Horse won't pick his front feet up!!

O

Overgrown Pony

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Hey guys

I have a really strange request for some tips.

I recently trimmed my horses slight feather off his heels and now that I have nothing to grab hold of my horse is being a real pain picking his front feet up.

I use the word "up!" and I praise him when he picks them up. I always do the feet in the same order. I push against him to get him to take the weight of the foot (in a rocking motion rather than one big heave so he doesn't lean into me).

Any tips?

He wasn't the best at picking his feet up when I got him a year ago (he's 7 but hadn't been handled that much) and he got so much better, but he's gotten worse again. I don't know if it's something to do with my sharer letting him take the pee...
 
Make sure your elbow is behind his knee so that you can use your elbow to bend his knee forward as you lean on him. You can pinch the tendon but I worry about people doing this , a farrier did this to my horse once and damaged the tendon!
 
Ok this is probably going to sound horrible!

If they won't pick up, I generally barge into them to get them to shift the weight off the leg you want to pick up. With the foals you just rearrange them with your hands so they are in a position to be able to pick their feet up.

With a particularly horrible mare I had to stand and then threaten to stand on her coronet band (which is probably bad in so many ways). However she did eventually learn to pick them all up in the end, not a recommended method.
 
With my yearling, who can sometimes be a bugger to pick his feet up, I squeeze his leg lightly while saying up, if he doesn't pick up I start gently tapping his leg with the hoof pick (that usually works), or if he really refuses or tries to snatch it away from me I untie him and walk him round in very small circles 3/4 times, then try again - so he either picks up his feet nicely, or we walk round in boring little circles allday - he soon works out which is easier!
 
worked with a gelding that wouldnt pick any of his feet up (now think it may have been due to an undiagnosed at the time bad back- he wasn't mine). Took me a while to get him right but used to walk him round his stable and stop him with his weight on the other side to the one i wanted to pick out, then quickly grab it and lift it up holding toe so he couldn't slam it back down as easily.

hope that process makes sense to you. It took a few months but he was eventually ok with it and was a good boy, now he's in a nice home with a young girl and does it for her no probs.
 
My horse wouldnt pick any of his up when I bought him 2 months ago. I spent ages pushing and shoving and when he finally picked one up I went bezerk with the praise, hugging him and telling him he was a good boy and so on. I then did the same thing for the next one and so on till I had done them all. The whole process took half an hour the first time, 20 minutes the second time, and now he just picks them up for me. But not for anyone else!
 
Thanks so much guys. Some useful and some funny tips there
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. I'll have a go tonight.

X
 
I agree with some of the advice, but particularly regarding the praise.
I always make sure mine are standing square before I ask, then run my hand down the back of the leg, saying 'up' as I do so. I give the fetlock a friendly squeeze, and when they lift I am effusive with the praise.
If they don't lift, I lean against them til they are forced to shift their weight to the other foot, thus encouraging them to lift.
When they lifted all four hooves nicely, I would sometimes give them a treat as a reward, as well as lots of verbal praise and pats.
Good luck.
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You could try what my farrier does with my bone idle stallion who falls asleep the moment he is stood in the aisle for trimming.

Get a nice thick lead rope, make a loop around the pastern and pull upwards. If a horse is being lazy rather than has a physical reason for not picking up it saves trying to wrestle their legs.
 
Trick i learnt from my farrier which seems to work - gently squeeze/massage either side of foot (the fleshy bit either side) ie where you'd place your hand to pick up the foot
 
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