Sorry your mature horse stepped on your toe. Sorry you mature but …what…? stepped on your toe. Seems like he horse was missing actual training. That’s either your or your horse’ fault, and I’m pretty sure you’ll blame the horse. Buck up.
What a stupid thread this has turned into, so goes COTH in this time.
So not only are you superior to all of us, now you think you are a moderator as well.
I did that first so you are following my trend, asking you to not post with insults and bullying. Just answer the questions that have been asked.
I answered the question you asked. Lets see if you can follow that trend.
But then you post this, and of course now I have to respond.
Are you really saying that a trained horse will never step on a handler’s toes? Even though so many people have responded that it has happened? This is called an accident. It happens.
If you’ve never been stepped on by a trained horse (or crowded, or otherwise had a handling accident or less than perfect event) I wonder how many horses you’ve actually handled.
Breyer horses never step on toes.
I trust my husband to blanket my 6-year-old horse in his pen more than I do my daughter’s 20 something year old lease horse that’s been a lesson horse most of his life 
. Not that he would hurt anybody but he’s not as polite about standing while being blanketed if he’s unhaltered. And if he has hay he gets grouchy about his neighbor looking in.
Yes… I was watching someone handle an old, retired mare yesterday. This horse seems to not know, or maybe not care, about her proximity to people. So one’s in danger of getting clonked by her head, or stepped on, or… The person handling her, not her owner but a caretaker, is installing manners as quickly as possible. Once she is tied, she is much better. ETA: apparently this mare was at one point a competitive FEI level dressage horse… With poor manners. It does sometimes seem like the sport horse world forgives a lot of bad behavior from its high performing horses…
My old mare is much better… she likes to be rightupclose to people but she is very aware of where I am, and where she is, and which “horse meets human” behaviors are OK. And yes, I can shoo her away. Same horse that every barn has loved because she is so easy to handle.
This idea of “trained horses don’t step on toes” seems to me very similar to the idea that if your horse is well trained, you don’t need to wear a helmet.
Sure… sure…
Nah, while I think the OP has lots of things wrong, horses that are made to be aware that humans are fragile and they must not be hurt are far less likely to accidentally step on anyone because they have been made aware of their own clodhoppers, the placement of their clodhoppers, and the distressing consequences of placing one of those clodhoppers on a squishy human foot.
I’m probably inviting my own accident (because yes, they can still happen in odd circumstances) lol, but seriously, horses can be made absolutely 100% aware that they need to monitor their feet, and they will do just that. It’s an owner/trainer problem if a horse has not been taught this important lesson.
Same with getting clocked by a swinging horse head. No, pony, you do NOT swing your head around like a bobblehead doll when you are around humans. Do that shit in your paddock on your time among your species (and see how far it gets you when you clock the boss mare upside the head with your uncontrolled melon).
Biting, striking, kicking, stomping. They are all OUR responsibility. Accidents can still happen in weird/strange/suddenly different circumstances, but mitigating day to day crushing of feet? That’s on us to not accept it AND to teach our horses that they need to be responsible for keeping us safe.
Yes of course, that is why we are calling them accidents, except in this case, when a horse lifts it head and touches a hotwire, it is inevitable or in the case above where the horse seems to enjoy it and tries to do it. Horses!
We don’t get out toes crushed every day of the year.
Absolutely.
I’m not arguing that. I’m arguing those that don’t believe the training level of a horse has anything to do with whether they are dumb enough to get their feet stepped on or not. Er, I mean, I’m arguing with those that are saying how much training a horse has has nothing to do with the likelihood of getting stepped on at all, in any situation.
Touch wood.
Mine are taught to stand when I say halt, without moving head or hooves.
I had to go and find a halter yesterday because Sim has decided he will not halt to let me spray his wound. The training before that doesn’t matter to him.
Well, I’m not saying that training doesn’t affect getting stepped on (stay out of my space) or getting dumped either. I’m saying training won’t prevent accidents (horse spooking and splay footing= stepped on toes) or horse tripping and nearly going a$$ over tea kettle= lawn darting rider. It’s the attitude that if my horse is properly trained, I won’t get hurt. The reality is that if my horse is trained properly, I am less likely to get hurt.
Exactly. I have 3 horses at home. So, not as many as some people, but I’m generally the only/main person interacting – 2x day minimum, but many times handling them individually or as a herd several other times a day. So…3x2x365 = 2190 interactions a year, minimum.
I’ve been stepped on significantly twice in about 20 years. I’ve also had the occasional head bump, every now and then getting crowded by a loose horse going through a gate or into a stall, for example. So, not very many incidents, really. But it would be ridiculous to suggest that the more trained horse is less likely to step on me once a decade versus the less trained horse.
Obviously I’m not talking about an entirely untrained horse versus a trained horse. Well, sure - green/unhandled horses are inherently more dangerous in all the ways possible. That’s why most of us don’t own them, and those who do work with those horses probably have many more dangerous incidents and more injuries than the rest of us.
And always remember the saying that it is the experienced sailor who drowns.
Inexperienced follow rules. Experienced get complacent and cut corners.
I was all ready to disagree with this (for some reason), but then I realized you’re right. I’m a self-proclaimed Youtube Trainer fan, and one of my favorites is Steve Young. He’s all about controlling the horse’s feet and points out that if we can move their feet then we’re speaking their language and they understand that we’re calling the shots. He’s also big about “unrequested forward motion” and corrects it every time if a horse moves forward without permission.
I can definitely see how having control of a horse’s feet and where he places them could mean much less of a chance of being stepped on.
I’m tempting fate, but while I’ve certainly been stepped on a few times, it’s been rare and they were mostly not very memorable experiences. The time many years ago that my big gelding pivoted on my foot as he came through the gate was the most painful and memorable time. That was literally all my fault. My foot was in his way and he certainly didn’t mean to do what he did.
Now, a couple of months ago my current gelding purposely stomped at me when I was brushing and hit his flank. He’s not usually sensitive and reactive like that, so it caught me completely off-guard. Before I knew it, he’d swung his hind in toward me, knocking me off balance a bit, but then stomped down on my foot, so I was pinned and unbalanced at the same time. I literally beat him with my brush to get him off my foot and once he did I chased him around like a mad woman giving him what-for. My foot hurt for a few days, but nothing too bad. I was pissed more than anything, LOL.
Things happen. But yes, a respectful horse with good ground manners isn’t likely to step all over people’s feet because they’ve been taught to respect the human’s bubble.
One of the things I love about old lady Feronia is that while she has a fairly violent but short spook, she has never touched me when I’ve been on the ground when she spooks.
Even yesterday… Another horse got very upset and started bucking and running in its paddock while I was leading Feronia nearby. Feronia spooked - all of a sudden she was on the other side of me with her tail flipped over her back, her head in the air, and a lot of prancing up and down and a big snort… She did not touch me, did not get me tangled in the lead rope, etc.
Posts like your are why I don’t post here anymore. Your insults are just dumb.
Weird how in my neck of the woods it’s actually the inexperienced swimmers who don’t understand how such a shallow lake can have such fierce rip tides are the ones who drown.
The people who grew up around the shallow lake with the fierce rip tides are the ones who also had “Mind the undertow!” embedded in their brains from hearing it so often and having it explained what to do if caught in it.
Likewise with large animals. The experienced handler is not going into the pen of a mama cow with her newborn calf without at the very least a feasible escape plan, nor down a freestall aisle without the same and probably a dual-purpose item for stall cleaning that can be used for defense/reminding in-heat cows that their human bubble remains intact despite their hormonal lunacy. Newbies? Not so much.
Definitely true with horses–one is much more likely to be careful handling a young stallion vs. that sweet old gelding who hauls absolute beginners around.
For a minute here, I had forgotten that this was “your” thread.
I was reading a lot of rational discussion of an interesting topic.
Then this.
And how many times is is now that you’ve informed us all of your flounce, Felicia?
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
