Stand Still, Please! - Western Maine Horseshoeing and Trimming

HOOF CARE CORNER January 2016 Stand Still… Please! Welcome back to the Hoof Care Corner, a series of short articles written to educate horse enthusiasts about a variety of hoof care topics, ranging in scope from “the benefits of barefoot” to “when wedge pads matter”. Our topic today is teaching your horse to stand well for the farrier. As I was putting the finishing touches on an article about combatting thrush, I got a facebook message from a client. It was a photo of a humongous draft mule, along with the caption “You’re going to kill me”. Of course 19-­‐hand mules are every farrier’s dream, and I told her so. She told me he was a rescue and his feet are a mess. Even better. In truth, I’m proud of her for making a home in her barn for the poor fellow. In honor of Mike, and all the other horses out there who have had their share of bad luck in life, I’m tabling the thrush article for spring and writing instead about how to develop a willing partner for the farrier (Photo A). Photo A: M ike, the rescue mule-­‐
That our horses allow us to handle their hooves draft cross. Fingers crossed for his and ride on their backs is an enormous act of trust, one healthy recovery. that we should neither take for granted nor abuse. Yet regular hoof care is absolutely essential for domestic horses to remain sound. Horses with poor hoof care behavior are a danger to the farrier, a source of stress and financial strain for owners, and they ultimately may not receive the hoof care needed for optimal performance. Not long ago I had a new client confess that she used to physically lose sleep the night before her farrier appointment, because it was always so stressful for her horse and the farrier. Speaking as a farrier, your appointments should be much-­‐anticipated horse gossip events, not the stuff of nightmares. Let’s discuss how to achieve a happier hoof care experience. First things first. Set yourself up for success. Establish a safe, clean work environment for hoof care (Photo B). This place is protected from weather and insects, has adequate lighting, level ground and good footing. Farriers love rubber mats but anything flat and dry will do. Insure there is adequate space to move freely around the horse, and room nearby to tie a buddy horse if needed. Next let’s examine the most common reasons Photo B: Safe working environment horses object to farrier work. They are: pain, for farrier care. inexperience, or learned behavior. Pain is a common and often overlooked reason why horses “fuss” for the farrier. Lame or sore-­‐footed horses may object to holding a sound foot aloft because it increases pressure on the sore limb. Arthritic or injured horses may object to having their limbs stretched into any one of the common farrier positions. A conscientious farrier will identify pain issues and make adjustments to the hoof care program to improve the horse’s comfort. These changes might include the use of a therapeutic boot on the standing sore foot, holding the hoof low to the ground or employing a hoof stand (Photo C). Never hesitate to describe for a farrier some particular position your horse likes or does not like. When appropriate for chronic pain such as arthritis, your vet may prescribe anti-­‐
inflammatories for use in advance of, and following, farrier visits. Foals and feral or neglected horses may simply Photo C: Hoof stand helping a young never have been asked to balance on three limbs-­‐ they horse establish balance. lack experience. They are the best type to work with because no one has “messed them up”. Excellent habits, once established, can be reinforced through consistent and regular hoof-­‐care. I love working with babies. I simply let them hang out near mom during her trim. I trim one of her hooves while baby investigates my tools, then I pick up a tiny hoof and put it down. Then I trim another momma foot, and run a rasp across baby’s foot. Trim another momma foot and so forth till baby is trimmed and he barely noticed I was there. Learned behavior is a blanket term that ranges from fear and anxiety to bullying and aggression. Professional trainers are an excellent investment for anyone whose horse has a severe behavioral issue, particularly one that makes you afraid to work with your horse. If you’re a do-­‐it-­‐yourselfer and your horse has only some minor hitches, read on for my two cents on teaching your horse to stand. When I train horses for any activity, I like to break down the learning into its component parts. For this exercise, we ask three things: a) stand quietly in the work environment, b) pick up the foot on cue, and c) hold the foot in position while work is ongoing. Consider teaching each component part in separate training sessions. Take your time; although it may seem tedious, time spent establishing fundamentals is well worth it. Horses, in my experience, learn best through small requests made often. If your horse is nervous just standing in the work environment, you can hardly expect to lead him in there once every 2 months and have a forty five minute farrier appointment with a happy ending. Rather, establish a routine of standing quietly in the work environment. My horses spend ten minutes tied in their stalls every day. I do it while I clean stalls, and the extra time it takes to halter and hook them adds about 30 seconds to my evening routine. When the time comes for them to stand quietly for grooming by six noisy children during the lesson season, I have already established the routine. If, in reading this, you think your horse has too much energy to be expected to stand quietly in one place, I encourage you to watch your horse in the paddock sometime. Horses are masters of standing around doing nothing. It’s only when we want them to do it that they seem incapable of the feat. Practice, practice, practice. As a farrier, I refuse to pry hooves from the ground. For perspective, most farriers average about 8 horses per day. Most horses have four hooves, and during a normal trim, your farrier picks up each hoof about 3 times. That’s 600 hooves per week! Horses practice lifting their feet all day long while they walk. They all can do it easily, I promise you. It’s just a matter of teaching them to do it on request. Photo D Caption: The way life should be….A future farrier, making my job look easy. Approach the hoof quietly, beginning at the hip or shoulder and run a confident hand down the limb to grasp the fetlock (Photo D). Decide on a verbal cue, a light physical cue, and a firm physical cue. I like the following: a) Say ”Foot!” b) Gently squeeze the fetlock, c) Using your free hand, press the pointy end of a hoof pick into the heel bulb gently, and then with increasing force. I cannot overemphasize the importance of consistency here. Begin every request verbally, and then work your way up through the physical cues till the horse lifts a foot. Remain patient and calm, even when applying your strongest physical cue. It is always a cue, never a punishment. Reward each lift by releasing the foot and standing to stroke the shoulder. Photo D Caption: The way life Remember, in this step you are teaching your horse to should be….A future farrier, making my job look easy. lift his foot, not hold it. The exercise is done when he lifts each of his four feet in response to your verbal cue. Reward him by ending the exercise. Perhaps your horse stands quietly, lifts his foot and allows you to pick it out, but every time the farrier comes he pitches a fit. Watch how your farrier holds the limb and consider pain issues. If there are none, you are probably dealing with learned behavior. In fact, you have likely trained your horse through repetition to hold his hoof quietly aloft for five seconds and then to put it down. This is how long it takes the average rider to pick out a hoof. Coincidentally, this is also how long it takes your farrier to clean the foot. When five seconds are up, the horse expects to get his foot back, usually stomping it down hard and smearing dirt back in for good measure. The farrier then has to start all over cleaning the foot before trying to sneak in with his tools to trim the hoof. How do we remedy this? You guessed it…. Small requests made often. Horses learn by doing. So pop some ibuprofen and settle in for some time under your horse. Timing in this exercise is everything. If your horse will quietly hold his foot aloft for 5 seconds, put it down in 4 seconds and reward him. Then advance to 10 seconds. Count out loud in a soothing happy voice. For this to work, you must release the foot before he asks for it. If you wait for him to pull his foot away during the training process, you are training him to pull his foot away. Farriers only need about 20 seconds to clean the foot and get done what needs doing. Shoeing requires a foot in the air for perhaps a minute during nailing, and up to five minutes for glue operations. The time your horse is willing to hold his hoof for you in a non-­‐work environment should exceed the time we expect him to do it at the farrier appointment by 50 percent. Occasionally fear issues learned through negative association (e.g. abusive farriers or accidental bad experiences) result in specific objections. A filly I work on reared and hit her head while her previous farrier was dressing her foot on the stand. For nearly a year she would rear and strike any time we placed her foot in the forward position. With patience and guidance from your farrier, these issues are resolvable over time. I trimmed this filly last week, chatting nonchalantly with the owner as I dressed her foot on the stand. She was perfect! I am not actually opposed to “quick fixes” for behavior issues, particularly when there is a pain component, or a time sensitive medical need for farrier treatment. In such situations, physical restraints such as twitches, stocks or sedatives may be the best option for completing a therapeutic farrier procedure. I just think we owe it to our horses to use such measures sparingly, and to devote time to creating excellent learned behavior in our animals that allows routine farrier care to focus on creating the best hoof possible for your horse. I certainly hope my client is reading this article, and that her 19-­‐hand rescue mule will be ready for his trim when I arrive in January. Stay tuned for the next installment of hoof care corner! Contributer bio Liselle Batt is a full-­‐time farrier in western Maine. She is accredited through the American Association of Professional Farriers and the current secretary for the Maine Farriers Association. Liselle advocates an educated, common-­‐sense approach to hoof care and to that end offers barefoot trimming, booting fitting, conventional shoeing and glue-­‐ons to clients. Additional information about Western Maine Horseshoeing and Trimming is available on her website.