# Pawing, banging on the gate



## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Not sure if/how it would work on a stall gate, but maybe for the pasture gate this would work. My appy did the same thing, pawing at the gate and banging it around. It was a tubular steel gate, so I wrapped it in chicken wire so he couldn't get his legs in it. Then he decided to just shove the whole gate around, and nearly broke the hinges a few times. I took some insulated electric wire and 2 long insulators and a section of exposed electric wire. I wired the insulators to the top of the gate, angled in towards the horses and put the bare wire on the insulators, and used a longer section of insulated wire to connect it to the electric fence. The insulated wire is long enough to not interfere with the swing of the gate.
This has also taught the horses not to crowd the gate when it swings open! Bonus!


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

Thats an idea. The two gates he does this most to are stall and a gate on a wood fence so getting electric to these would be a trick. I'll mention this to the husband...


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Omg, does that not just drive you nuts?

Nutmeg has a bad habit of doing the same thing. And when you go to get after him...He turns and bolts so you can't get reach him. I could just hear him laughing at me. Over and over and over. Grrr!

Before we remodeled our barn, I could hide just around the corner and when he did it I'd surprise him and get close enough to smack him with a whip...not anymore.

I could kill him sometimes with his impatience. But more often then not...just yelling at him stops it. 

Now if only I could get Rumor to stop pawing...*sigh*
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I wouldn't think it cruel of you to use the shock collar. Sometimes something like that is the only way to stop a habit that is dangerous to the horse and your property.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

It takes a few days to fix this annoying habit but it can be done. As soon as the banging starts turn your back and start walking away. Don't turn to face him until the banging stops. Because you have responded to the banging in one way or another, he thinks that's how to get feed. So you have to change that thinking. Be patient while you wait it out. It may get more frantic but in his confusion he will stop. That is when you return with the feed. If he starts again before you get there, walk away again with your back to him. A mare I boarded soon learned that when she walked away the feed arrived. It took only two sessions. Don't yell or even talk to the horse, just silently walk away.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I was spoilt for many years by my Border Collie, if a horse banged the door then she would run along and snap at their nose. The resident horses might be looking over the door, the moment they heard the band they moved their heads inside, the dog was indiscriminate over who was banging and when outside the barn never knew the culprit so anything looking out would get snapped at!

When she was gone a pony came and he was a terrible banger - to the point he would start in the middle of the night and continue for however long he fancied. 
One night he started at 2 a.m. I listened for a while and then had enough. I ran out of my cottage to his stable, grabbed a broom and went into him. He wanted attention so he got it. I bashed him with the broom shoving the bristles on his belly and legs. Needless to say he never banged again. He went away returning to me a few years later, as soon as I started to mix the feeds he started, I ran to his stable with a broom which I waved at him and he never banged again.

I have not the time to keep walking away if they bang. When you have many horses to feed it would just take far to long so, of they want attention they get it. Might not be the attention they wanted but they soon realise that banging is not the way to go.


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

Chelsea - yes, yes it does! I could just about kill him.

Saddlebag - Hmmm. If only this was just about food time. He does this every time he sees someone. It would take me an awful long time to groom another horse, bathe a horse, train a horse, ride a horse or even mow my yard if every time I stopped and walked away. 

I see how this could work, and might have to just put a days worth of "try" in to see if that is something.

This is ANY time he sees you. He wants attention. 

Foxhunter - I have gone after him with the whip. Startled the snot out of him. He bumped his head on our low ceilings in the barn, slipping on the rubber mats and scrambled out of the way. Whapped him a few more times for good measure. Only to turn around and have him bang on the gate before I even got back to what I was doing. :evil:

We've all been lobbing empty feed scoops, buckets, brushes, down the isle at him and now he just doesn't even move. You can bean him in the head he doesn't care (clearly, he is a draft horse...) sometimes he'll back up long enough to see what that was then hes back at it. 

Like I said, I think he is fine with the negative attention he has been getting so this week I've been trying to just ignore him altogether. 



I think I'll have to resort to something electric. Wire up something around the gates or some sort of shock collar so that he doesn't associate it with me being right there. I could be weeding my garden, hear him bang because he sees me and zap him from there. He might just knock it the heck off. I was just hoping maybe I missed trying something and something else could be done. This will only get less cute as he matures to over 17hh. My poor gates!


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

I would rig up a shock collar for him. I would have no issues with resorting to a using one if I had the need. There's no way your going to hurt him.

You can just go about what your doing and as soon as he bangs the gate, zap. He won't associate it with you and hopefully will knock his naughty behavior off.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Djinnjer (May 11, 2012)

Saddlebag said:


> It takes a few days to fix this annoying habit but it can be done. As soon as the banging starts turn your back and start walking away. Don't turn to face him until the banging stops. Because you have responded to the banging in one way or another, he thinks that's how to get feed. So you have to change that thinking. Be patient while you wait it out. It may get more frantic but in his confusion he will stop. That is when you return with the feed. If he starts again before you get there, walk away again with your back to him. A mare I boarded soon learned that when she walked away the feed arrived. It took only two sessions. Don't yell or even talk to the horse, just silently walk away.



This worked for me too, although mine also did it for attention, not food. She learned pretty quickly that pawing/banging = no attention and only rarely does it anymore.


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## Slave2Ponies (May 25, 2013)

A shock collar might be necessary if he likes negative attention. I guarantee he will not like that! It's a dangerous habit and not just irritating. If they paw the gate, they may soon start pawing the fence and someday they may get their foot hung up in something.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Slave, somewhere along this line his pawing got the results he wanted. If often takes only once and now he thinks if he paws at the sight of someone, anyone food will come. This is Pavlov's theory of conditioned reflex. You need to get everyone else on board to walk away. It is important to present your back, otherwise he thinks he still has a chance. If you're grooming another horse, try to keep your back to him at first. If he quits banging, quickly pop a treat in his mouth. Do this each time and he should start coming around. BTW, it is akin to abuse to use a shock collar on a horse and there have been disastrous outcomes.


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## Slave2Ponies (May 25, 2013)

Ignoring by turning your back is a good plan, and it's a valid opinion that shocking a horse might be cruel (depending on the horse). Some people feel it is cruel to use a shock collar on a dog, and I would not use one on a horse or a dog unless I was desperate. I certainly wouldn't start using it when the horse is in the stall. The collar I have has a setting for just a tone and vibration. There is a whole method to using the collar and the point is not to just shock the heck out of the animal -- that would never work. 

It is always harder to untrain an already formed habit, and this one seems very ingrained. It will require a lot of thought and strategy whatever method you use.

Ignoring(turning your back as described) is a really good strategy, but only if everyone does it without fail, and forever. It has worked for me with most horses.

One thing I did with a really stubborn horse was I sneaked into the loft of the barn (up above the gate) and threw a rock down hard on her rump each time she picked up her foot to paw. I think the secret was that she had no idea where that rock came from (otherwise it would have just been a form of attention to her). I spent a weekend just doing that every time she came up by the gate. It worked after 3 or 4 times. 

I guess my point is, I would do whatever it takes, because I think it is a dangerous habit. If you use the punishment method -- rock, shock collar vibration, or whatever -- the point is they can't know it comes from you or they win just by getting your attention.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

I'm going to go against the grain. Not all horses do it for attention it seems, or it escalates to when no one is there. I know this because soon after getting Chief (our gate banger) I came home from work, no one had been home for 9 hours, and the gate was off 1 hinge, and barely still hanging on. I would look out the window and see him pawing at the gate. No amount of ignoring him would cut it out, cause for him it wasn't linked to attention anymore, it was entertainment.
I'm not saying this is necessarily the case with the OP's horse, just a thought and to point out that the behavior can escalate.


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

Thanks for the opinions. 

Personally, I wouldn't think the shock collar is "abuse" at all. He is in an electric fence. If he bumps the wire, his velvety nose gets zapped. Same thing for the pawing, it should work similar. If he picks up a foot to bang the gate, he gets a zap. Of course there are MANY other situations in which this would be un-appropriate but I think in this case it might just work.

I'm not so sure that he has ever gotten what he wanted as a result of banging on the gate. He up and started on day and was fed last/had a bucket thrown at him right from the get go. I think like karliejaye said, its partly in boredom. 80% of it is over attention vrs at feeding time. He wants to be the horse out doing something if there is a horse out. 

Anyway - I did put the dog collar on him, he didn't even notice. Neither does the dog though. Not sure why, it was a well rated extra strength collar. 

May have to invest in a new one. This one stopped my sisters German Shepard in his tracks but my dog doesn't bat an eye on the highest setting - apparently, neither does the horse.


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## Joker2000 (May 13, 2014)

Mine taught himself how to stop. He would paw at the bottom rail all the time. One day he put his leg too high, caught the 2nd rail and his leg went thru. Took him awhile to figure out how to get his leg back but he did it. It's been over a year now and he hasn't pawed the rail
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

I think we all must have this issue! My mare taught our gelding to do it, it seems. Mostly he just leans in it though, not as much pawing. Now she has since moved on to biting the barb wire fence. She takes it in her teeth and pulls, plucking it like a guitar. I do think we need to do better with ignoring her, as that one seems to work best. Not even yelling at her, but just turn away. Certainly the laughing at her when she got her tongue and lips momentarily stuck to it in the dead of winter didn't help- any attention is still attention, right?!


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