Pony riding isn’t all about riding—a large lump of it really is about looking after your horses. Taking care of your horses ‘ feet is one of the most pressing and challenging jobs you need to perform to maintain the horses ‘ overall health. Being proud creatures and particularly protective of their appreciated hooves, horses won’t simply let you pick their feet up. You’ll find that more often than not, going about it haphazardly would end up with you being kicked stupid.
Horses that have undergone intensive equestrian coaching all started with the fundamentals, and among the fundamentals of caring for them is caring for their feet. It will not be easy to make them lift their feet up for you, but with enough patience and if you follow these steps, you will soon win.
The crucial things you need to remember are Restraint, Repetition, and Reward.
These three regularly surface in 1 or 2 facets of equestrian training—especially when doing basic actions. When it comes to making your pony raise her feet for you, you will need to apply all 3 continually. First things first: work in an enclosure where you can get to work safely, and begin with the front legs. You need to discern if you want more control over her. If you do, put a bridle or halter on her. The method comprises repeated steps of making her become used to your signals (without stomping on you). Run your hand down from her shoulder to her foreleg. Often nothing occurs yet, and if the usual holds, ask her (utilising the reins of course) to step back so as to shift her weight. When she is doing so, release the rein and let go of her foreleg and reward her. Repeat this until she shifts her weight when you place your hand on her foreleg.
The subsequent steps are the same, only applied to different, potentially more delicate areas of your horse’s feet. When she habitually shifts weight when you place your hand on her foreleg, advance your hand down to her cannon bone. She’ll shift her weight back for sure. Restrain her from doing so. When her foot leaves the ground (even a little), release the reins and move your hand away and reward her with praise or strokes. Repeat this process until she is comfortable with you holding her foot after she shifts her weight when you touch her foreleg.
When you start to be in a position to lift the entire hoof off the ground without getting yourself kicked back, don’t push your luck. Set her foot back down as soon as her toe lifts, release restraints, and reward her. Each other try hold onto the up lifted foot longer. If you believe you can safely restrain her from pulling away or putting her foot down until she calms, then do so. Otherwise, just let go and reward her.
The hind legs are a different matter, as some horses simply are not used to lifting up their hind legs. Most of the time its more tricky. The same process of restrain, reward, repeat is followed — only this time you commence with getting her familiar to shifting her hips away from you. From there, work your way until one of her hind feet leaves the ground. A note of caution though: the back legs are stronger than the front, and some horses are natural born kickers. If you think that you need to run her thru a desensitization programme such that she doesn’t kick your head off when you touch her back legs, then by all means, do so. Remember the closer you are to a horse the less impact a kick has.
Restrain her just enough to let her to know your objectives, reward her for every correct response, and repeat the process until it sticks. Basically, that is what equestrian coaching is all about.
Horses are Heather
Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s
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