Help with my youngster please!

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Andyy123

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I recently bought an IDXISH gelding who is about 4yo and the farrier has been out to trim his feet. He DID NOT like picking his feet up and pulled back and snapped the string he was tied up to. I tried to hold him but he charged around and even lashed out a few times. I got a bucket of feed and we managed to do it in the end. How can i teach him that picking his feet up is safe and that he shouldn't worry??

Thoughts/ideas??
thanks
 
He sounds scared and green, go back a step first, can you handle him all over? and I mean every little bit of him? can you run your hands up and down his legs without him getting upset? If you can't then you need to work on that first, he needs to feel safe and confident about being handled so he doesn't feel the need to panic and charge about.

Once he's relaxed about being touched then you can ask him to pick up his feet, start with the fronts and work on one per session to start with, when you first ask him be happy just to accept him shifting his weight onto his other 3 ready to lift the foot, once he shifts his weight off it go back to his head and give him a fuss, so his reward for trying to do as you've asked is a fuss (treat maybe?) AND you move away from his feet, progress to lifting a tiny bit clear of the floor and so on... Keep the sessions short and sweet and build him up from having them off the floor for a split second to keeping them up for longer periods of time. Make sure before you ask him to life a foot that his other 3 are placed in such a way that he'll feel stable.

I'd leave the farrier until he can confidently lift all four feet and hold them up without panicking, if you can crack it now you'll save yourself a whole load of hassle in the long run.
 
Thankyou very much! The previous owner assured me that he had been shod when he was backed and broken last year so i presumed he would be fine! no farrier until he is okay (:. He's fine with me grooming all over and will let me pick his front ones up, just the back ones. do you think it could be something to do with him just being gelded??? Thanks
 
Could well be to do with being gelded if it was recent, he's just trying to protect parts of him that got very sore last time anyone went near. I would see how you get on, doing more and more back leg picking up as and when he settles, just as MaggiesMum has described, then when he has been happy with you picking up his feet and playing with them and you've had a week or two without any messing, see if you can get another person to do it so he gets used to it being done by other people, then it won't be such an ordeal when the "scary" farrier tries again.
 
Andyy123 said:
I recently bought an IDXISH gelding who is about 4yo and the farrier has been out to trim his feet. He DID NOT like picking his feet up and pulled back and snapped the string he was tied up to. I tried to hold him but he charged around and even lashed out a few times. I got a bucket of feed and we managed to do it in the end. How can i teach him that picking his feet up is safe and that he shouldn't worry??

Thoughts/ideas??
thanks
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Hi , I had same problem with my 3 year old when i got him 6 months ago form Irland, he came to me friday got kicked twice sat trying to pick his feet out, its really hard but keep at it , i was picking his feet out about 6 times a day and like others have said just keep running ur hand all over, first time he had farrier every we did him in his stable was better than the yard as he didnt have room to run , he is now ok he still moves for the first hoof thats trimmed but then he thinks o this is ok . good luck you will get there.
 
Ditto others practise practise practise, in small easy-to-digest steps. Go right back to what he's happy with (brushing of legs maybe) and slowly work from there with lots of praise and reward.

Plan out in your head steps to get from 'leg brushing' to 'holding them up, for a stranger, for 5mins and having them hit with hammers'. Make the steps small and logical and don't move on from one step until the previous is completely happy and relaxed and willing.

And always remember: he's behaving like that because he's scared and feels it's the only way he can deal with it. As frustrating as it is, he's not just being 'naughty'
 
Andyy123 said:
He was gelded last wednesday so not long ago. but his feet really did need doing :/
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No wonder he was complaining, poor boy! You should give him at least a month to recover from that, it's a serious operation, not like having a tooth pulled. He will be very sore and you will be lucky if he hasn't broken the skin again which will let in infection. Sod his feet for a few weeks, leave his hinds alone.
 
Andyy123 said:
I recently bought an IDXISH gelding who is about 4yo and the farrier has been out to trim his feet. He DID NOT like picking his feet up and pulled back and snapped the string he was tied up to. I tried to hold him but he charged around and even lashed out a few times. I got a bucket of feed and we managed to do it in the end. How can i teach him that picking his feet up is safe and that he shouldn't worry??

Thoughts/ideas??
thanks
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Buy a Richard Maxwell or Michael Peace book - both very helpfull with lots of common sense tips for handling youngsters - wouldn't be without mine - all on Amazon
 
Missed the part about just beingn gelded! no bloody wonder he didn't want to pick his feet up! :eek: It's a massive op in an older horses (big op in a foal too!) and he's going to be really sore. As Maesfen said, forget the feet for a good couple of weeks until he's healed.
 
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