Why is my horse kicking?

Why does my horse kick?

WHY DOES MY HORSE KICK

If you're kicked by a horse, it can have serious consequences for both humans and other animals. Most people know to be cautious when passing behind or approaching a horse's hind legs. Additionally, horses can strike with their front legs, so be aware of this too.

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Recognizing emotion.

Understanding your horse’s emotional state helps you know what he is ready for. Observe if he’s tense with a tight tail, high head, and pinned ears (Right-Brain behavior), or if he appears relaxed or grumpy, avoiding contact (Left-Brain behavior).

The warning signs.

Right-Brain Horses: Tighten their tails, bring hindquarters inward, and may strike when pressured or cornered.
Left-Brain Horses: Show quick movements, like tail swishing or ear pinning, before striking, giving more visual warning.

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The Kick

Right-Brain Horses: Strike fast and accurately, often multiple times if panicked.
Left-Brain Horses: Kick slowly and deliberately, sometimes from a distance.

What to do when you are kicked?

Once kicked, it’s too late to punish the horse. Punishment is ineffective and can make the horse fearful. Instead, focus on becoming a reliable leader to build trust and respect.

Knowing the risks?

Always be aware of the danger when dealing with a horse that doesn’t trust or respect you. Avoid the danger zone, protect your space, and work on building trust and respect.

Good horse people read horses, they know what to expect and prevent it. If they are hit by a horse, they will immediately admit that they have made a wrong assessment.

What to do?

Invest in your relationship with your horse. Understand his personality and communicate effectively. Recognize the importance of the relationship over rigid goals. Invest in the relationship with your horse. Make sure you know his personality and take sensible actions that bring you closer together. Earn the respect of your horse and ensure you are kind and reliable. Too often, people become too focused on goals, becoming rigid and forgetting that the relationship comes first. Make sure you understand what is important to your horse and what you need to do. Learn and study the horse language that horses use among themselves and how they display it in their interactions with humans. Practice reading the expressions and behaviors of horses, and you will be amazed at how clear they are. If you want to be safe and comfortable around horses, you must understand horse language/communication, not only from your horse but also from other horses.

Make no assumptions.

Just because your horse was a certain way yesterday, does not guarantee the same behavior today. You do not know how your horse experienced your previous session, and you also do not know what has happened in the horse group in the meantime. Various factors in the environment can influence the horse, such as the weather or if a horse in the group saw something that made others uneasy.

Translate this paragraph to English: When your horse looks at you with ears forward and a positive expression, when he is not tense, bored, or distracted and you are not introducing anything new, it is likely okay. But for people with knowledge and experience, this is not enough. They make sure every day that they earn the respect of their horse by responsibly and with knowledge and skill, dealing with the horse they have in front of them at that moment. This means they have a quiver of knowledge arrows that they can use in various different circumstances they encounter in their interactions with their horse.

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