Pony will NOT let us touch her legs!

[TwiggyL]

I moved my retired gelding to grazing a year ago and there was a little mare there as his companion. She came from a “dealer” who plonked her there to breed from. I believe she was probably a travellers pony prior to this. Long story short, I fell in love with her and bought her.

She is the sweetest natured mare, (a 10 year old, unbroken 12.2hh cob). History only known for the past 2/3 years (broodmare).

She has one issue. Her legs. Hates anyone touching them. It’s almost impossible to hold/handle one. She’s not nasty, it seems like genuine fear, but she shakes and shakes it until you have to let go (I don’t do this as a habit) or she snatches it upward. She’s quite a tank! She’s the same even with a gentle brush or touch of the hand - she snatches it up and gets fidgety. Hinds MUCH worse than fronts.

After a rather long battle we clipped her feathers off and legs are quite clean underneath, just some scurf and a large ish scar on the back of one leg.

Any advice/tips welcome.

 

[teddypops]

Get a broom handle and tie a stuffed glove on the end. Rub the ‘hand’ up and down her legs as often as possible. My sec d was like that when I got her and this worked a treat.

 

[JackFrost]

I have one that I believe was also a traveller pony. I do not have problems touching her legs, though she does not like being restricted. From the scars she has I suspect she was shackled.

 

[ycbm]

Whatever you did to enable you to clip her legs, only slower now there is no urgency, a bit every day with rewards (could just be voice) for doing right.
.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We clicker trained one mare to be comfortable with having her legs handled, after a bad experience

 

[Lipglosspukka]

As above. Hand on a stick. Keep the hand on and the moment she stops moving, remove the hand and praise her. So much easier than trying to hang on!!

 

[Chappie]

Another advocate for hand on a stick!

I used a lightweight yet sturdy garden cane with a stuffed skiing glove gaffer taped on.

Good results within weeks with a downright dangerous cob!

 

[Pippity]

I used clicker training to get mine better with her legs. I wrote a report for the forum:

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/possibly-i-should-be-offended.784680/post-14187151

 

[Marigold4]

There's a great book called "no fear, no force" by Sarah Weston. Great tips for this. I used a feather duster on a long handle with my feral youngster, as suggested by the book, and she loved it. It took 2 days before we could handle her legs and now she's perfect. You can get the book on kindle.

 

[sunnyone]

I used a Superdrug back massage brush, effectively a brush on a stick but quite gentle. It saved my hands getting kicked on many an occasion.
Blacksmith came last Sunday and the mare just stood in the field, untied, and picked her hooves up as and when needed.

 

[TwiggyL]

Thank you all x