Horses are a useful tool on the ranch and farm and they are wonderful companions and friends if they are handled properly when they are young. A horse is a prey animal that moves away from perceived threats. Their feet are very important to their ability to get away from danger. If a horse trusts you to handle its feet, it is literally trusting you with its life. This trust can be gained when it’s a foal.
It’s important to be able to handle your horse’s feet. You need to be able to clean rocks and debris from its hooves, they will need to be trimmed or shod, and you may even need to handle its feet to doctor it someday.
I handle a foal’s feet right after it begins to give to pressure on the halter. I begin by running my hands all over its body. I try to run my hand all the way from its shoulder down its leg to its hoof.
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When handling the feet the first few times, I use a foot rope — a soft rope about 10 feet long. To begin, I quietly toss the rope around the foal’s legs. This desensitizes it to the feel and movement of the rope. As I toss the rope around, I don’t worry too much about which leg the rope touches or how it lands. I was taught that the clumsier I am, the quieter my horse is.
Once the foal is comfortable with the rope around its legs, I fold it in half and then toss the loop through its front leg. I pick up the loop and then run the tails of the rope thorough the loop. I let the loop slide down its leg to its fetlock, and then pull it snug.
Then, while standing beside its shoulder facing its rump, I put a little pressure on the foot rope to get it to lift its leg. The foal may stomp its foot a few times but eventually it will lift it. Only ask for a little bit at a time and then gradually ask for more. When the foal will hold the leg up for a few seconds, I start rubbing my hand on its leg. If it tries to take the foot away, the rope gives me leverage to not let it take it clear away. Eventually I am able to ask the foal to pick up its foot by hand and hold it comfortably, and then I slip the foot rope off of its foot.
Moving to the hind foot
When I pick up the hind foot with the foot rope, the foal will often kick a bit. Once it stops kicking and stands quietly, I begin to touch the leg. I go from the hip down the leg to its fetlock. I start by asking the foal to only lift the foot a few inches off the ground and then I ask it to hold it a little higher and for a little longer. Once it lets me hold the leg up for a few seconds, I start moving my thigh beneath his leg so that it can get use to the feel of the farrier position.
The foot rope is not just a means of safety. It is also a good desensitization tool. As the rope is tossed around the foal’s legs, it allows it to become desensitized to the rope. The foal learns that the handler is not going to hurt it. A horse that has been desensitized is more likely to stop and wait for someone to help if it should get in trouble with something like barbed wire, instead of panicking and getting horribly cut.
Remember to always talk to the foal and to reward it verbally and with petting. As it learns that you are not going to hurt it, the foal will trust you more and more. A foal that will let you handle its feet is one step closer to being a trusting and willing partner.
Foal Training Part 1: Putting a halter on a foal
Foal Training Part 3: Teaching a horse to tie
Foal Training Part 4: Training a horse to load in a trailer
