse to ride because she has too many horses and not enough time.  This 11 year old mare was her husband's horse, however, he passed away about 6 years ago.  My neighbor is sure the mare just doesn't like her.  I have seen this horse cow kick every time she tried to get in the saddle. She was always able to get on, but it was a dangerous situation.  The horse has never cow kicked when I got on, but she still makes me nervous, I'm worried that it could happen at any time. Are there any preventive measures I can take to reduce the chances of being cow kicked?

ANSWER: Hi Daria,
I see your question was sent to the question pool and no one has responded, so I will try to help you out.
One thing you have to always keep in mind. This horse has had 11 years of this behavior. It probably won't be corrected overnight but it can be corrected.
First off, try not to be nervous when you are around the horse. She will pick up on that. Horses are masters at reading body language. That is not to say, don't be cautious. Just be confident.
If you are around her, keep a halter and lead rope on her. If she should show a sign of kicking, put her to work. I mean really work. A horse only has a short term memory of about 3 seconds. The long term memory is much better. But short term is very brief. So your correction for bad behavior has to be immediate or she won't know what you are correcting her for.
If she should kick out, put her feet to work. I don't mean just lunge her around in circles. Make her do alot of change of directions. Send her off to the left, then turn her to the right. Back her up. Send her back off in different directions. What you will be doing is "make the wrong thing hard.....and the right thing easy". Then stop and pet her. If she should do it again, do the exercise again. This may take several episodes of this to correct but she will soon learn that kicking out means work. And she doesn't want to do that. She will choose to stand still and not kick. So you're not "making" her not kick. You're giving her the choice to stand or kick.
When mounting, I would gather your rein on the side you will mount (make sure the off-side rein is loose) and flex her head toward you. Stand close to the mare's shoulder. This will keep you out of the range of her hind foot if she should kick out. Dismount the same way. What this does is take her off-balance just a little. She will find it hard to kick out with her head flexed to the side. If she does try to kick, her hind will move away from you in the opposite direction away from you. Of course, at that point don't mount. Put her back to work changing directions. What you are doing is making her think. The key to controlling a horse's mind is controlling their feet. Then try to mount again. I think you will start seeing a change in the mare's attitude after doing this several times.
I hope this has been of help to you. If you need to discuss this further please feel free to email me:
blpdoc82652@yahoo.com
You can also read more about me on my website:
www.yazooequinetraining.com
Please stay safe and good luck.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for the response, I will definitely try this with cautious confidence. I have one other concern however, she does try to bite.  When I saddle her and begin to tighten the girth, she turns her head, pins her ears and bares her teeth. This doesn't happen all the time, and I always check anything that touches her before I use it. She doesn't have any injuries, bites or bumps and she is not colicky....she may have been in season though. As a solution, I have started cross tying her,she hasn't done any cow kicking (yet), but she definitely doesn't like the girth to be tightened. I do the best I can, then we do a little work out in the round pen, changing directions and keeping her attention on me. After that we work on "standing"... by then I have her complete attention and tightening the girth is not an issue. She is not great at "standing" when I mount, she tends to walk off...so then I take her back to the round pen and we start all over. I will admit, that after a couple times, I will stay on and go for our ride, even if she moves a couple steps.  She is fine after that and we are on our way. Do you have any other suggestions?  I think she was taught what to do in her early training, but since she was handled so little in the past 6 years,she may be somewhat spoiled. I appreciate all the help.

Answer
Hi Daria,
Try just snugging the cinch up...not "all the way" tight, an then lunging her for a minute or two. Then snug it up some more, lunging her, tighten the cinch a little more...lunging....then do your final tighten. This is the way I do all my horses I ride.
Walking off while trying to mount can be dangerous. I always teach a horse to stand still while mounting and never walk off till cued. The reprimand for walking off should come immediately after the act. This way the horse relates the act to the reprimand. I would not wait to take her to a round pen to reprimand her. I would start mounting her in the round pen. If she should start to walk off, move her feet. I mean really hustle her feet. I would back her around that pen several times at a fast pace. Nothing humbles a horse more than backing. Then I would start to mount again and dare her to try and walk off. I would do the same out of the round pen too. Dare her to walk off. If she does, hustle those feet backwards. Also, once in the saddle, sit there for a moment and flex her head laterally several times. Maybe you will ride off.....maybe sometimes you will just step down and do it again. You need to start making your horse guess if you are going to ride off or not. Sometimes I will go through the process of saddling my horse, just to mount and then get off and tie them up. Never going anyplace. They soon learn that just because I climb on doesn't mean we are going to move our feet. But I won't tolerate even one step from a horse unless cued.
Good luck and try it. I think you'll find this works. It may take a few times. Stay safe.