breaking a horse from cowkicking

Hi! i have a 3yr old 4 in april qh mare who cowkicks when you brush her sides and her butt. What can i do to get her to let me brush her whole body and her be fine with it? This is my first green horse. I have had horses for a few years but they all have been older horses so any help would be greatly appreciated

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Comment by Karen on February 2, 2010 at 10:15pm: I just purchased a horse that does this when he gets stressed or frustrated or annoyed when I am brushing or rubbing him. It can be from the stress of being handled, but more likely in his case it is annoyance at being bothered, asked to do something etc. My trainer just keeps desensitizing him to being handled and rubbed with a carrot stick (the parelli kind), but if he keeps it up, he gets a gentle but firm reminder about who's in charge..the key to desensitizing is to remove the stimulus only when he stops the behaviour, ie keep rubbing him all over while he is kicking, but when he stops of his own accord, the reward is the instantaneous removal of the rubbing. Keep doing that, over and over, plus more ground handling to control their feet, and thier movement. Make sure she is not pushing into your space..