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HANDLING YOUR HORSE'S FEET by
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ED THORNTON SAFE HORSE SAFE RIDER THROUGH EDUCATION
Here are some actions you may have seen or experienced with your horse while handling his feet:
"Pulling a foot away
"Moving away as you go toward the foot
"Pulls the foot away and threatens to kick
"Flinches his leg away from your grasp
"Stomps his foot aggressively
"Kicks at you before you get to the foot
"Pins his ears and threatens to bite
"Puts all his weight on the leg you want to pick up
"Leans on you
"Struggles with you after you've picked the foot up
"Seen a farrier strike, hit, twitch, put a lip rope on, or even kick a horse to correct a misbehavior
There is hope for you and your horse. You can learn why a horse reacts negatively and also learn a way to earn his trust,
communicate with him through a lesson plan, and teach him to pick up his feet for you.
WHY DOES HE REACT?
If you will, think of yourself as a horse for a minute. Your handler puts your halter on, leads you to the hitching post and ties you
there. Another person walks up to you, bends over and grabs the tendon on your front foot. You pick your foot up to pull it away
from him and before you can, he grabs it and starts gouging your foot with a sharp metal tool. If you are a horse that is fearful,
distrustful or just untaught, this might be too much for you. Then when you pull your foot away from him he yells at you, hits you or
worse. All you want to do is get your foot back and be far away from this person. This person is using force and not building trust.
YOU MAY ASK WHAT CAN I DO TO GAIN HIS TRUST?
"BE KIND, FAIR, and CONSISTENT
"DON'T punish him for making a mistake. Just give him something to do that he can do correctly and give you a "yes" answer
"Reward him often for giving you the correct response
"Become higher in the social pecking order than he is
HOW CAN I COMMUNICATE WITH HIM?
Look at what you want the horse to do. Develop a lesson plan with lots of steps repeated lots of times to make it easy for the horse
to understand what you want from him. Put something in the plan for the horse as A REWARD for doing what you want. This could
be nothing more than a rub (NOT A PAT) on the neck with soft kind words of praise, often. Work only on ONE step at a time.
HERE IS A LESSON PLAN TO TEACH YOUR HORSE TO PICK UP HIS HIND FEET FOR YOU
Start with your horse in a halter and lead rope. Walk him to an area that will have few distractions. If your horse has a go forward
cue, ask him to step froward and walk in a circle around you a few times. Then ask him to stop by taking the slack out of the lead
rope. If he stops with his weight on his left hind foot, ask him to move his hindquarters away from you one step by moving toward it
as you kiss to him. Repeat this until he stops with his left hind foot cocked a little. Then stroke his neck and praise him and let him
stand there. When he puts the foot down flat, ask him to move again, moving toward his hindquarters. He will probably not guess
correctly yet so just repeat the movement until he stops with the foot cocked again. Pet and praise him. Repeat every time he puts his
foot flat on the ground, moving his hip to the right. Sooner or later he will guess the right answer and give you the cocked foot
consistently. This will take about 20 minutes. Once he rests his toe on the ground consistently you are ready to go on to the next
step in your lesson plan. While he is resting his hoof on his toe, touch his head and run your hand down his neck to his withers and
back up to his head. Continue rubbing his head for a second or two, then rub down his neck to his back, and back to his head.
Repeat until you get all the way down to his foot. If he gets tense and moves away you've gone too fast. Just set him up again and
start over at his head and work slowly back toward the foot. Soon he will be comfortable with you touching the foot.
If your horse has a history of kicking, stand forward of his shoulder at first. You can slowly move back a little at a time as the horse
builds trust in you and accepts you back there. If you think he is dangerous, you may want to seek professional help.
He will also go through phases of learning, consisting of not guessing correctly because he doesn't know what you want yet. Then he
will get better and guess correctly for awhile, and then he will go through a bad phase, like he didn't learn a thing. You just stay
consistent and repeat, repeat, repeat. He will get back on track and do even better than before. He will go along for a while doing
better, then he will get bad again. This time he will get real bad and may even seem mad. Again just stay simple and consistent and
he will improve. He is just now getting a clue and starting to learn. I believe this to be true with horses " if they know the cue they
will give you the correct answer".
The next step in the plan is to put hour hand on his heel and pick up the foot about an inch and put it down and return to his head.
Pet and praise him if he remained resting on his toe. Repeat this again and again until he is comfortable with you picking it up and
moving it around a little in each direction and gently putting it down. Each time return to his head and pet and praise him for being such a good boy.
The higher you pick the foot up, and the longer you hold it, the more likely it is that the horse will get irritated and take it away from
you. You do not want this to happen even once. The more comfortable the horse is, the more tolerant he will be with you handling
his feet. Here is a rule I use: If I think the horse will take it away in three seconds, I put it down in two.
The next step is to teach the horse to pick up his own foot for you. If you are satisfied with your horse just letting you pick up his foot
then that is all he will do. However, you can take it a bit further if you want to.
You can teach your horse a cue to pick up his foot by touching him on the inside of his leg just above the hock and kissing to him.
The kiss tells him to move something and the touch on his leg tells him what to move. Then reach down and pick up the foot. Don't
pick it up too high or hold it too long and he won't mind giving it to you. The touch will soon become his cue to pick up that foot.
Repeat these steps over and over and eventually you will be able to hold it as your farrier does and the horse will not get upset.
Repeat all of these steps on the opposite side of the horse as well.
THE FRONT FEET
You will start this lesson plan on the left front foot. The system will be very similar to the above plan, except you will be asking the
horse to move his shoulder away from you. To move the shoulder, put your hand on the horse's neck or shoulder and add a little
pressure. Use just enough to get the horse to lean away from you or take a step away. When he stops with his weight off of his left
front foot, pet him. He won't rest it on the toe like the hind foot but he will stand with most of his weight on the opposite foot. Each
time he shifts his weight on the foot, move the shoulder away again. Remember to work your way down to the foot a little at a time
and always return to his head and pet him, then his shoulder, back to his head, and then down farther toward the foot and so on until
you can touch the foot consistently. As you work on this leg you can move the touch spot down from the shoulder to wherever you
want it to be. It can be behind the knee or at the top of his pastern, it is your choice. Follow the same sequences as you did on the back feet.
Each time you take the time to teach a lesson to your horse, you are building a bond and developing a partnership with him that will
continue to get better and stronger between you. It's just more connections between the horse's ears and making a safe horse so you can be a safe rider.
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