Filly kicks when picking up hind legs

[Katelyn]

Hi, I have recently bought a 2 year old filly who is coming on leaps and bounds but the one thing we can’t seem to get past is her kicking out with her hind legs whenever I go to pick them up.. she lets me groom them with no issues and picks up her front legs (most of the time) tends to try lay down a lot but we are getting there lol , omly strikes out once I go to acrually pick one up, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

 

[JackFrost]

Could be about difficulty balancing, mine took time to learn she could actually stand on 3 legs. Get her used to very small movements picking up first, or just moving weight off that leg, and lots of praise. For a horse to be off balance and you have hold of its leg can be scary for a young horse.

 

[SEL]

I had to do a lot of work to avoid cow kicks with me mare. A glove stuffed with straw on the end of a stick did a good job of getting her used to being touched in the area. I also used a clicker to reward her

 

[BeckyFlowers]

Instead of lifting the back leg in the usual way (ie pulling it towards the rear of the horse as you would to pick out the foot) try lifting it forwards so the leg is being brought underneath her belly. Only lift it a small way off the ground and put it down after a second or two followed by lots of praise. Eventually she will be able to work out how to balance herself on three legs and you can progress to lifting her leg in the usual way.

As a former stud groom this is how we taught foals to pick their feet up - bringing their leg underneath them is much easier for them and I can't ever remember having problems training them this way. Pulling an unbalanced youngster's leg backwards can really make them feel panicky. Good luck.

 

[Carrottom]

If you have a good farrier or other hoof professional it might be worth paying them for their time to teach her.

 

[Sprig]

Bringing it forward, rather than back to start with definitely helps. Also start with just a tiny lift off the ground and then give her the foot back as a reward. I have found that baby steps and clear rewards really does give results v quickly and hopefully v soon she will let you handle them properly. The key is that it needs to be her idea, rather than you forcing her.