Tips for a big horse struggling to balance on 3 legs

[AntiPuck]

My 5yo ID mare seems to find it quite difficult at times to pick/hold up her front feet.

Initially, I stupidly made this issue a lot worse unintentionally by spraying her hooves for thrush that she had, as she hated the spray and began refusing to pick up any feet for a while. I have used clicker training to get her back to picking them up fairly consistently for a few seconds each time, but I also notice that she's not great at arranging her feet before attempting it, and sometimes has to quickly place the foot back down to steady herself, and I think this is preventing her holding them for longer.

I try to make sure she's stood reasonably square before asking, and back her up or move her over if needed, but it's actually quite rare that she stands like that, as she likes to keep her back feet close together. I wonder if her build and age are making it challenging for her, as she's very chunky with huge shoulders. She finds the backs much easier to hold up, no real issues there.

Do you have any tips for helping her out with this? I will continue with the clicker training to make it a positive experience, but would love to know if there's anything else I can do to help her be more confident on 3 legs so that she feels able to let me hold her feet up for a bit longer.

 

[laura_nash]

Following as I have exactly the same issue, only the other way around (ok on fronts, struggles with backs). I also used R+ to get past the initial 'I can't possibly pick my foot up, no' but am still struggling to persuade her she can keep it up for any length of time, even with a treat on offer.

 

[AntiPuck]

Following as I have exactly the same issue, only the other way around (ok on fronts, struggles with backs). I also used R+ to get past the initial 'I can't possibly pick my foot up, no' but am still struggling to persuade her she can keep it up for any length of time, even with a treat on offer.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having the same issues, Laura! Is your horse also a youngster?

 

[SEL]

I found it easier with my big ones to have someone at the head rewarding while I did hooves. The draft got his feet picked out religiously daily when I first started with him - with a treat every time. I now just have to tap a leg and he picks it up. He doesn't like being tied up for it though, perhaps balance related.

The other one had awful problems with her back legs until I got her hocks injected.

 

[laura_nash]

I'm sorry to hear that you're having the same issues, Laura! Is your horse also a youngster?

She's supposed to be 6 but I suspect she's younger. She's not tall (only 13.2) but is a chunk (HW cob).

 

[FestiveG]

When we had a young Welsh cobx, who really struggled with having her feet done, our then farrier (old school, had worked on every type of horse going) had its put her alongside a wall. He was right and when she had the reassurance of a wall to "lean" on, she gained confidence and we could eventually move her away from the wall to pick her feet up.

 

[LEC]

You need to get them practiced at shifting their weight around to balance rather than thinking of standing square. I tend to pick up diagonal pairs if really struggling as can often help. I teach them a routine and every day I will start with the same foot and pick it up. They then have to allow me to let go. I increase the time I hold it for. I find not tying them up helps and I tend to do it after they have moved. So walk them round, lunge or ride first. I have used clicker training very successfully but on tricky ones who stress themselves out about the process I use a likit type thing. For ones who are young and unbalanced for shoeing I will walk and walk them until farrier needs to do something and then walk them immediately after, they basically don’t stop apart from having anything done to feet. This tends to help them stop being bored and pleased to stand still.

 

[AntiPuck]

You need to get them practiced at shifting their weight around to balance rather than thinking of standing square. I tend to pick up diagonal pairs if really struggling as can often help. I teach them a routine and every day I will start with the same foot and pick it up. They then have to allow me to let go. I increase the time I hold it for. I find not tying them up helps and I tend to do it after they have moved. So walk them round, lunge or ride first. I have used clicker training very successfully but on tricky ones who stress themselves out about the process I use a likit type thing. For ones who are young and unbalanced for shoeing I will walk and walk them until farrier needs to do something and then walk them immediately after, they basically don’t stop apart from having anything done to feet. This tends to help them stop being bored and pleased to stand still.

These tips are excellent, thank you LEC - will definitely be trying out keeping her walking whilst the farrier is here, as we usually only get one hoof done before she gets bored and starts trying to walk herself, anyway.

When you say picking up diagonal pairs, I take it you mean, say, pick up the right fore, then put down, then go straight to the left hind and pick that up, as opposed to doing both fores first, then both hinds?

 

[AntiPuck]

When we had a young Welsh cobx, who really struggled with having her feet done, our then farrier (old school, had worked on every type of horse going) had its put her alongside a wall. He was right and when she had the reassurance of a wall to "lean" on, she gained confidence and we could eventually move her away from the wall to pick her feet up.

Thank you, this is a great idea!

 

[LegOn]

You can work on getting them more aware of their muscles and how to 'load' their weight to balance themselves - I find these exercises great for balance!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2576082009273320

 

[AntiPuck]

You can work on getting them more aware of their muscles and how to 'load' their weight to balance themselves - I find these exercises great for balance!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2576082009273320

This looks great, she definitely needs help figuring this out - thank you!

 

[Fransurrey]

My cob struggles with standing on three legs. One thing that really helps is tapping the leg I want to pick up (his cue to lift it), but I don't actually pick it up. This results in him lifting it slightly, realising he's off balance and he corrects himself. Once he's done that I tap again and this time I lift it. Not totally fool proof and the idiot constantly forgets I'm holding a front leg and tries to rest a back one, but it does help. The other thing which helps massively is having a hoof stand with a cradle. It gives him (and my back!) much needed support.

 

[AntiPuck]

My cob struggles with standing on three legs. One thing that really helps is tapping the leg I want to pick up (his cue to lift it), but I don't actually pick it up. This results in him lifting it slightly, realising he's off balance and he corrects himself. Once he's done that I tap again and this time I lift it. Not totally fool proof and the idiot constantly forgets I'm holding a front leg and tries to rest a back one, but it does help. The other thing which helps massively is having a hoof stand with a cradle. It gives him (and my back!) much needed support.

Thank you, the hoof stand is a great idea, I can imagine once she's used to it she'd find that a lot easier, and like yours my poor back could do with the rest! like the idea of asking for the weight shift first before lifting as well, that sounds useful.