if the horse cow kicks there are other meethods you can use without hurting the horse as short sharp shock
and thats water--------
either stuff the horse under the hose and let him kick out that all day as they will give up
as it doesnt hurt them
or buy a small boys water pistol and keep it handy in your pocket as soon as the horse goes to kick
if the horse doesnt stand
when grooming a horse that perhaps is new or is a problem to you then tie a piece of baling twine onto what ever you hitch to and the have a lunge line clipped to your horse and thread through the bailing twine at the hitch rial
then have your grooming box on the ready there to
so if your doing left side of the horse— fold the lunge line in left hand and have a brush in right hand brush the horse in the normal way, then if the horse moves back let him you have the lunge line which is longer than a lead rope-- once hes finnish moving back re place him back to start at the hitch rail and encoruage the horse by saying stand – the horse will only move back a few paces normally then stop so replace then say stand the carry on grooming this enstills trust in ahorses mind
as grooming means bonding to a horse
as you work down one sideof the horse, ie lf leg as most farriers always start on the lf then groom down the leg and then run your hand down the back of the leg and pick it up, ( if new horse or naughty run your hand dwon with the body brush and brush his leg let him know you mean him no harm dont just got for the leg it wont work) then move across the body grooming all the time
then do the bum and down to the lh and do the same ( ideal brush to use during this 1st few processes is the body brush as its smoother and gentle) do not attempt to pick the feet up at this stage we are only encoruaging the horse in his mind to accept us as friends do the same to the other side
next time use the same method with the lunge rein - waht we are doing here is moving with the horse ie move when he moves we are building a close relationship by building trust little steps make a staircase
in a short time the horse will stand still - its then at thats stage once th ehorse has learnt to stand still then we can go up a step groom in exactly the same manner with more brushes as in what one would normally do, and then this time using the dandy brush down ones legs
and this time picking up the foot by running one hand down the back and the other hand supporting it then pat the foort with the flat of our hand and then replace back on the floor
never ever ever ever ever just DROP THE FOOT always replace the foot down and back on the floor
this enstills in the horse mind you have no intentions of hurting him/her do the same with hinds
always start with lf lh rh rf - why most people do fronts 1st the find they have a problem with backs as they hesitate and are more scared to do hinds as they know neds can kick – lack of confidence in the human brings out a fear factor in the horse 1st is to the flee the 2nd is to advade you
that inclcudes kicking out as lack of trust
also when farriers or vets call nines time out of ten ts lf becuase nines times out of ten a horse strides on lf first
also by doing lf lf rh rf then your starting on a easy foot or good note and ending on one so when the horse goes to bed or turned out it gives him time to think-- and again one of trust
becuasemostly people are more confident when picking up front legs with out hesitation so the signal is direct to the horse of nothing to be afraid off
never ever just drop any foot at any time-- its jars the horse never pull horses feet out to the side
ie hind legs run you hands down the back of the leg tuck you body in nice and tight to the horses side and support his foot with your knee if you have to- and then move it out and back downwards
supporting the foot with your hand as you pick out his foot with the other hand
then replace on the floor – dont pull to the side
just dropping feet can cause pain to a horse exactly like when we stub our dinky toes
and then the horse wont give you his leg or foot becuase he would remember the pain
and therefore wont have any trust in you
if how ever the horse is a pain then hose him on the hind legs starting with a small puddle on the floor with the hose running then slowly move up his legs let him kick out as much as he likes it wont hurt him and he will give up as its to no avail and waste of energy-- mind over matter
if hes naughty on the odd occasssions then short sharp quick squirt of a water pistol
at no time has the horse been whip kick, hit or hobbled
all i have surggested and beleive me does work is ask the horse in a polite manner
and worked with the horse, and moved when he did so encuraged him to be a freind
and to trust me in his own mind
time and patience built little steps of encouragement lertting him sleep on good notes rather
than harsh ones horse have a long memory and associate things with pain bad and good
they love work they love rountine ans they love being spoken to
use your tones of voicies and dont speak to them in a nampby pamby baby talk they dont undertand and dont feed treats as rewards - treats can reward bad behaviors and make them then times worse
here i have descirbe thing with out treats grooming is bonding and picking up feet is bonding and both are trust issues in a horses mind
What size are these cans? The 1 lb or the 3lb? My Arab is the heavy eater and she gets 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket of soaked beet pulp/alfalfa cubes, with a cup of grain, a cup of BOSS, and a pound of ration balancer pellets. She gets all the alfalfa and grass hay she can eat too. She consumes about 2 gallons of water in the soaked feed each night. She gets half that amount in the summer months when she’s on pasture. And she’s a pretty hard keeper. She eats triple what the other two eat.
