Mare kicks when hauled with other horses

Question
Hello, I have a 24 year old show mare that has been hauled extensively.  She developed a very bad habit of wanting to kick out when in a trailer with other horses.  When she is alone she hauls fine and she never offers to kick at a show.  She will kick whether the trailer is moving or standing still.  I am 30 and have been working and showing horses for over 15 years and this is the first aged horse I have had do this.  She did stop for a while when I once was on the road and had to hit the breaks pretty hard to avoid a wreck but anything else we have tried such as food, placing her in different order in the trailer, putter her in different kinds of trailers doesn't seem to help.   She didnt always do this and she doesn't kick at her pasture mates that she is out with all the time...only when loaded in a trailer next to another horse whether she knows them or not.  I'd appreciate any ideas or thoughts you might have on correcting this problem. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Jamie, this is one of those things that we cause and horses just do, so to stop it we need to stop what we are doing.  Like most horse problems, they are really people problems.  I think you would agree it you did not trailer her she would not kick.  So we have to look at this problems for that point of view.

First, I would try and only tailer her by herself, that would fix.  I know, it may be more work, it may take more time, but we know that would fix it.  So either the problem is important enough to fix or it is not that big of a problem.

Another thing you could is get a full length divider for your horse, if she cannot see the other horse, she may not kick and if she does kick with a full divider she will not get the other horse.

Lastly, I don't like this and would not do it, but you try and sideline hobble her, after you teach her to be hobbled, and then do it when you tailer her.  This increases the chances of her getting hurt or falling and has much more risk than I would want to take.

Another possible solution could be putting a single hobble on her rear leg and then running the rope through the halter ring and then back to the other leg, that way she can walk, but if she kicks she yanks her on own head.  Again, this has the ability to hurt the horse and I would use unless it was an emergency and I had to haul her, however, you may do it once or twice and it may fix the problem with no other issues.

I have a section on hobbles on my website, if you have more questions let me know.


Rick