Re: [RC] i need help picking up feet - Lif StrandAt 01:29 PM 10/10/2004, Ed Kilpatrick wrote:it is much better to teach a horse to give you his foot when you reach down and get it, and not to irritate or harass them into giving the foot to you. I went right out and tried Kat's pinching the chestnut method and her worked fine. Didn't seem to me to be much of an irritation at all (I didn't actually pinch, I just more or less firmly held it and wiggled it a little to let my horse know I was doing something). It did appear to make some sort of sense to the horse I tried it on. He picked up his front foot within maybe 15 seconds with no other encouragement from me - and picked it up in a very relaxed manner. This horse has had issues with giving his hind feet but with the chestnut method, but he calmly picked his hind foot up after only a marginally longer amount of chestnut tweaking. He didn't twitch his skin, attempt to move away (as always I work without restraint whenever possible) or show any sign of distress at all. ________________________________ Lif Strand fasterhorses.com Quemado NM USA High Country Rider: An endurance rider's journal www.fasterhorses.com/highcountryrider/
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