Do your horse's pick up their feet for you?

SavingGrace

SavingGrace

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Just got me thinking as for the first time in the 21 months I have officially owned Holly she picked up her hooves for me when I was picking out her hooves this evening :o Normally I have to give the feathers a little tug but tonight the hoof was pretty much in my hand when I started stretch to pick each of them up :)
 
yep. not handy sometimes when you bend down to reach the girth/surcingle on rug and the hoof comes up and nearly smacks you in the face lol, but great the rest of the time, including mucking out around them when they pick up the foot so you can sweep under.

ETA- dont even need to bend down, a hand on the shoulder/rump does the job
 
Haha

Java picks his feet up for me :)

Also when putting his headcollar on, if you hold it open ready to put over his nose he puts his head in it for you

And when taking a bridle off he points his head down ready
 
My last horse was very good at picking her feet up and would anticipate it which was sometimes annoying when I was washing her legs and didnt want her foot up. My current boy is good with his back legs but had to learn to pick up his front when I got him. He's pretty good at it now. :)
 
One pony does, but only the back ones.
He made the farrier jump a bit when she reached down to a back leg and he whipped it up,lol she was a bit shocked and nearly dropped it.
Sigh, i wish the shire would, it would make my back feel better!
 
Captain will give you his foot when you say "paw". He is excellent and is good for the farrier too.

Fany is a bit of a s*d for picking up feet, though not as bad as she used to be. She will now pick them up but she leans on you, which is no fun with a horse her weight! Fany has tried to lay down on the farrier before, lucky our farrier is good. Although he did threaten to put her in a cow tipper if she did it again. :eek::p:D

FDC
 
Yep, I normally tap behind her knee a couple of times and say 'up' - then she picks it up for me. I'm not screwing my back up dragging on her legs! She wasn't always that way - it used to take two of us and alot of time to pick her feet out, esp her backs, a proper pita! It has taken over a year to get her to pick them up when asked, just a case of getting a response to a particular que - no different to using verbal ques when lunging really I think. She does put her nose in her headcollar though which is nice, she came that way though! Sometimes she is a bit keen to be out and just thrusts her nose at you before you even have the headcollar ready, that just makes it take longer silly girl!
 
mine do when i say up and touch their leg. i don't like it when they automatically pick their feet up as soon as you touch their legs as they are hard to bandage.
my youngster learnt to do it but then i had to bandage his leg one day (cut) and it was a nightmare to do on my own. he has now learnt to only do it when i actually ask rather than pre empt what i'm going to do.

seen a few people get knocked by the knees when bandaging because the horse picks it foot up as soon as the leg is touched!
 
Yep, by the time I'm getting to the next foot she is already lifting it. She does try to put her head in the headcollar too, her top lip wiggles as she is putting her nose in.
 
my boy does it most of the time, unless he's all dopey from snoozing in the sun! he can be a bit sharp picking up his hind feet so i have to be quick to catch them before they fall back down.

he also pushes his nose into his headcollar. i went to catch him yesterday and as they'd been given a bit of hay, he was torn between that or coming with me for breakfast. just as i opened his headcollar to put it on, he put his head down for another mouthful. i coughed "ahem!" and he shot his head up double quick and stuffed his nose through! it was quite funny at the time. little piglet!
 
theres a horse at the yard that was taught to pick his legs up with treats. So now he lifts them up more for begging for more polos, he cant however pick his backs up just the front.
Rosie is a madam at times, she somtimes will pick them up for you or u have to physically pick them up.
When shes desperate to come in at night she will throw her head into her headcollar.
 
Yes lado does, he doesn't actually lift them up into your hand but he shifts his weight over and lifts the foot up.

Mare does with her back feet.
 
Yes and the next hoof is ready as the first one goes down.

One horse has to do those full leg stretches with each leg. The front leg goes down straight stretching and then arching his neck for more stretching. Back leg goes out straight so you end up cannoning into the wall with his toe wiffling about in a full stretch.

What are they like eh?:)
 
Young Boy Red is starting to do it now, once I pick his first one up he does the rest in order for me :) Dream (bit older and wiser) you can run your hand down his leg on the first and then he picks them up in order :)

Red gets confused when you put boots on him though and sometimes gives you his feet to pick out again bless!
 
Yes I've always done mine in the same order front nearside and then back nearside and then back to front up the other side..after I've done the first front hoof as I approach the first back hoof he's got it hovering about 2 inches off the ground! I have to say I do appreciate it. Occasionally have to say "up" and do the whole run my hand down front/back of whichever leg if he's dozed off whilst I'm doing it though. :D
 
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