Getting A Horse Comfortable With Picking Up Their Feet
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 เม.ย. 2018
- #hoofcare #hooves #horses
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In this video I talk about how to go about getting a horse comfortable with having their feet picked up. Many horses struggle with this and end up being forced to pick their feet up instead of voluntarily doing it. Taking that extra time and being a little bit more patient can really pay off in the long run and it'll teach them that you're willing to wait on them until they're ok. I give a few tips about picking up feet, trimming feet and my process when I get to a new horse.
Here's a video talking about this horse's story:
• Just a Little Story Ab...
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I have a 13 y/o traditional cob and he has never let me pick up his feet for some reason, we bought him as a 6 y/o. This video really helped and you seem like such a chill, calm guy!
I'm glad it helped. 7 years is a long time but hopefully that will all change :)
It's not tedious or boring! It only further shows what a good Man you are. That's one of the reasons why I enjoy your videos, because you have such a good heart towards animals!
Thank you very much Susan! What an amazing comment read :)
I just love this video. I have said this a few days ago . But I keep watching other methods and you seem to work with the Horse . Amazing Patience ❣️
That's wonderful, I'm glad you enjoyed this one. Yes, working with the horses with patience is the only method that is long term effective in my opinion. Sometimes it takes a bit of time, but that pays off in the long run and further items become much faster to teach compared to a less patient approach where you have to establish trust at every single stage of the education.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. It is beautiful and I really enjoyed watching your patience and caring. Just reinforced for me that I am on the right track despite all the naysayers that tell me I must just take no nonsense and show him who's boss.
You're welcome :) Sorry to hear you have a bunch of people encouraging you to do that. I'm sure they mean well... There's a difference between being a leader and being a boss. You want to be a leader, not always in front but still doing the driving with encouragement. Horses just want to be friends, they're not looking for somebody to tell them what to do and be bossed around. In turn being reassuring and encouraging with timely firmness can go a long long way.
oh I so appreciate the way you show, just be patient. I was gifted a beautiful well bred filly who is two years old , who basically was in 75 acres of pasture, with other horses. She is not wild or anything like that. she was handled a bit. but now I am ground training her. and understand and agree, with the more patient method you showed here Thank you and I apapreciate this
You're very welcome, and thank you for taking the time to tell me that. I really appreciate it 😊
It is so interesting that he picked up his right foot way faster than the left foot. Also, after you took out the rock and were talking, he nudged you like he was saying thank you!
I agree, his responses were very interesting to me too! Great observations
This is my goal this summer. People tell me he’s been allowed to get away with it and I have to chase him around until he lets me hold the foot. That feels wrong to me because I want trust from him more. So, I have been always letting him have his hoof back. He’s been here for a year and a halfand he’s finally laying down in his stall and getting a tiny bit better at allowing me to handle his feet. I pay the farrier a little extra for his troubles. Thank you for this video!
I’m definitely going to try this with my almost 2 year old gelding! He’s always had issues with picking up and holding them up for me or the farrier.
Sounds great, just take it easy and slow, should go well. The safer they feel the easier it goes
Excellent example we can all follow , be sensitive to what your horse is trying to tell you 👏🏽 !
Thank you very much!
Seriously grateful for this video
Hi 👋 loved your video! It’s so wonderful to see how patient you are with your horses and how they respond! Beautiful horse!
Thank you! I'm really glad you stopped to say so :)
When the horse was resistant to the attempts to pick up his left forefoot, maybe the rock in the right forefoot made is ouchy to pick up the left fore. I learned something!
It's very common actually! There are many times that a horse will talk to us and let us know to work on a different foot first. It's important to listen when we can :)
You are an amazing farrier and horseman! Inspiring.
This is great! Thanks you :D
You're welcome!
This was my First Video I saw of Yours ! Apparently it was 5 months ago for me . I then lost you in the Utube world and God brought you and Jen back to me ! Yay !! I didn’t have my Horsey yet . But I knew I had learned something wonderful by watching your way with Horses . And now watching again , I get to practice and succeed with my own little Colt . Who will be so happy I learned to pick up Horses feet through your gift of kindness and patience . Big Hugs form Bear and I 💜🐴💜
This is the one I was talking about. When I wrote on the other page.
I imagined it was, I linked to it from your other comment :)
Wow this was so helpful! And your method is the best I have ever seen 😉Thank you for being patient and kind to Horses, And teaching others to do the same !, 💜🐴💜😉
Thank you! I'm really glad it was helpful
Spirit wty?
Yeah. That's why it's so important to find a farrier who is patient with the horse, not in a hurry to get it done and move on to the next horse. Our horse can be quite fidgety, during trimming, loses patience and wants to start moving. Thank God, we have a farrier who has the patience to take her time with him, and to try to understand what mood he's in as she works around him. We have to work with him as well, to help make him more comfortable with holding his feet up for a good length of time.
Thanks for sharing! Try using the volume button on your iPhone to fire the shutter.
Thanks Alan, that's a good idea too!
Hi I like your site . Thanks
Thank you 😊
your amazing!
Thanks!
You are a good guy,calm and reassuring, I would have you as my farrier xxxx but I live in the uk😥
Thank you very much! I'll take that as a big compliment 🙂
@@StableHorseTraining no worries...speak the truth,that's what I say🙂 I found your vid because I am starting working with a 2 yr old next week and he won't pick his feet up so I am going to try this with him :)
@@aresblue8522 excellent! I hope it really works out
@@StableHorseTraining ok so I worked with the 2 yr old...he's called Jack xxx
Wonder if you had any tips to help me?...he will pick up his feet,unwillingly, and snatch it back as soon as it is picked up.
He also walks forward or backs up which forces me to let go of his foot.
I tried him up but he still does it.
How can I stop him doing this?
Thanks xxx
16:25 you get the inches, sooner or later you'll get a foot. 🦶😆👍
That horse was a sweetheart. I want to see you do one that is not willing to stand in place for you untied, pulls and rears if tied or held, who nips at you, who is not comfortable with you crouching near him, doesn't move forward for you ... and I'd also like to see a start to finish job including the back feet.
There are so many problems here in the situation that you present that it's mostly set up to fail. That said, I've had many horses that I go meet and the owners warn me of all kinds of things and nothing happens and they are flabbergasted.. they tell all their friends in that moment about how they have a totally different horse and they are wondering where their horse is. It's such an insult to the horse and a complete lack of any responsibility by the owner and/or handlers. Many many times (if not all) it's not the horse. Something to consider maybe.
The horse you just watched did all that before me and more. I didn't do anything special outside of what you see here and in many of my other videos.
Tying a horse is a whole other problem and should be dealt with separately. Not while trying to do a trim. Any horse that rears while simply held is being held by the wrong person and likely instills fear in that horse. Everything you have told me is about a horse that is terrified to be around the people that are around it, something I don't experience beyond the first few minutes of being around a new horse. They very quickly figure out that I'm not to be feared and as such, I just don't see those problems.
As for doing a full trim on video, maybe one day.. I do have a bunch of videos where I trim feet and I'd encourage you to check out those maybe. th-cam.com/video/J9uxgIQzhsY/w-d-xo.html
Damn, I’ve never seen someone destroy someone so politely, nice job @Stable Horse Training.
Well... I'm Canadian. So that's probably my problem.
As your other reply to this thread suggested I am not "destroyed" by your reply. Your implication the horse has been poorly handled is just wrong but that's ok, you don't know me. I'm usually very good with getting a horse past their past and have done well with this one in all other areas except this one. The horse in question came from a slaughterhouse and was an Amish farmhorse before that. I can't know what she's been through but can assume it wasn't good by her behavior about her feet. We have 2. Of these from the same place, both Haflingers, but the other one is no worries about anything. I've spent many hours working on this ones trust and she does trust and respect me in all other things but i just can't seem to get her to trust anyone when it comes to her feet. I've never laid nor allowed an unkind or impatient finger on her. So no, she is not "terrified" of me and we have a good rapport, but in this one area I am at a loss as to what I need to do. I've tried just about every method I find or is suggested unless it would involve what I'd consider cruel. And I've yet to find a farrier with a magic touch either. I'd really like the daily maintenance of her feet to be a non issue and the farrier visits to not be worrisome to her or the farrier. So I watch videos looking for answers. My reason for saying I'd like to see you with a horse that is truly giving you some problems was not meant as criticism, only to say that it's not helpful to me to see a horse that is already calm and willing. I'd like to see HOW it is you go about getting it there. You say after a few minutes with you it's turned around, so I'd be curious to see your technique of conveying to a horse that message of trust concerning the feet. I'll go over your video again to see if I've missed something helpful and take a look at the other one you suggested as well though. .
@@bizzybee3855 so you've come back after 8 months to respond to somebody on the internet being insulting towards you but couldn't be bothered to respond to me. It wasn't a bad assumption based on that you didn't even come back to say "thanks for taking the time to respond, I appreciate that" like many people do. Some people can't handle the truth of horses and it appeared as if you were one. Also, just because somebody thinks I wrote something to be "destroying" doesn't mean it's right, it's just their perception based on how they've been treated in life, or perhaps how they treat people. I never implied that YOU have poorly handled the horse. You wrote the horse rears, doesn't go forward etc, I fail to see how that isn't fear. If the horse feels safe with you, then you can get it all done. If you're the one handling the horse in that moment, then the horse is afraid of you if it shows fearful behaviors. It's really simple and I find your answer frustrating as a lack of responsibility taken for the current behaviors in the horse, which if it's been left a further 8 months in that fearful state, is unfair. Just to reiterate, not responsible for the past, just the current. If you can't pick up the feet, you have not convinced that horse you are safe enough to be around to do that with. It's something about you or whoever else tries. There's no magic. Just make that horse feel safe.
Mr. Darcy used to shift his weight and “show me” which foot he was ready for me to do, so question, How would you retrain one that paws out immediately after picking it up?
Hi, what do I do when the horse will not lift their foot at all. Mine, plant themselves and all their weight and no matter what I do, she doesn’t lift the foot. And she then starts to paw the ground. She will also pin her ears and try to bite me.
Same problem with all 4 feet? Do you have the horse tied up? Is the horse in pain? Does it have a history of poor farriers?
Hi, thank you for replying. I really appreciate it. Since I posted this, I have been using your approach and I am now able to pick their feet up, but sometimes I have to squeegee their tendon to get the initial lift. Their trimmer does take a very long time with them. She’s very patient and gives them their foot back when they ask so I am not sure if it’s just taking too long so they now don’t want to lift at all. I will keep working on it. This video has helped a lot. Thank you.
Wow!
I'm glad you liked this one 😀
Can u help me please. I am looking after a 16hh stallion. He has a lovely nature but won't let me near his legs to treat mud fever. I am in a constant battle with the mud fever because I'm managing to get cream on sporadically and opportunistically. Sometimes I'm getting the areas partially treated so I can't get proper healing under way and I can't find any advice on a this. I can only find "picking a horses feet up". He's fine with having his feet picked up but the cream is a different story. He sees the bottle or tub and he knows. He won't let me wash his legs. He doesn't go crazy, he backs off constantly and I'm afraid I'm making a mistake and actually teaching him to move away instead of standing still. I feel sad that I can't help him properly.
It's a scary place to be for sure. I'm not entirely sure what to suggest other than to keep it up. If you are too worried about getting so close with your hands, maybe an extension stick or something that you could apply the cream with? What about somebody to help you? feed some carrots or tickle his nose or something and then just brush him and work your way around and then get a bit of cream on it?
I have a 25 year old horse I recently bought, he paws when I try lift his front right and won't let me have it, his front left is 50/50 on wether he will let me and his back feet have never been picked out so even after the maximum dosage of sedation from my vet we couldn't give him a proper trim as he was still able to kick out. Do you have any tips? I think it's a mixture from never having to do pick up for anyone and also he's quite stubborn
25 years old is getting on and there are a couple of things I can think about. As I'm not there, I can't make any assumptions so instead will tell you a story.
I got called out one time to a horse that had "bad" feet. She was very resistant to picking up any feet and if I got one it was for a very very short time. I ended up taking close to an hour to trim all four feet and for the fronts I went back and forth making small small changes at least 8 times. I would pick up the foot for a few seconds, get a bit off and then go to the other side. By the end of the trim I could pick up all four feet and hold for a good 15 to 30 seconds. There were two things going on there that I can think of that she was in pain and needed small changes to feel better. This had the effect of helping her with her pain and also helping her trust me that I would help her feel better. Some people may have thought she was stubborn, but maybe it was protective and it took time to convince her I was a good person that could help. I never had trouble with her after that even though her history sounded a lot like what you're describing. I wouldn't tranquilize a horse to be trimmed, as I'd be too worried they'd fall on me.
Thank you, this was very helpful. My four year old mare got really upset with me yesterday when I tried to pick up her right foot. Went so far as to lean backwards as far as she could go. I was at a total loss. I think just slow, gentle picking up feet will be our focus the next time I go work with her.
You're welcome, glad to hear it helps. Yes, just keep working at it slowly and small increments. It'll get there for sure, I haven't seen a horse yet that it doesn't work on, and I see a lot...
In my experience, there is always a reason horses will struggle to pick their feet up and hold them. If there were no problems before something and then that something happened and it's a struggle to get a foot up then I would expect the horse is hurting somewhere and struggles to put weight on one foot or leg. Chipping is a different topic, hooves only chip, crack and break when they are FAR off of a healthy trim. I'd recommend shorter trim cycles maybe, unless it was something where the piece came off due to physical trauma.
Chipping can be caused by a change in the climate, but it doesn't happen unless it needs to. If the hooves were where they needed to be, they wouldn't chip or crack. Sounds like you're on the right track and we'll on your way to getting everything worked out!
Horses have four feet. I wish these vidoes would show how you pick up their back feet!
I can understand that. I've done a lot of full trim videos here, this just doesn't happen to be one of them
Hi, i hope it's okay if i ask even though the video is a few years old :) I have a 10 months old warmblood, and she is pretty good at lifting her front feet, but when it comes to her back feet she tends to "kick" whenever i do it alone with her (if i have a person talking with her or so she is fine). She also really likes to stand with her butt almost inside of the wall, and that small kick, a wall and a human is not that great of a combination - but i do believe that the small kick and standing up the wall is because she is still a baby with bad balance. How would you train these things? We have a lovely farrier who is doing great with her, and not having the issue i have, so i might need a small tip here :)
Enjoyed your video and training methodes a lot!
Greetings from Denmark
Thank you very much! Yes, it's no problem to comment on an older video, I get lots of those too :) As for methods to work with the horse for back feet, a lot of time it will be about whether they think you're safe to be around. I would start very small and work up. So, this might be that I start with the front feet (something that does work) and then apply a reward/comfort sign like a scratch on the shoulder or withers perhaps. Then I would work my way along to the flank area and keep coming back to the comfort spot for light touches. I'm looking for the horse to get dozy almost. Quiet. Not move around too much kind of thing. I would do this in a relatively open space, no walls, no tying etc. Just a halter and lead rope to catch if they chose to leave. Mostly I do this stuff without halter, but sometimes we need it. Then I'd work down the back leg, just doing a little. If I saw anything that didn't look dozy, I'd work to get that back. When I finally do get a foot, I'll let it go before they can even consider thinking of kicking. So I always think about giving back before the request comes through. Sometimes the request is just their head coming up from that down and quiet position. Then just keep doing that more and longer as they tolerate it more as it's just a comfortable place to be. If they move around I might go with them a bit but I'll bring them back to the original spot to keep working. Once I have something that I think is working then I might go walk around and keep them with me and check it out again after a bit. Safety, comfort and reassurance are the keys. I wouldn't worry too much about balance, they have 3 other legs to stand on, they're fine :)
I notice mostly women commenting and commending you for your patience. I agree. We need more men/farriers like you. And we need more women farriers☺️
I just dealt with a female farrier yesterday that not only had no patience but was incredibly rude about it. It's not a gender thing.
The slow way, is the fast way.
The long way or patient way is the faster way I think is a more accurate way to word this. By definition it isn't the slow way as it's going to be faster than being impatient or rush getting something done. Just experienced this yesterday as I was kicked by a colt as he had been rushed in his early groundwork. So... now they have to do it the patient way, which is slower than what would have been the right way. Rushing can hurt both human and horse and always sends us backwards.
Aww he wanted you to get the stone out it might have been irrateing to him and diigging in to him when you was holder the other front foot up WELL nice video yeah i guess you have to patient Slow one is the fast way with horses i guess you already know what horsemen says that all the time lol
I think a lot of people do and it doesn't just apply to horses as rushing things in many cases can have things go wrong. I believe that you can teach better lessons all around by being patient and it's a good skill to hone over time
i dunno how i got here
Magic
@@StableHorseTraining and good magic at that this was a cool video to watch :)
@@BigBoyPharma Thank you! I really appreciate that and you taking the time to say so :)