05.27.08
Kicking/bucking strap for driving horse in harness
There is a piece of harness equipment which many folks who train driving horses feel is indispensable. It is called a kicking or bucking strap, and its purpose is to prevent the horse from bucking or kicking out behind at the cart. Having seen a fellow driver using one of these on a carriage drive, I searched around and purchased one when we were training Gilford, and it has become a permanent part of our single harness.
Although Gilford had never shown an inclination to kick out behind, I felt that the kicking strap was a reasonable piece of insurance to have. I came across a story of an experienced, well-seasoned driving horse who suddenly started kicking and bucking, doing serious damage to his cart and himself, because he had received a bee sting on his sheath. (SEE bowersfarm.com article below.)
The kick strap is the one just above the horse’s tail (closest to you), which loops twice and buckles around the shafts on each side. Ours is secured to the harness at the (split) crupper; I believe another style can be fastened directly onto the backstrap if you don’t have a buckle-on crupper. There should be about a hand’s width of slack to allow for the horse’s normal movement. If the horse should try to lift his rump forcefully to kick out or buck, his rump is restrained by the weight of the cart, thus he cannot lift his hind legs into the air.
The simple effectiveness of this safety strap cannot be underestimated. I have seen both Glendale and Gilford start a little buck, humping their back and lifting their butt as if to kick out, and they were instantly discouraged from that action by the strap. If a horse actually kicked the cart behind him, more likely than not it would scare him and he’d kick again, potentially damaging the cart or hurting himself. A kicking bucking horse would be fighting to escape the cart, and could get its hind leg(s) over a shaft. It’s hard to imagine a worse scenario that could be averted simply by using a kicking strap. Maybe one should always be used, even when the horse is well trained and experienced.
We ourselves had a driving mishap years back with the boys’ mom, which most likely a kicking strap would have nipped in the bud.
This brings me to the story of our loaned-out training cart being returned to us with new shafts and wheels replaced. Our friend’s green horse had been doing really well for several sessions pulling the training cart she had borrowed from us. Then one day it was quite windy so she made her session short rather than to push a jittery horse.
She had the horse facing a barn wall as she started unhitching (solo), when the wind spooked the horse who jumped forward and caught a shaft on the edge of a stall door. The horse must have felt trapped, because he panicked and began kicking the cart. The horse ended up with a leg cut requiring stitches but was OK otherwise, and the cart shafts and wheels were bent and twisted.
It is highly possible that this accident would have turned out better if the horse had been wearing a kicking strap… and now remedial training will probably be necessary to get this horse back into driving training.
Kicking strap (wish we had had one) stories:
from Axwood Farm Library
Photo of harness kicking strap
article at Bowersfarm.com
sold at drivingessentials.com
