The Kick Strap

He was a great old horse, retired now, but still as useful and good as ever. They just didn’t use him near as much as when they and their daughter hauled him all over the country, winning halter, riding, and driving championships at every major show of his breed.

It was a pleasant summer evening, so, as they often did, they got the old horse out and went for a leisurely drive around the neighborhood, enjoying the peace and security of driving such a great horse.

They were stopped to talk in the driveway of a friend, when the unthinkable happened. This perfect horse, who was standing there like a statue, suddenly went berserk. He put his head down and began to violently kick the cart apart with his back feet! One of the blows struck the man in the side of the head, another got the woman in the arm before they managed to lurch, in horror, out of the way. Oddly, the horse never took a step forward as he blasted the front out of the cart.

An ambulance was dispatched for the people, and their vet was summoned too, because the horse had cut himself badly. "He was cut, bruised, and bleeding, from the hocks down, and I almost didn’t see it", the vet said. "I happened to look up toward his flank, and there it was. His sheath was swollen up to about twice the size of normal. The poor guy had been stung by a hornet, right where it really hurts!"

What could they have done to prevent this unfortunate wreck? A kick strap would have made all of the difference.

A kick strap is a piece of driving horse equipment that is considered an accessory. But around our training farm, you’ll find that the kick strap gets used on every horse in single harness. It’s a harness accessory that, when correctly applied, virtually eliminates the chances of getting yourself or the vehicle kicked.

Contrary to the indication given by its name, the "kick strap" is actually an anti-kick strap and an anti-buck strap. It is a beautiful experience to be sitting behind a frisky colt that is trying to buck, when he is wearing a kick strap. He might be squealing and bawling like a saddle bronc, but noise is the extent of the damage. He can’t do any harm because he can’t get his rear end off the ground when the kick strap is in use.

To understand how a kick strap works one needs to study the body movements of a horse at play. In order for the rear hooves of the horse to reach rearward and upwards, the hindquarters of the horse must be elevated. If the upward mobility of the rump is restricted, then the kicking ability is also restricted. The kick strap is a clever device because it uses other parts of the harness, the shafts, the vehicle and even the weight of the driver and any passengers, all in synchrony to accomplish its effect.

From a mechanical viewpoint, the kick strap can be thought of as a fulcrum. The horse, when he tries to kick up, is the operator of a lever. But the horse is disadvantaged because he has been given the short end of the lever in order to lift something that is fairly heavy on the long end of the lever - the driver and the vehicle.

The shaft wraps (i.e., overgirth, shaft shackles, etc.) need to be stout because they anchor the horse’s end of the lever bar (the shafts) to the horse when he applies the lever bar to the fulcrum (when kicking). With a good quality lever (the shafts), the horse will not normally be strong or heavy enough to lift the load at the other end of the lever (the driver and the vehicle), thus preventing the kick.

In our opinion, there are good reasons for using a kick strap. It is effective when properly applied; it is inexpensive (usually less than $80); it is humane to the horse; it inconspicuously blends in with the rest of the harness; it is easy to use; it greatly reduces the risk of a serious wreck. We often call the kick strap a "cheap insurance policy." Of course it’s not like insurance at all. It’s better, because it prevents injury from happening.

Admittedly we are in a business, training for the public, that selects for horses with more difficult behavior. Many drivers do not have to deal with these kinds of horses. But even the best of horses can get to feeling a little too good. Too much confinement, good feed, and brisk weather can come together to make even a "plug" feel like playing sometimes. When any horse, young or old, just started, or well-trained, kicks up and contacts the floorboards and singletree area of a vehicle, it is not likely to quit kicking until it has succeeded in removing itself from the vehicle. That is why the kick strap is standard equipment for us. A playful buck or a reaction to being stung is barely noticed if a kick strap is used.

Many drivers rely on a shortened overcheck to accomplish the same safety advantage that a kick strap provides. But a jacked-up head hurts a horse’s pulling ability, and is inhumane because of the way it causes a horse to move so artificially. Leaving an overcheck fastened while a horse is parked somewhere is cruel and unnecessary.

This simple accessory, the kick strap, can greatly reduce the danger level for both the horse and the driver. It can help change the outlook of the person who says, "I just don’t feel totally comfortable being right there, where I could get kicked." It’s an understandable concern that some of us never get used to, being in that potentially dangerous spot, within the kicking range of a horse. When the danger level goes down, the confidence and enjoyment levels go up, both for the human and the horse.