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  Discussion on Stall wall padding
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Posted on Monday, Jan 22, 2001 - 11:20 pm:

Hi--I'm not sure if I'm in the correct topic area or not, but here goes! I have a stall wall kicker. I've tried kicking chains and reacting strongly (you know, yelling, shouting, etc.) to no avail. my mare is really doing some damage to the wall next to the stall door and she's damaging her hooves. I'm thinking it's time to consider putting some rubber padding on the wall; was thinking of using a stall mat, but as you all know, they're so heavy and cumbersome to work with, I wonder what other more light weight, but sturdy options are available. If I do use a stall mat, what's the best thing to use to cut them? Anyone out there have a similar situation and what have you used/tried? thanks

PS my mare is turned out to pasture 8 hours a day and has a nice big (12x14) stall. Another horse in the barn starts the kicking, usually around 3am, and my mare "chimes" in...it's almost like a contest to see who can make the most noise.

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 - 9:16 am:

Several sellers of the rubber mats (including the ones used as conveyer belts) use the traditional cutting knife. Yes it is cumbersome. Many places will cut for you if you provide accurate measurements.

I wonder if the thick padded vinyl covered mats used on the inside wall of horse trailers would work. Probably the kicking would break the vinyl.

Maybe try to tackle this problem by finding out why the other horse starts kicking. Is it out of hay or water?

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 - 1:03 pm:

We had surprising success cutting stall mats using one of those curved linoleum cutting knives and I'm a weakling.

Kicking in our barn usually involves eye contact or even a change of position of the horse next to the kicker. Lots of "eeeeeeeeeuuuuuee! He's LOOKING at me!!", during meal time or right after passing out hay. In some cases we solved it by putting a vision shield of some kind between the kicker and the looker. Or tried the kicker in another stall. Those steps are a lot easier than wrestling with stall mats.

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 - 1:44 pm:

I have used the conveyor belt on the wall for my mare. I did not cut it (was told that I could with a utility knofe) but it is very heavy and I put up a 24' section along one wall with the help of one person. One of the problems I have had is that my horse wears down her hoof on the side where she kicks now so the medial-lateral balance of the hoof is off. I found that easyboots will keep this wearing down from occurring but that is high maintenance. Kick chains usually work for my horse but she still kicks once or twice a day. With the kick chains on, the hoof does not wear down as quickly as it does without any chains at all because she is not kicking as much.
Anyway, just wanted to warn you about the hoof wearing down. Someone else in my barn has put berber type carpet on the wall and that seems to work.
I feel like I keep putting band aids on the problem and can't quite get the real solution solved so I know how frustrating it can be. My horse didn't kick until she was in a stable with other stall kickers as well and she is kept in a 12 x 24 stall. I think it's contageous.

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 - 2:15 pm:

One of the large Dressage barns in our area puts carpet on the walls of the stall also. However, instead of just putting it flat on the wall, they hang a 2 x 4 on the wall (about 3 to 4 feet off the floor) and then hang the carpet from that. They leave the bottom of the carpet loose. The barn manager says that it stops the horses from kicking, because they get frustrated that they aren't actually hitting the wall, they're hitting the floppy carpet. I'm not sure if I completely believe that, and since I don't have any kickers, I've never had to try it. The manager also said that they don't have any problems with the horses pulling the carpet off the wall.

Again, this is just something I've seen, but not tried, but maybe it will help.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 4:51 am:

Hello All,
This "kicking rail" that Heidi describes is a popular techinique that I have been told has worked for some horses.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 12:31 pm:

I have used the 'fatigue mats' that I can find at the hardware stores (Home Base, Home Depot. etc.). They are the black rubber mats with holes in them, and they weigh much less than stall mats. Size is about 3 feet by 3 feet, cost about $20. Once I hung the mat in the stall of the horse that was kicking, he quit kicking altogether. I think the mat kind of freaked him out and made him change his ways!

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 5:23 pm:

I have seen, though not used myself, thicker matting than what others have suggested. They look more like thick gymnastics mats, about 4 inches thick and pretty cushy. I don't think hard mats would protect your horse's legs, although it may keep the barn in better shape. I'm interested in following this issue, because I, too, have a stall kicker that kicks REALLY hard and I'm worried about an injury.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 5:54 pm:

I have had just one stall kicker and it was very scary, se cut herself a couple of times and after that i just left her out in the paddock with a rug on, the others appreciated getting out of the cold. The one thing i noticed is that even when i put her in the stall with weed mat walls (soft material like sheeting) she would still kick but she would aim at the uprights so she was still kicking something hard. so my rationalising sais if there was nothing that seemed "hard" she would have probably given up.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 7:22 pm:

hi all--These are wonderful ideas! Thank you so much for contributing. I love Heidi's "Kicking rail" idea and I've also thought of using the "fatigue mats" (though I worry/wonder if shoes could snag on them and loosen up???) Anyway, I'll let you all know what I try and if it works.....Like Lee said, this kicking thing is really frustrating and fixing up the wall seems like only a bandaid fix, but it's gotta do for now! Keep the suggestions coming!

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 9:16 pm:

I too, was thinking about adding stall mats as a last ditch effort to stop my mares from kicking.

i don't however, know how to put them up? What is the best way? My stall has concrete walls. and from the waist up the concrete blocks are on their sides so you can see thru them to the next stall. Since its not my barn (barn Man. is all for it) I would have to do something that doesn't destruct the walls too much. Any ideas?

becky how did you attach the hole mats?

thanks.

Posted on Thursday, Jan 25, 2001 - 11:17 am:

My stalls have 2 narrow open spaces between the slats at about 4 feet and 5 feet so that the horses can see each other. I just used bailing twine and looped it through the holes in the fatigue mat and then tied the twine around the slats through the openings, so they are just sort of hanging. I did not need to attach anything to the walls at all.

Posted on Saturday, Jan 27, 2001 - 10:31 pm:

hello again! just want to give you an update: with my wonderful spouse's help, we put up a 5 ft long 2x4 with a 3x5' heavy rubber 'fatigue' mat to cover the area that Scarlett's been kicking. I got the mat at a restaurant supply store for @$32.00. It's a softer rubber than a stall mat, but seems capable of putting up with a lot of abuse if need be. Lance used 4inch lag-bolts and "fender washers" (large area washers) to attach the mat to the 2x4 and then to the stall wall..It was kind of amusing to see Scarlett's first reaction to this new contraption in her stall! She was pretty skeptical! So, we'll see....at least I'm comfortable that even if she continues to kick, there won't be any more damage to the wall and the blow should cause less trauma to her hoof. I just hope she doesn't start kicking a different area of the stall! I'll keep you posted on the outcome!
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