A clinic in Kentucky changed how I handle a nervous horse for shoeing

I was at a clinic in Lexington last fall, and the instructor, a vet, showed us a simple trick. He had us hold the horse's lead rope with a very loose, low hand, almost letting it drape, while we picked up the front foot. He said the tight, high hold most of us use actually signals to the horse that we're worried, which makes them worry. I tried it the next week on a jumpy quarter horse gelding, and it cut our setup time in half. He just stood there. Has anyone else picked up a small change like that from a clinic that made a big difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_hart5315d ago

It's amazing how our own body language can freak a horse out.

ivanross15d ago

Actually, a horse's own fear is the main thing that sets it off, not us.

clairen8515d ago

But isn't it our actions that cause that fear in the first place? If a horse gets scared, it's usually because it read our tension or saw a sudden move we made. Their fear doesn't just come from nowhere. We are the trigger, even if we don't mean to be. So it's a chain reaction we start, not some random internal switch.