By pure coincidence, the topic of picking up hooves has come up so often that I thought I’d do a video series on the subject to hopefully help people out. I do happen to recall when I used to be afraid to pick up hooves and I avoided it like the plague, now, I don’t think anything of it and I’m really conscious of when a horse can’t or won’t just be nice about picking up their feet. I can’t stress enough how important this simple, yet not easy, activity can be both for horse and owner.
In this video I talk about picking up a horse’s hoof and why it’s important to do so. This video is the first of a few coming out talking about how to pick up a horse’s hoof and where you want to get to in the end in regards to how the horse should behave.
There is an ideal place to get to when going to pick up a horse’s hoof. There are a lot of articles and videos out there with those that recommend having a horse pick up their leg when you squeeze the chestnut, or bulb, or tendon or some other part. By using such a method you become dependent on touching them in a particular spot and them waiting for that particular sign. While there is nothing wrong with this at all, I think there is another step to get to after that.
With consistency and projected intent with your body language, a horse can very quickly pick up what you want to do. Picking up their feet should be such a regular item that it’s like reaching for somebody’s hand and that person reaches back for you. This same action should be very possible for any horse where you don’t even need to touch them and they lift their leg up for you. Essentially reading your body language and being ready for you.
This video shows that and talks about it a bit. Don’t mind the corny jokes included 🙂