How light can you be with your horse?

[Deleted]

Here's a winter challenge for you all while riding is limited - how light can you be with your horses? Maybe when asking for feet to pick out, or backing up etc...

I was trying to teach my horse to bend in-hand and Derek Clarke told me I was being too physical with him (he kept walking off or backing up) and at first I was slightly miffed.... then I tried asking as lightly as I possibly could and it worked a treat. In my horse's case that meant not even taking up the slack in the rein, just the Dually nose band tickling the hair on his nose is enough!

So now I've been asking him to pick his feet up by being as light as possible, and he'll pick them all up just with the lightest stroke down the back of each leg. I start at his spine so he knows it's distinct from me just having a feel for lumps and bumps. Since I've been doing this he's become much less argumentative!

I might try a feather duster next lol!

[wabuska]

That's a great idea Michelle. My horse moves his quarters away from the leg with lightness, and I think having control of his barrel and each leg with hair lifting is very exciting. Not that we get to ride anymore............... ice...... Argh.

[specialsparkle3]

I teach my foals to do a lot of things by voice For instance Frankie will pick all his feet up in turn, if I bend towards his leg and say "up" He will also go "back" "stand " and "walk on " to order, and when he is weaned he will learn to go over to my voice command.

I strongly believe a horse that understands voice commands, is an easier horse to control in a crisis.

Can't get much "lighter" than that

[anastasia55555]

Il give it a try with apollo but im not holding my breath lol! toffee will lift her feet to be picked out before you even ask, just when you bend down ready

[jen1]

there is a thing called being too light i spent a summer playing with fleur ,and she ended up following the weight of the long lines, and getting rather cross with people who were less than feather light,

[jennyb]

Gazdag lifts his feet without me touching too, once I have done the first one he knows what I am up to and lifts the others in turn for me. A far cry from what he used to be like, he had no core strength whatsoever when I first got him and could only hold his hooves up for a nano second at a time. I used to take my life in my hands every time I wanted to spray Frog Health on his feet too, he would try to rear and strike out. He used to be a little twerp, thinking back, lol!

[BJMM]

Blaze will pick each foot up if I stand next to it and say 'this one' and both of them back up on voice command, move over, walk on and wait. I have to do lots more work with Jas's feet, especially the hinds, as she likes to wave them at me with intent!

[Kayti]

I appreciate that this isnt a "picking up feet" thread entirely but it is something that I do work at to make as easy as possible. Most of my horses have tended to be HW's or less than easy ponies/youngsters.

I made a concious decision not to give a signal from the fetlock area or feather but to work from the knee/hock. When treating injuries, washing feet, trimming or whatever foot fussing I want to do, I felt was leading to confusion for them. It took a few moments for them to realise that i didnt want them to lift their foot up. Also working without bending down makes it safer for me in a less than vulnerable place

A tap on the leg (a squeeze if they arent paying attention) and a verbal "this one" so that they balance themselves and don't lean on me. As my lastest project is a 17hh percheron x you can understand my reluctance to be an extra leg!

As said above, it doesnt take long for them to catch on to lifting each foot in turn after I have done the first. and i work in any direction starting with any foot (front or back) so that there isnt an assumption it always has to be the same way. And I repeat whether headcollered or loose. Repetition makes it all much softer

As for backleg waving, I find that if I can get my hip under their stifle I can feel their movements so can verbally react quickly, it also helps to block their waving a little as they cant move their leg so well and I am close enough to avoid a stray hoof coming in my direction with too much force. takes a little practice to get the right posture but works a treat for poulticing as well as :-)

[anastasia55555]

Hoof picking is something i really need to improve with apollo, he can be soo blooming awkward, i expect he thinks the same of me. Think i need some lessons from someone else with hw's who doesnt have any problems. I have real trouble with his back ones and so does the trimmer. He is very reluctant when he lifts the back one to relax out, he holds it up very tense, then when he eventually relaxes he seems to over relax on purpose and be awkward. Its very frustrating for all of us! sometimes with hoof picking he can be ok but sometimes he is ruddy awful!

[Deleted]

Jen, I agree you can be too light when riding, until Rosie came to see us I was riding him as lightly as I possibly could so I didn't upset him but Rosie pointed out he'll be unrideable to anyone else, and if I ever lose balance it'll send him off into a panic... which usually leads to much bronking!

Now I'm trying to teach him to accept less subtle leg aids which he hates with a vengeance, and sometimes also leads to much bronking! Damned if I do, damned if I don't lol!!

I use voice aids a lot for long lining so that they're there when riding. He'll walk on, walk-tot, trot-walk and trot-halt, and normal halt from walk to the voice. He'll also speed up and slow down his trot and walk speeds with the movement of my eyes from his eye down his neck and back up!

[june]

If something I'm doing with a horse isn't working I always try getting lighter first instead of bigger with my signal. Amazingly most of the time that has the desired effect. Took my brain a while to compute that when I first started trying it but now its become fairly automatic. I guess the horse has to tune in and listen if you whisper rather than shout.

[Yann]

It's easy to forget that less is often more As far as feet go I can usually get them up with a 'footup' or sometimes simply by moving into position with the skip. Not if their attention is elsewhere though

Have to say the best and most wonderful lightness I've managed has been when doing groundwork with the clicker, way beyond anything I could have achieved using pressure and release.

[jes]

Both mine are really good with picking their feet up.

Regarding leg waving or snatching hind legs up and holding them up tense, my mare used to do this with her back legs, but then I realised that she doesn't like it when I put my arm around her leg to hold it. Instead if I just let her hoof rest in my hand, she's fine and just relaxes the leg.

[anastasia55555]

Hmm so you get horse to lift and just hold hoof in hand? il have to try it and see. I honestly cant think what i do step by step but its possible i put hand/arm round his leg

[Derek Clark]

Great question, michellep. Now there's some 'intelligent' horsemanship in action! ;D

anastasia55555 said:

Hmm so you get horse to lift and just hold hoof in hand?

Yes... that's entirely possible.

I honestly cant think what i do step by step but its possible i put hand/arm round his leg

There's an old saying: "The more you do, the more you have to do while the less you do, the less you have to do". If you lift your horse's leg for him or hold it up for him, you'll have to do more and more of it. If you get him to lift it up and hold it himself, you'll have less and less to do.

The question to think about is how to get your horse to a) understand what you want and then b) feel like doing it. In other words, how do you ask and what's in it for him?

Break the process down into many small steps, then ask often, be content with a little and reward lavishly. Make a fun game out of it! If you haven't done it yet, Kelly's Horse Psychology course really helps with this sort of thing.

Best wishes,

Derek