Q. My 4-year-old kicks the lorry (van or truck) and paws its floor, both with company and when alone. He doesn’t seem scared and loads easily. He is turned out on a regular basis as well. We need to understand what is going on with him, and most importantly, stop him from doing this!

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A. Kicking and pawing are fairly common traveling problems, and there can be a couple of different possible causes. Probably the most common scenario is that these behaviors develop as a simple behavioral problem. Many horses seem to do better when the vehicle is moving than when it is standing still, and they are naturally a bit anxious to get moving or to get out whenever the vehicle is stopped.

Pawing is a natural response of horses in such thwarted-goal situations. If the horse paws, then the vehicle moves again, the pawing is rewarded. So not only might the pawing be truly the result of frustration, the horse can in effect learn to paw each time the rig stops "to get the rig going" again. If the vehicle is slow to respond, the frustration might lead to a stomp or two, or even a kick. Eventually something happens; the rig moves or the horse is unloaded. In effect, every time the horse kicks, stomps, or paws, something better happens. So it’s very hard to change the behavior