Door Banging.............Help!

[Montalf]

Hi all, I have a gelding who likes to make his presence felt - and heard!! by banging his door. He doesn't bang with his foot but rather his knee, in the scraping/strike out with a front foot action, which for one thing is causing him to have some swelling and scrapes on his knee area.

I have got some foam to help this problem, to soften the blow so hopefully he won't cause any further damage, however it only slightly muffles the sound, it doesn't stop it completely and therefore he's just belting it harder now to make his point!
He does it at haynet time in the morning which is understandable, however since moving to a new yard he has now started doing it more and more, basically he does it for the attention of anyone around and will stop if ignored, eventually, but invariably people don't want to listen to my horse kicking 7 bells out of his stable door while they are trying to see to their horses.
I have spoken to the YO and instead of just one net in the morning, if he's not going out because I am at work until later he now gets the net split into 3 portions and put in at intervals of a couple of hours.

Has anyone tried anything that has stopped this habit? I have ignored him, and spread his food out over longer however the one thing I am not doing is feeding him more, he is overweight as it is and he does not need any extra, just to keep him quiet. I have also tried putting him behind a bar so that he can't get to the door with his legs however this really upsets him as he cannot put his head out and he gets very stressed and throws himself around, which is obviously putting himself more at risk. The foam muffles it to a certain degree and reduces the risk of him injuring himself, it's the noise that I need to reduce or stop, he gets a last bit of hay late at night on the YO last check and he's at it then, and there are neighbours to the yard and it must be so annoying!
He doesn't get distressed or worked up but due to other liveries feeding him treats or extra hay every time he banged at a previous yard he's obviously learned this gets him food, so it's not going to be easy to stop!
Any ideas are gratefully received - before I tie his legs together!! (Joke!!)

[mypropertea]

www.quitkick.com as a last resort it worked for a pony at my yard. He kicked cos he wanted treats but didn't give up even when no one ever gave him any (fear of death from yard manager :)). It was getting to the stage where he was going to damage his joints so this was the better option.

[britnay]

Have you tried a stall guard? Something like this: www.robinsonsequestrian.com/requisite-stall-guard--760941?colcode=76094121

[Biggles398]

Can he have the door open with a chain across? (Or would he then scrape the floor as opposed to kick the door?)
My old mare did for a brief spell after a stay at horsepital where her neighbour did it. When ignoring her didn't work, I'm afraid she got a quick squirt with water (I kept a bottle outside her door), and this stopped her (but as I said, it was a copied behaviour, so wasn't an 'old' habit if that makes sense!)
I've heard of the quitkick working though

[Montalf]

Thanks for the replies will look at the quitkick!
Stall guard or chain - have used them in the past and they work great when I am there and can keep an eye on him but it's mainly when I am not apparently he creates the most and it would rely on the YO and other liveries not only opening the door and making sure the guard/chain is up but also closing it again before they go and making sure he doesn't try and duck under a chain and get stuck (can you tell we've tried this before lol) he's an escapologist as well - though three bolts and one covered with hard plastic seem to have solved that for now. Bloody welsh x Irish horses - full of mischief and soooo good at problem solving!
I will try the water trick as well, see if I can discourage him.
Thanks all will let you know how I get on!

[MrsderPunkt]

Fit a curved bar across the door at chest height (his) to keep him back from the door and make kicking more difficult.

[Montalf]

Thanks for the replies......... :-D
Ordered a quitkick.
While waiting for delivery etc I have repadded the door, with foam and padding, and covered with an old rug to secure and stop it being ripped, and made sure the door is snug with no leway to rattle when he kicks - and everything crossed but due to the lack of noise I think when he does bang, he appears to have taken to sulking now as the kicking is not making anywhere near as much noise as it used to!
I don't suppose it will last long but hopefully it will stop him driving everyone nuts until the quitkick arrives and can be fitted!