There are 10 steps to training a horse to stand for shoeing: 1. Standing: Horse stands still while you work around them. (You cant do anything if they dont stand still!) 2. Brushing: Horse stands still when you stroke the legs (brushing). 3. Unweighting leg: Horse stands yields to pressure (unwieghts the leg) when you push forward on the fetlock, without moving off (becoming scared). Its OK if they do 3 and 4 together but if they dont, focus on getting 3 alone before asking for 4 (the actual lifting). 4. Pick up leg: Horse yields the leg (picks it up) when you press on the tendon, or push the fetlock forward (leg lifting cues). 5. Hold leg: Horse allows you to hold the leg in the home position briefly (home position is the place where the horse lifts the leg, you dont try to move it you just briefly support it at that position then let it go). 6. Pick out hoof: Horse lets you pick out the leg while its being held in the home position. 7. Move the leg: Horse lets you move the leg to other positions away from the home position (forward, back, to the side). 8. Hold the leg in the farrier position: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position for brief moments (less than 30 seconds). This step actually has 2 components, because there are 2 farrier positions, one where the farrier trims and nails on a shoe, the other where the leg is pulled forward and the farrier rasps off flares or clenches and finishes the shoeing job. You have to practice both of these positions if you want your horse comfortable and happy letting the farrier hold the leg in both of these positions. 9. Trim the hoof: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position and perform a farrier task (such as removing the shoe or trimming). 10. Nail on a shoe: Horse lets you nail on and clench a shoe. The problem is that most people jump from step 1 (maybe) to step 6 to step 10 and never work on the intermediate steps and stay there until the horse is completely comfortable with what you are asking. If the horse moves away while trying any of these steps, its because the previous step wasnt really solid and the horse wasnt really accepting it. Go back a step and get it solid before moving forward again. The most common place that people get stuck is in steps 3 and 4. TAKE YOUR TIME here. This is where the horse learns to trust that you arent going to grab the leg, arent going to fight with them to hold the leg. When they learn that they dont have to be afraid that you are going to grab the leg then you can slowly work up to holding it. Go back and forth a lot here, working thru steps 2-4 in random fashion, so that the horse doesnt anticipate and doesnt get stressed that you are going to keep asking for something it isnt quite sure about yet. Going back a step helps the horse relax and trust.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:13:16 +0000
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