difficult to work with feet, especially back

Question
QUESTION: Any suggestions on what to do to help the horse get past his fear of touching his feet. It has been very stressful for him to be shod or to even work with his feet. He also seems to be very "uptight" about touching him????

ANSWER: Hi Cindy!

Now, to get right down into the "meat" of your question, I do have a few for you:

    1.  How old is this horse?
    2.  How much handling has this horse had?
    3.  Has he/she sustained any injuries to any part of the hoof
        or leg at any point in their life?
    4.  Is this a sudden change in behavior or has the horse never
        never been comfortable with this?

A lot of questions I know!  They are important questions though as they allow me an opportunity to get to know your horse a little bit better to understand his/her problem.

For now though, I will assume that this horse has always had an issue with having his/her feet picked up.  It sounds like he gets "nervous" when he/she assumes that you are going to ask them for their hoof.

With that in mind, lets look at some desensitizing methods to get him/her onto another train of thought.  While trying all of this, be sure to be safe!  Avoid putting yourself into a position where you might be an easy target for him to use to escape his/her nervousness.

The goal of this lesson is to teach the horse to not be fearful of your hand.  We should never use our hands to discipline a horse.  We should always convey harder discipline with tools.  We need our horse's to trust our hands and associate them with gentleness and kindness.

So beginning at any part of his body, preferably mid section, just rub him/her.  Use a circular motion, rub their "feel good" spot and just allow your horse to get the feel of soft and open hands.  While doing this, keep moving your hands closer to a leg.  I would start on the front right, just because it makes sense to go from front to back, right to left.  Continue the same rubbing pattern, being sure you put a little pressure into it, so as not to become a tickling irritant to your horse's leg.  Take your time and go as far down as the horse will allow you to without becoming agitated.  

At the first sign of irritation, return to a higher position and start over.  Eventually, your horse will begin to understand this rub down is a very pleasurable experience and in so doing, will learn your hands are not his/her enemy.  

Do one leg at a time, start and stop as you and your horse feel comfortable doing.  The goal is to start small and gain their trust.  Remember, that the legs are the number one defense a horse has in protecting their soft underbellies and serves for them the same function our arms and legs serve us.  

The successful end result to this exercise is to be able to continuously run your hand from forearm to pastern in one smooth motion.  

When your horse trusts you enough to do that on all four legs, its time to move on to picking them up.  

Again, starting at the front right shoulder, run your hand all the way down the back of your horse's leg and firmly grip the pastern.  This will be the cue you will use to teach horse when to pick up his/her hoof for you.  Don't be surprised or even disappointed when your horse wont pick up his feet for you the first couple of times.  When this happens, put your shoulder into your horse's shoulder and push his/her weight off the hoof you are trying to pick up.  He/she may reluctantly pick up the hoof and bear their weight into it to get you to drop it, just hold steady for a few seconds and release on your terms.

When starting out, you don't want to hold the hoof for more than just a couple of seconds.  You can build from that with time, to however long you like.  Remember, none of this will work if you let your horse dictate to you when training is over.  Make sure you put their hoof down when YOU intend to, now when your horse tells you to.

Be Safe!  Good Luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Answers to your questions:
1. The horse just turned 4 in April.
2. Due to an accident to me last May, I was limited with what I could do with him, but I rode him several times on trails and he did pretty well. I had a foot issue and it was difficult for me to get away from him if the need was there. What I have done hasn't seemed to help him much and I have tried what you suggested. When I first got him he was a skinny almost 3 year old, it was after he put some weight on that I noticed the change in him. I can pick up his front feet but he moves away from me when I even think about his back feet. I can brush him everywhere but it gets a little sticky when I reach his hindquarters.
3. No injury since I have had him, thank God as I really don't know how I would care for him. Shoeing him is very difficult, he has to have a "sedative", and so do I. He is a T.Walker at 15 plus hands. He recently was separated from him bud and he may be alittle more sensitive to being alone but maybe this is a good time to work with him without any distractions. Oh heck, I don't know.....Thanks



3.

Answer
Patience and persistence.  

Horses do take on another personality when they are well nourished (especially when they are coming back from malnourish) and sometimes not for the better...at first.  Horses are a little distrusting of people when they are forced to live in undesirable conditions.

Work closely with your young horse.  And by this, I mean, you should be trying every day.  Every day is consistent and there are a lot of things that don't cure up over night.  Time and patience will cure your horse, and as a result, build an unbreakable bond of trust.

Keep trying.  You WILL persevere.