Tips needed for hoof picking

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Tizzy

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As the title suggests, is there any tips or techniques I can try to make it easier getting my youngster to give me his feet so I can pick them out and clean them?

He will give me his back feet easier than the fronts, but sometimes the fronts take me ages to get him to give me his feet and we have a bit of a battle. I do try to be patient with him as he is only young, but I'm not going to let him take the P.
 
Have you tried leaning against him as you ask him to pick his foot up? Helps with persuading them to pick the foot up. If he's snatching it away once its up, hold the toe - its easier to keep hold of the foot that way.

Always used to use a teatowel with really awkward ones - roll up lengthways, put round pastern, then hold both ends and use it to get foot up, and keep it up
 
These ^
And loads and loads of patience and practice! :o My lad was awful as a 5yo who didn't understand what I was trying to do and it took a long time of pick up/put down pick up/put down before he finally got the idea.
 
Currently working on this with my 2 year old who I have owned for a few months now. I usually do my other horses hooves after a groom so I incorporate lifting the wee guys legs with his grooming routine too - that way hes nice and relaxed when I ask him to pick up his feet. We can lift the front legs no problem and are starting to introduce the hoof pick slowly - I start with picking up his hoof with the pick in my hand - then move on to using the brush side and gently brushing his hoof with it, picking out a little muck with my hand first, then trying the pick - short bursts, a few mins at a time. I then leave him for half an hour and do my other horse then go back and try him again. And I do it every single day. A few weeks ago I couldn't lift his hoof without him hopping round his stable on three legs and me trying desperately to hang on to him until he stopped moving. Takes time and patience but we will get there :)
 
I taught all my youngsters to pick up their front hooves to a light squeeze on the chestnut and the hinds to a squeeze on the point of hock. Use light pressure to start with, increase a bit and let go the instant he moves his weight to start with. Rub and rewards. Repeat and you will get a better response each time.
 
^^^ Someone suggested to me to give the chestnuts a light squeeze as our mare is very stubborn picking her front feet up.

It worked the first time & now I just have to lightly touch her chestnuts & she picks them up :)
 
Alyth said:
I taught all my youngsters to pick up their front hooves to a light squeeze on the chestnut and the hinds to a squeeze on the point of hock. Use light pressure to start with, increase a bit and let go the instant he moves his weight to start with. Rub and rewards. Repeat and you will get a better response each time.
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I will give this a whirl:D


He isn't bothered by me scraping and picking out his hoofs at all, in fact he couldn't care less:rolleyes:, its more me trying to get his feet up without a fight.

I lean into him to give him balance and he does lean on me which is fine. Some days are worse than others and I'm sure he enjoys seeing my face all pink where iv been hanging upside down by his foot trying to get him to lift it:o
 
Don't lean into him, and don't let him lean into you!! You want him to pick up his hoof and hold it, lightly resting on your hand!! If he tries leaning move away while still holding the hoof!!
 
Yeah like Alyth, don't lean on a young horse. Unbalanced and you could both topple over! It's happened!

He has to learn that he CAN balance on three legs, just do it gently and progressively and hold the foot firm when you get the other three legs in a good position for him.

Asking by the chestnut is a good idea. It gives them a warning but do it it step by step to give them a chance to think about where to put their legs.
 
Before you ask him to lift the front foot, set him up to balance by making sure that the opposite hind foot is further back than the hind foot on the side that you are working eg if you are going to ask him to lift his left front foot, position him so that his right hand foot is further back than his left hind foot.

He may need to put his foot down if he feels unbalanced so just let him and then ask him to lift it again for you. This doesn't take any longer than hanging on to a foot! Your horse will become confident that the can have his foot back on the ground and he will willingly lift it again for you. As he gets to know this and you are consistent about asking for the foot again you will find him ready to lift it before you ask.

HTH
 
Arzada said:
Before you ask him to lift the front foot, set him up to balance by making sure that the opposite hind foot is further back than the hind foot on the side that you are working eg if you are going to ask him to lift his left front foot, position him so that his right hand foot is further back than his left hind foot.

He may need to put his foot down if he feels unbalanced so just let him and then ask him to lift it again for you. This doesn't take any longer than hanging on to a foot! Your horse will become confident that the can have his foot back on the ground and he will willingly lift it again for you. As he gets to know this and you are consistent about asking for the foot again you will find him ready to lift it before you ask.

HTH
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The advantage of using the squeeze the chestnut cue is that it gives the horse time to adjust his stance enabling him to lift his hoof with no trouble.....
 
When we first had our shetland she was so confused by us picking her feet up she'd hold her feet up every time we brushed her legs. In the end we resorted to "give" and light pressure to ergots, and she was able to differentiate between a command and a silent brushing down. She'd also hop around on three legs, barge and generally make the whole routine a bit of a nightmare if her balance was off but as has already been said, the pressure to chestnut/ergot with lots of reward helped. As did lifting for half a second, praising lots, then lifting again and praising again, gradually increasing the time. She'll stand like an angel every time now. Took us ages but we got there (and she was 15 when she came to us!)
 
My mare was broken late and wouldn't lift her front feet when I first bought her. By contrast she was hypersensitive with her back feet and would snatch up if you just touched her back legs lightly.

I made sure I picked her feet out before and after riding, every time I rode her, and every time I groomed, and she gradually got used to it. If she was really stubborn with the front feet I would try (in increasing order) tapping the back of her leg and saying "come on", pulling gently at her feathers, clicking, nudging my shoulder gently into hers, leaning on her shoulder, twisting her chestnuts gently.

I also made sure I picked out her feet in a particular order, with the result that she now picks up the first foot when I tap the back of her leg, and most of the time she picks up the other feet in the order she's used to, as I get to each foot. It's taken a year or so, but she's now a complete sweetie.
 
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