Pawing When working with his feet.

[Irwina140813]

(Hes about 6 and has been drugged in the past by a vet to have his feet done. A few farriers fired him as a client. ) Working with a young horse that has been lame in the front end due to underun heels(?) The vet says now it should not hurt him to lean on the foot that went sore. (The front right.)

He still hates having his feet picked up esspecially the front left. He paws when you ask for his feet along with continuesly jumping away. How do I get him to stop pawing in frustration and relax. (Also will stomp then paw. )

 

[Birker2020]

Hey I'm no vet but just another horse owner. The way i would go about things is this; have you tried lifting his feet before the farrier comes out?

Make it part of his daily routine and reward him for only good behaviour with a treat. If you don't want to treat him give him a scratch on his neck or other spot he likes or pat him. You need to work with this horse in a firm but consistent manner and repeat the foot lifting/rewarding good behaviour again and again and again. Part of it is not letting go of the foot when its within normal range of movement but holding on to it for as long as you can.

I used to know a horse belonging to my friend that would threaten to fall over if you tried to lift his back feet to pick them out. He'd done it for years so he would initially start leaning back and she would drop his foot in horror lest he should hurt himself. So i asked if i could look after him when she went on holiday which i did. As soon as she was away and he was on a nice deep bed of straw in his stable i picked up his back hoof. He leaned back but i held on and held on way past the point everyone else would have let go. Of course he wasn't expecting this and promptly ended up falling on his arse. The expression on his face was one clearly of surprise. Straight away i repeated the exercise. He wasn't stupid, he put in a half hearted effort but nothing more. After thst he was fine. He also wouldn't let her touch him or go near him when he was eating. I soon put pay to that. By the time she came back off holiday she had a totally new horse!

What i am saying is that horses are very clever at adapting the situation to suit themselves. As in the case of my friends horse, he didn't appear to have any physical pain on lifting his feet, it had just turned into game for him that he took great delight in winning. Because it was too much effort to get him out of his bad habit it was allowed to develop. I'm the same with my horse, i allow him to walk away when being mounted yet i know if i was consistent with him it wouldn't take much effort on my part to get him out of this. I have just adapted to this bad habit and scrabble on quickly, whereas i should really be saying 'hang on a minute this has got to stop- now!' Maybe this is what has happened with your horse.

The other option with your horse, how I see it, is to work out if his feet still hurt by putting him on a bute trial for a couple of weeks to see if his behaviour is pain related.

My question would be why were his feet allowed to get in such condition in the first place? Does he have a physical pain related problem in his legs (resulting from the under run heels) that stii make it painful to stand on the opposite leg to the one that's being lifted? Tendon or soft tissue pain for example?

There are horse behaviourists out there that may be able to help but its rather like putting a plaster on a shotgun wound at the moment.

 

[Irwina140813]

Have you tried lifting his feet before the farrier comes out? Make it part of his daily routine and reward him for only good behaviour with a treat. If you don't want to treat him give him a scratch on his neck or other spot he likes or pat him. You need to work with this horse in a firm but consistent manner.

The other option how I see it, is to work out if his feet still hurt by putting him on a bute trial for a couple of weeks to see if his behaviour is pain related.

My question would be why were his feet allowed to get in such condition in the first place? Does he have a physical pain related problem in his legs (resulting from the under run heels) that stii make it painful to stand on the opposite leg to the one that's being lifted?

There are horse behaviourists out there that may be able to help but its rather like putting a plaster on a shotgun wound at the moment.

Thank you. We will try a bite trial though the vet who said she should not be hurting was a very reliable one... will be said if the poor horse is still hurting (which he acts like it)

To answer your question. It was the owners first time raising a horse of her own and took some advice

 

[Birker2020]

Thank you. We will try a bite trial though the vet who said she should not be hurting was a very reliable one... will be said if the poor horse is still hurting (which he acts like it)

To answer your question. It was the owners first time raising a horse of her own and took some advice

No worries. I hope you get an answer. These habits can usually quickly be sorted. Good luck!