I have to shove treats in my draft cross’s mouth as fast as I can to get his back feet done. He is fine with the front feet. I also bute him the night before and morning of. The Vitamin E thing is interesting–will have to ask my vet about that. (Although he doesn’t mind me picking up his back feet).
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This is a similar to what I am doing while working on the long-term solution of getting him to pick up his feet and eventually increasing the duration that I am holding them up. He is tied to the fence post (with bailing twine, just in case, before someone calls me out on that). I ask for him to pick up a foot. He yanks it away, tries to walk off, moves in general. I put him back where we started. Ask again. Repeat until he calmly allows me to pick up his hoof and hold it for 3 seconds. Reward with treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat, each session slowly working on adding duration. It IS working, but obviously not working fast enough to have his feet done quietly and safely. I bought a large bag of hay cubes to start using for the farrier and to work on his herd bound issues… I figure that’s better than 2lbs of treats.
As far as calling him an ass- I was in the Army, if that helps bring perspective any… I call my dogs / horses / friends / brother “a-hole”, “f*cker”, etc. I KNOW the horse doesn’t know what he is supposed to do… as I said, he is probably used to being done in stocks. It doesn’t put me in a mindset where I dislike him or I am rubbing off bad vibes on him. IMO, he can still act like an ass and not know what “right” looks like… doesn’t make him a bad horse, just means he needs work. I mean no ill intent with the nickname. To each their own.
"I was in the Army, if that helps bring perspective any… I call my dogs / horses / friends / brother “a-hole”, “f*cker”, etc. I KNOW the horse doesn’t know what he is supposed to do… as I said, he is probably used to being done in stocks. It doesn’t put me in a mindset where I dislike him or I am rubbing off bad vibes on him. IMO, he can still act like an ass and not know what “right” looks like… doesn’t make him a bad horse, just means he needs work. I mean no ill intent with the nickname. To each their own."
Believe me I know where you are coming from and a rose is a rose but…at the track if a horse was tough or hard to work with he was “common”. With Saddlebreds they were “a pickle”…might consider one of those terms instead. Much less negative to anyone listening.
PS. I always had good luck with a hay bag in front of a less than cooperative one.
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Since this is a long term project, and you’ve already had some success with treats, I’d recommend clicker-training as a really helpful tool.
Good luck!
That is great the treats worked. You know, sometimes these drafts are used to being done in stocks, in which they are fine, but don’t know how to stand without them.
So glad the treats worked! Bless you for taking this boy out of the slaughter pipeline and giving him a soft landing
Hah, as a long time track worker, may I NEVER need to call my horses “common”! that is the absolute worst, irredeemable thing to call a horse. Funnily enough, that designation does put me in a bad mindset. It means I genuinely Do. Not. Like. the horse. So the word might be better for the public which face it, 80% couldn’t buy a training mindset clue, but overall, not a better place for the horse or me.
Yup, it’s STILL complicated.
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