Are you ready for the Farrier?

Your horse should stand quiet and pick up all four feet for the Farrier. It is your responsibility to have your horse trained to pick up his feet, not the Farriers. It is shocking to me, as a Farrier to find most people think just the opposite. It is somewhat understandable to a have youngster get a little board and move around, but to have one that has never encounter a human touching his hoof is another thing. Not only is it your responsibility to train your horse it will be easier for you to work with him in a quiet, relaxed environment. Waiting to deal with training issues until the Farrier arrives can create a rushed and stressful situation. If your horse starts out having a bad experience with the Farrier, you'll get off on the wrong foot. A horse has a good memory and he will remember the trimming or shoeing experience. If it was bad he will not want to repeat it.

If your horse is new, you should take the time to see how he will be for trimming and shoeing. This an important part of your care program and should be done every six to eight weeks. There is no need to make it a dreaded chore.

As often as daily if you can or as often as you can, you should clean your horses feet out. This right here will tell you a lot about your horse. First off it should be noted, that NO horse LIKES his feet picked up. He would much rather avoid it completely. With that noted you should be able to understand your horse a bit better. He can be trained to be respectful and be cooperative.

There are two types of training hurdles, one is the horse is scared and confused to pick up his foot and the other is he is lazy and disrespectful. The only other reason for a horse to defy lifting his leg and cooperating would be pain, and we do run into that a lot! A horse can not talk to us so, figuring things out can be tricky. You usually only see the latter in an older horse, but it can happen at any age too. Experience would help you see which hurdles your horse has but a few tips can help a green horseman.

If you horse already has a spooky distrusting attitude than you can bet he may be leery of giving you or the Farrier his hoof. In this case you need to do a lot of desensitizing and building a bond and trust with your horse, this of course is a whole other topic. So first off read up and research this topic and start the training! A good Trainer will incorporate picking up feet in the desensitizing sessions.

Second hurdle would be the lazy disrespectful horse. This may or may not be a better deal then the distrusting horse. It all depends on the severity of the situation. If he is only a bit disrespectful, then it should be fairly easy to fix but if he as a major attitude problem it can be worse than anything! Just as the distrusting horse, training needs to start on all levels. Lifting the foot quietly comes from a well trained obedient horse and that comes from respect on the ground. So start a good training program gaining your respect and add picking up his feet in it.

A good tip to start with for both hurdles is to start a good grooming regimen! I can't put enough emphasis on REGIMEN! Horses are creatures of habit. Something that occurs daily without change is comforting to a horse. The distrusting horse will become accustom to the regimen and the lazy horse will fall into a pattern and just do it. Try to keep your grooming patterns the same.

Example

1.Catch your horse and bring him to the tie rail.

2. Go to the tack room and get your grooming bucket and set it in a spot he can see it but not reach it.

3. Start with a brush and brush the entire horse, from face to but down his legs and under belly.

4. Brush through his main, forelock and tail.

5. Get your hoof pick and ask for the left front leg. Run your hand down his leg and end right above the fetlock joint and squeeze. If there is no response, squeeze his chestnut. Make sure if he gives the slightest lift to help the hoof up quickly. He won't be helpful! Start out being gentle but become as firm as necessary. Once you get the hoof up clean it well and DO NOT let him pull his hoof away when he is done. Make sure you set it down. This will create a bad habit. If he does happen to pull it away and you were done anyway, pick the hoof back up and wait a few seconds. You let it back down at your command.

Keep this regimen up for several weeks, do this every time you visit your horse, whether you ride or not. Get him in a grove. He should look forward to the grooming and be more cooperative. After a while you should notice him lift his leg willingly. When you feel this, it is time to bring in the Farrier. Now your horse may give a few problems in the beginning, but he should settle down and realize the Farrier is going to do the same thing as you do. Once he gets this concept, you should have a good quiet horse for the Farrier.

For more training tips on creating a respectful horse look for past and future post...............

Using obstacles to gain respect on the ground.

Controlling your horses feet is one of the best ways to gain respect. You should be able to control them on the ground way before you are mounted. Round pen work at liberty is by far the best way to achieve this but using obstacles can break the monotony. I have a basic trail patten set up, with a few ground poles and a log to walk over, a low wooden bridge and poles made into a ground square. Horses, lazy in nature, would rather not walk over poles and bridges. Making them walk this pattern establishes dominance, I am making them do what they would rather NOT do thus making me the alpha or the boss. Respect is always given to the Higher Archy. These subtle changes will build a good relationship with your horse. He will become willing and behaved.

Another good exercise is to teach your horse to turn on his haunches away from you. This is a typical showmanship maneuver, that really requires ultimate respect.

Begin with a ground square, four poles 8 ft long laid out into a square, this gives you a goal! Lead your horse into the square and ask him to move away from you, turning him in a 180 degree turn. If he tries to over walk you, he will not be able to turn completely inside the square. Keep him pushed back and turning. A good tip is to be somewhat aggressive with your signals, let him know you are pushing him with your body language. Don't move too slowly or he will try to over take the situation. Keep practicing this and you will get it!

Another great exercise for a more advanced horse and handler is to make a turn on the haunches inside a tractor tire. If you have one available this is a great respect gaining, exercise. Make sure your horse is comfortable waking through the tire. Lead him up to it, let him smell it and proceed! It may take some coaxing in the beginning but once he realizes he can walk through the tire he should catch on pretty quickly.

Once he walks through smoothly, stop him when both back feet are in the tire. Now ask him to make a turn just as you did in the square. A good tip is to only ask for a few steps, not a whole 180 degree turn right away. As he gets better at moving around it, ask for more, until he can do a 180 degree turn. When he turns with ease and you are satisfied reward him by walking out. Keep practicing until you can do a 360 degree turn. I think a horse can see this concept and figure out what you are asking pretty quick!

Using a lounge line is always a good way to gain respect but working a horse at liberty is the ultimate! If you have access to a safe round pen, preferably about 60 ft in diameter, working your horse over obstacles will let him know you are in charge. It may be best to start the horse on a 30 ft line, until he gets the concept. Set up a course in his path, I like to use what ever I can find. A blue tarp is great! Make sure you bury the outer edges with earth. If you can find some empty card board boxes, they too make good obstacles. If you can get them big enough you can make a jump over. I like the card board for my youngsters, if they hit it, it is pretty soft and won't hurt them. Ground poles are always good too. Start basic and you can add stuff as he gets better.

First walk him through everything, make sure he has become familiar and comfortable with the obstacles. Now when asking him to travel over the obstacles be aggressive as you were with your turns. Stay at his drive line (right at his hip) stare right at it and push him on, only use your whip for pressure. Be persistent and really praise him if he goes over! As you both get better add more unique obstacles. When you really feel he has mastered it, unsnap the lead shank and ask him to travel over it at liberty. Really be sure to let him know he did well if he does it right. Treats and praise are fine when deserved!

You should notice a real difference in your horse after these exercises. Not only are these fun, they ar every beneficial.