Difficulty picking out feet.

[tubby1]

I had my 6 yr old mare for 8 weeks and feel we are finally starting together to know each other. I have a problem picking out 1 of her back feet. When I go to pick her foot up she barges toward me ( quite scary) .When she arrived she had fallen in the trailer and was sore and cut on that leg. She wouldn't let me even groom that leg without being batty now she is great until I try to pick up her foot and she freaks. She will let me do her other feet and has been ok for the farrier . Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[tubby1]

Meant to say she is my first horse so I'm kind of learning on the job

 

[grumblebee]

Hi

I would say it could be either one of two reasons:

A - it still hurts

B - she is expecting it to hurt

If she had a fall in the trailer it is probably worth getting a physio out to check her over, make sure all is good. When I bought my (now sold) 3 year old, he got cast 5 minutes after putting him in his stable. There was no apparent damage and it wasn't until 5 months down the line, when he had been backed and was working that we realised something was not quite right.

Have her checked out to make sure there is no underlying damage, whether it be muscle or skeletal that may not be apparent to the naked eye.

If there is nothing wrong and it is just "in her mind", then you will just have to take your time. Don't get angry with her, but at the same time don't let her stand all over you. She needs to know her boundaries.

I hope there is no underlying issue and is just something that just needs a bit of perseverance.

Good luck!

 

[Fantasy_World]

Hi

I would say it could be either one of two reasons:

A - it still hurts

B - she is expecting it to hurt

If she had a fall in the trailer it is probably worth getting a physio out to check her over, make sure all is good. When I bought my (now sold) 3 year old, he got cast 5 minutes after putting him in his stable. There was no apparent damage and it wasn't until 5 months down the line, when he had been backed and was working that we realised something was not quite right.

Have her checked out to make sure there is no underlying damage, whether it be muscle or skeletal that may not be apparent to the naked eye.

If there is nothing wrong and it is just "in her mind", then you will just have to take your time. Don't get angry with her, but at the same time don't let her stand all over you. She needs to know her boundaries.

I hope there is no underlying issue and is just something that just needs a bit of perseverance.

Good luck!

Agreed! and good luck too let us know how you get on OP

 

[tazzle]

ell you have actually made progress so well done..... she was not happy with you even touching that leg at first and now she does even if she does not want it picked up.


thoughts....

either she will gradually let you get lower and lower on that leg till she trusts you enough to pick it up (I would back off trying to pick it up till you can safely put your hand on the hoof ....... I have seen some people use a stuffed glove on a pole if there is a chance of getting kicked )

or

Maybe its not that leg that is the problem..... if she fell in the trailer maybe her back or a hip or the other leg is actually what is sore and lifting that leg up puts pressure elsewhere ?


Does she show any uneveness in her hips of, maybe she needs a check over by vet / chiro .... when my mare fell in the field her only sign of a problem intially was a reluctance to back up........ turns out she had jarred bits throughout her whole spine from c1 down

welcome to the sometimes worriness that is horse ownership

 

[Alphamare]

If she is fine for the farrier it shows that the problem is you, maybe you are nervous when you approach her and a doubt your farrier is. It sounds like its all becoming a song and dance to try an pick it up, you need to overcome your nerves and just get in there and pick it up, without fuss. The fact that she does it for someone else also proves that she is not in pain.

 

[domane]

Is it her offside hind, perchance?

 

[Hutchlou]

My mare had hurt her shoulder (probably from running through electric fencing or a slip) & the first thing that I knew about it was that she would really snatch a back leg up when I tried to pick her hoof. Chiro sorted it & now she is fine again. It may have nothing to do with old fall in trailer but a recent slip in the field.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Ask someone to stand at her head while you pick her feet out. If the leg was painful, it requires trust on her part to allow you to handle it.
Wear a hat and if she swings round when you try to pick up the foot, just calmly repostion her to the orginal spot and try again. Repeat this until she stands, still acting as though its no big deal. No raised voice, no slaps, although its fine to allow her to move into your raised elbow.
Once she is still, lift the foot, put it down and give her a rub. Lift the foot again and do a brief 'pick out' and again give her a rub/stroke. Carry on with the other back foot as normal.

She's not being bad, she's worried so by being quietly consistent and showing her its no drama, she will be able to relax and see it's not going to hurt.

For some horses, the person standing at her head, offering a treat after she has co operated helps to get the message across surprisingly quickly.

Echo the advice to get her back checked, a good McTimoney practitioner will be able to see if she put her pelvis out when she fell.

 

[Chloe-V]

Another vote for getting her checked out - I'd be looking high up at first, at something skeletal.

 

[Tinsel Trouble]

If you are sure that it is no longer in pain then I would suggest this is a battle on her part to try and assert dominance. Put her in a head coller and keep hold of the lead rein in your outside hand. Go to pick up the leg as normal with the inside hand and give a voice command (up!). If she goes to barge- pull the lead rein and she will spin away from you. slip your hand to the top of the leg and DO NOT LET GO OF HER LEG just keep your palm on her stifle until she had stod still and start again! Once you have done this a few times she will realise she can't win she will let you pick her foot out.

Once the foot is picked out give her a pat, tell her she is a girl and (give her a sweet if that's the sort of thing you do). If you do this everytime she will soon learn that having your feet picked out is a yummy experiance!

 

[newbie_nix]

I had the same problem with my new (and first) horse he would dance around and with his hind feet (particularly the off hind). He would swing them up and wave them around as though to kick me. Never actually kicked me but it was scary at times.

As others have said, rule out anything physical first then you need to work on de-sentisizing her and getting your confidence back. I can totally relate, as a newbie horse owner, even though I have picked out feet loads of times, I got nervous when mine did this, started second guessing myself and it didn't help the situation.

To overcome this I took a deep breath and went back to basics. I worked around all the feet just getting him to shift his weight, pick them up for a second, hold, then gently put them down (lots praise) then increasing the time and re-introducing the pick etc. If he started to dance around I would calmly take lead rope from my helper and back him up several paces (we do feet out in the yards not in a stable), calmly reset and tried again. This worked really well to re-establish who was the boss. After a few days I was then able to pick them out on my own but he was still a bit grumpy about it.

Phase 2 I used clicker training to encourage him to be more willing to pick his feet up on command. Feet time now =yummy time as someone else suggested (we use tiny carrot slivers as our click reward). We still have a ways to go but it has definitely helped and we usually get each foot up willingly and picked out first time now. I won't go into a long winded explanation here but google Alexandra Kurland - I bought her starter kit. Clicker training has also provided a way for us to get to know each other and build trust and confidence both ways.

This was particularly useful when I was resetting the electric fence the other day and being a total klutz managed to drop it whilst moving a standard and of course my boy ambled right other it whilst it was still attached (switched off of course) and caught on his off hind. It was just resting there and he hadn't noticed yet so I had to act quickly. I didn't want him to panic so I calmly approached his foot and said 'foot please' (our clicker command) and he picked it up, I moved tape without incident, clicked (had no food but gave him lots of strokes and good boys) and we carried on. Had this been 2 months ago when he was new and funny about his feet i suspect he would have panicked and shot off dragging it.

Anyway just keep at it, baby steps and all that, be firm but kind and you will get there!

 

[tubby1]

Thanks everyone for your replies, lots to think about but definitely start with getting her checked out for any pain . Thanks again x