I have always wondered........

Django Pony

Django Pony

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Why do some horses hold up a foreleg while they eat? I've only ever see it when they have a hard feed, never when grazing?
confused.gif

Could any of you HHO-ers shed any light on it please?
Thanks
 
my boy does it if he can see his feed bowl but he cant get it, like if i am walking towards him with the bowl and make him wait while i loosen his rope or somthing, always thought it was some sort of impacient thing
 
like martlin said it's because there on the move eaters therefore pouring whilst eating satisfies this whereas pouring/kicking before is impatientness!
 
It's a displacement activity. Like a bird bobbing up and down on a branch before finally taking flight or a horse that paws the ground when it wants to get going. It's an activity that mimics a low level of the actual activity that they want to be doing. Humans do it too - clenched fists during an argument = I wanna smack you in the teeth. Laying a hand on a hot date's arm = ... well, you get the idea.
 
JustJasper said:
Why do some horses hold up a foreleg while they eat? I've only ever see it when they have a hard feed, never when grazing?
confused.gif

Could any of you HHO-ers shed any light on it please?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Did your horse not do it at all this past winter to uncover grass in the snow?

Until our snow gets to the foot or so deep stage my horses all dig for the last of the grass, and most of them paw when eating grain.

Interesting to read the reasoning in these replies.:)
 
enfys said:
Did your horse not do it at all this past winter to uncover grass in the snow?

Until our snow gets to the foot or so deep stage my horses all dig for the last of the grass, and most of them paw when eating grain.
Click to expand...

A surprising number of the horses I saw last winter here DIDN'T seem to get the whole pawing for grass thing. :rolleyes: Mine - Canadian import that he is - was unfazed by the white stuff and pawed for England but many of the other horses seemed to prefer the much less efficient "push snow with nose, take a bite, repeat" method.

I can't say I've seen a horse do the leg raising/pawing stereotypie when just grazing in a field, although I have seen hand grazed horses do it.

There does seem to be a "learned component" (or perhaps a predisposition) as I've certainly seen lots of horses "inherit" the behaviour from their dams. I had one to ride that picked up her leg every time she was frustrated/thwarted/anxious in any way, not just food related, with the hoof right up to the elbow. It was a bit alarming if you were sitting on her at the time! :)
 
2 young colts at our yard - only 1 of them paws the ground when I take their feed out to them.

He invariably does it when eating - the other one doesn't.
 
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