Horse Information - Aussie Horsemen

Whether you trim your own horses hooves or have the farrier do it for you, asa horse owner you still need to be able to handle your horses hooves regularly and hopefullydo so safely and without too much strain on your back and legs. For many horse ownersthough, handling hooves is a task that is not looked forward to.

Let’s face it, handling hooves can be downright dangerous, even with a horse who is prettygood with his feet. Just having your toe in the wrong place at the wrong time can leave youblack and blue and even the most well meaning horse can loose balance or be troubled by ahorsefly etc. If you have a horse who is especially sensitive or touchy around the legs,picking up and checking their feet can be a game of Russian Roulette.

So how can we maximize our safety and well-being when it comes to handling our horse’sfeet?

The Cause
As with all things, first lets take a look at why some horses are especially difficult whenit comes to picking up their hooves. If we can understand what makes horses react the waythey do, we can often direct our own responses (i.e. not get mad or frustrated) and get abetter outcome. It’s important to remember that the horse is a flight response prey animal... so his legs are his primary source of survival, that enable him to flee from danger.Having the ability to flee taken away from him by having his legs confined, can leave himfeeling defenseless and at risk. Allowing us (a predator) to hold onto a leg in a vulnerableposition then takes on whole new meaning. It takes a lot of trust for our horses to allow usto do this.

The horse also knows that he must protect his legs at all cost. Without them he has lost hismost valuable survival resource. This can result in some horses being very protective ortouchy around the legs and hooves. Have you ever seen a horse snatch his foot up or kick outwhen something touches him on the tendons? He knows what can happen if that tendon is damageso he will do much to protect them.

So ... having a hoof cleaned out or trimmed combines many things that are alien to a horse.Allowing a predator to get a hold of the leg for a start. Then allowing that leg to becontrolled therefore restricting his ability to flee and offsetting his balance. All ofwhich can just compound an already vulnerable situation for the horse. It’s no wonder thenthat some horses have so much trouble getting their hooves trimmed.

The Cure
Now that we understand some of the reasons why a horse may be unwilling to have his hooveshandled, we can already go along way to fixing the problem. Often problems such as these arejust compounded by humans, as when a horse ‘plays up’ as we describe it, we tend to getfrustrated and cross with the horse. This just makes us out to be more of a predator in ourhorses eyes and can increase his fear and need for survival ... so instead of making thingsbetter, many times we are just making things much worse.

So … rather than loosing our cool, if we can understand why horses react in this way, we canthen stay calm ourselves, understand his fears and work with him rather than against him.Many horses will begin to calm down and relax just by the change of attitude in us. Isn’t itinteresting that we can teach our horses to be better with getting their feet done just bybeing more emotionally fit ourselves!

We can also help our horses by preparing them before hand just by doing a few simple tasksand applying them with patience. Start with desensitising their legs while their hooves areon the ground (make sure you can do your whole horse first before you go for the legs).There is no hurry to pick those feet up ... it’ll happen when its ready.

If your horse is particularly sensitive and touchy around the legs, start by using a stiffstick that is long enough to keep you out of danger. About 4’ long by preference and thestiffer the better. This will help you have better timing and release when you horserelaxes. Using approach and retreat (see previous article) get to where you can rub yourhorse’s legs front and back. Make sure when you do the back legs that you have your ropeshort enough to keep you out of trouble (tip their nose toward you) if they do react. Thereis more on this in Lesson 1 of the Quantum Savvy programme. You want to make sure that youcan rub your horse and have him stand still and accepting. At first he may move around orstamp or kick out with his legs. Stay at a safe distance (it won’t hurt if he kicks thestick!) and make sure that if he does this, that you keep rubbing until he stops. He maymove, so you’ll have to move with him. If you stop when he reacts, you’ve just taught him toreact (he found comfort for reacting) so next time he may well be worse! So … keep rubbingwith rhythm until he tries … even for a second ... and then stop. It may not be much of atry at first, so be patient. Depending on how good your timing and release is, it may takedays or even weeks for your horse to accept being rubbed on the legs, but hang in there andbe patient, it will happen.

Once you can do it with a stick, get to where you can rub him with your hands. Try to makeit a pleasurable experience for him…one that he enjoys. Then its time to do the same thingwith your lead rope ... this time swinging it around his legs front and back. Again makesure you are at a safe distance.

When you get to where he can handle all of this, the time has come to pick up his feet.You’re going to use the rope first … for safety and also for effectiveness. Put the end ofthe lead rope around your horses leg and ask him by applying a bit of pressure, to try tolift his leg off the ground … it may only be a weight shift at first, but hang in there asthis is a try. If he does have trouble with it and tries to pull his leg away or wigglearound some, it’ll be a lot easier for you to hang on to him by using the rope than bytrying to hold on with your hand. As soon as he stops wiggling put the hoof down again. Aimto have him standing still with little weight on the rope. Keep practising this and prettysoon he’ll be able to stand there calmly with his leg in the air while you rub it with yourother hand to reinforce the comfort for him. You can do this with front and back legs andget him really comfy with having his legs up and handled. If he can stand there holding hisown leg up he won’t lean on you so much when you are trimming so it’ll be a lot easier onyour back too.

The only thing left to do from here is to actually use your hands to pick up the feet.Remember to be patient, try not to grab his hoof but rather cradle it in your hand while yourub with your other hand … try to make it enjoyable for him and put the foot back down whenhe tries. Remember to put the foot on the ground and ask him to be gentle with it. If youjust drop it, he will get to leaning on you and stamping his foot down when you let go.Teach him to be gentle from the get go and you’ll both be better off.

If you’re going to be doing a bit of trimming yourself, it’s a great idea to get your horseaccustomed to you manoeuvring his foot around at odd angles and also holding his foot up forhimself. Some horses are okay with you picking their feet up but as soon as the hoofposition changes they may try to pull it away from you again. So ... while you have the hoofin your hand, gently at first move the actually hoof back and forth and side to side. Get towhere you can do this with some confidence and you’ve just made your trimming much easier.Give the leg a good rub before you put it back down again too ... lots of comfort willreally help build his trust and confidence.

Life is so much easier and safer with a horse who is happy to have his hooves handled. Getto where your horse will hold up his own weight when you pick a hoof up ... your back willthank you if you do.

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