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About Rick Gore (www.thinklikeahorse.org)
Expertise
Visit Rick Gore's Horse Site: www.thinklikeahorse.org
--I am a student of the horse. I can answer questions about sacking out (Desensitizing vs. Sensitizing), dealing with spooky, abused or ex-race horses, rearing, bucking, horses that won’t tie or load into a trailer, working in a round pen/round corral, starting colts, dealing with aggressive or so called "mean" horses, herd behavior, biting, kicking, horses that won’t let you mess with their feet or head, horses that are hard to take a bit and hard to catch. I can also answer questions about using a bosal or hackamore, do's and don'ts, soft hands and direct reining verses neck reining. If you expect me to tell you feel good advice, you will be disappointed. 95% of all my answers will include the problem is you and not your horse. About 90% of most answers that I give out are on my web site, so if you read it you will probably answer your own question and may learn a few other things. I am like Gordon Ramsey (Hell's Kitchen) and Simon Cowell (Idol), you may not like what I say or how I say it, but it will be pretty true and accurate, in my opinion, judging from my experience.

Experience
I am an experienced horseman with many years of riding and handling horses. I grew up in Texas around horses and horse people. I have started colts, ridden many horses with behavior issues and worked with problem horses. (I believe that most horse problems are normally people problems) I believe in and practices natural horsemanship. I continue to read and study books by great horsemen. I routinely attends clinics, talks with and discuss horse issues with other clinicians and trainers. I have never met a horse that could not be fixed. I believe it is never the horse's fault and with proper handling, all problems can be worked out.

Education/Credentials
Rick has life long experience in being around and working with horses. Over the years he has watched good horsemen do the right thing and seen the wrong things done with bad results. Rick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.

You are here: Experts > Sports > Horse Racing > Horses > kicker: Rick Gore Horsemanship - www.thinklikeahorse.org

Horses - kicker: Rick Gore Horsemanship - www.thinklikeahorse.org

Expert: Rick Gore (www.thinklikeahorse.org) - 10/27/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Rick, Im new to your site, still reading:-) but I have a question, I have a gorgeous 5 month old blue roan paint colt who I work with religiously, hes halter broke, leads, stands tied, and will pick up his feet at the drop of a hat.... if I can get ahold of him. no matter what Im doing, or what hes doing, he tries to kick me, I can hardly get around to his head before he swings his butt around, I try again and again, same reaction, but once I can get his halter, hes an angel. The kicks are starting to hurt, hes not so little anymore, and I WILL NOT let this become a habit, though it seems it already has. Ive always been a horse owner, and can handle most things by myself, but with every approach I can think of, he lashes out. He was born in my barn, so he knows me, but he acts like he dosent. this all just started about 2 months ago. Is it an age thing? or because were weaning him? Thanks so much for your time, hopefully this can help someone else out too:-)

ANSWER: I was reading this on my iPhone in a store and I was laughing out loud and shaking and my head. What are you thinking, of course the kicks are hurting a new born can break your jaw and other bones if it gets you right. This is only funny because no one has has been hurt yet. Why are weaning him? This is a big issues with me and gets me fired up with people who have this need to pull a horse from it's mom. You are causing this, you are teaching this, you are making this colt disrespectful, you are showing this horse that you are weak and that you are lower, all very bad lessons and I just don't get it.

A horse needs his mom for countless reasons, yet again and again I see (mainly women) who just have to wean a horse from it's mom, this is not a puppy or kittie. I don't know if is it a jealous thing, a control thing, some idiot has said it and people think it is a good idea or what. It is wrong, it is mean, it teaches bad lesson, it is not needed and it creates problems for NO good reasons.

A young horse, especially a colt (baby stallion), needs his mom to teach him manners, to teach him pressure and release, to teach him to listen, to teach him a lesson when he kicks a higher horse, all the wrong things you are teaching. You have been lucky and your horse has to pay. Here is what you have done. You have allowed this since you have not stopped it, you have set this horse up to be a dangerous kicker as it gets older and you have taught this horse to think and learn that it is ok to kick at humans. Now has he gets older, stronger, smarter, better aim, it will be ten times as hard to fix. Please don't tell me how good the horse is, what a great job you have done, I don't care if your horse stands upright and uses a toilet, you have set this horse up to fail miserably. Yes I know, you meant well, I know you are trying, I know you did not mean too, I know you did not know and all the others reasons I hear..... that does not mean anything to this horse. The damage is done and now this horse has to be taught some tough lessons with more force and fear with more intense aggression to TRY and undo what you have done/taught. And what you have done, is done to horses every day by thousands of people who love and care for them, but it does not matter. Had you read my other answers you have heard all this before.

I feel sorry for horses since I can't stop this cycle since too many people are good, mean well, try, rescue and take on a horse all meaning well and then the horse is made into a spoiled dangerous horse from love, cookies and trying. And in the end the horse always ends up the loser with a past and no future.

Now that I hope I have made it clear how bad this it, here is my suggestions, not that most people listen anyway, but here is the short version.

- Put the horse with it's mom.
- Handle the horse less until you learn how to think like a horse and treat this horse like a lower horse
- The next time this horse, and every time after this, that this horse kicks/attempts to kick/raises his leg, scare the crap out of it and chase it down like you are going to eat and kill it for about 3 to 5 seconds, after the second or third time it should stop (since you and the mom will now be teaching the same lessons). YES it is OK to hit him with anything anywhere to stop this immediately before he hurts someone and some brilliant human will want to put the horse down since it is dangerous and has hurt or killed someone.

If you TRY and do one of these it will not work, if you try and be nice, it will not work, if you try and not be too hard, it will not work, if you think there are other ways and think you know better, then this horse is doomed.

And please don't write me back with a page of your resume and try and justify this. This is my answer and nothing is going to change that, if you really care about this horse, then stop treating it like a pet and treat it like a horse. You said this started two months ago, that means this horse has got 60 days of training on kicking. You also asked if this is an age thing, yes all horses kick at all ages. In a herd horses only kick lower horses and young horses get schooled by higher horses very aggressively. So in this horse's mind, since he only "thinks like a horse", you are the lowest member of the herd since he kicks you and gets away with it. Also in his young impressionable mind he now thinks that all two legged people are lower than him and he can kick us all. If you put him back with mom, watch what happens when he kicks her and realize you caused that from your teachings. Mom is going to show this horse what happen when you kick a higher horse, take note, since that is what you should do when he kicks you.

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

QUESTION: I know you prefer no replys, but I guess I didnt specify on one major detail... It is completely impossible for my colt to be with his mom, I came home one day, and she was gone, thanks to the man who sold her to me. I dont know where she is, and for this, I deeply sympathize with her son. Your advice is working, hes only swung at me once so far, I can walk behind him, and hes beginning to come to me when I head in his direction. For lack of a better option, Ive put him with my only other mare, whos never been a mother. Shes certainly teaching him the manners he needs, his actual mom was pretty "stand-offish" toward him, she would nurse him, but aside from that she didnt have much to do with him. I hope putting him with Starr will not be a mistake in the long run, so far its working out very nicely. Youre the professional, but in my opinion, shes a better mother to him than his bio mom was. He learned quickly enough not to mess with her, and shes done alot for his attitude. Once again, I am deeply greatful for your advice, and for the record, I realize it must be frustrating loving horses and watching people doing it wrong... But to learn, we need teachers, thankyou for being there to help:-)

Answer
You are more than welcome and any horse is better with another horse than no horse, so this mare will do a fine job since she only knows how to be a horse. She will teach you as well as him if you watch her and understand that she is consistent, she never gets mad and does not hold a grudge, she takes care of issues when they happen and then moves on, she will warn and talk to this colt with her body, ears, tail and butt and head position. Watch her, she will not correct this horse or get aggressive without asking first, this is what you need to copy. But this horse will know that she will get aggressive if he does not listen...hint hint

Sorry if I went off about the weaning thing since this appears to have been out of your control, but this silly routine of weaning these poor babies just gets my goat. So it sounds like you are making progress so that is good for this little guy and that is why I do this. Resist the urge to feel sorry for this little guy, he has moved on and his life about survival, safety and just being a horse, so you work on YOU, you get better, you learn to be a good strong consistent leader so this little guy knows his place in the herd and where he stands, since that is where horses like to be, they find comfort in knowing their position and knowing clearly who is the leader and who is in charge.

Best of luck and this little guy is going to teach you more than some older well behaved horse, so pay attention and enjoy the journey.

Rick

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