On Sun, Sep 02, 2007 at 02:04:37PM -0000, Kim Morton wrote: > I think this is true, it's very hard for me to imagine one of my > Icelandics kicking anybody, they hardly ever kick each other.
data point: stjarni is turned out with two other geldings, a qh and a paint. stjarni is king, having deposed the old king (rio) right away. rio is not thrilled about this, and periodically gets back into dominance battles with stjarni about it, both horses rearing up and biting and carrying on. royal doesn't like any of this, and tends to approach the fighting pair, usually coming up behind stjarni. stjarni responds with a huge flurry of kicks, often while still rearing, which is quite the sight in terms of his balance. i think it might help if they had another horse in the turnout (it's intended for five horses) just b/c rio and royal have been best friends forever and i think a broader social spectrum would be good for stjarni. also, he *has* kicked me once, sorta. here's the story: i don't like to wait to clean sheaths until once a year when it's totally disgusting. if stjarni happens to be dropped when i'm grooming him anyway, i seize the opportunity, as it were. once though i apparently was a bit too ungentle, and he reached up and *tapped* my hand, quite gently, with a rear hoof. i stopped and it never has happened again, but technically one might consider that to have been a kick. --vicka
