How to Pick up Your Horse's Feet

Although horses are heavy animals, picking up their feet can be relatively easy if the horse has good ground manners. Being able to do this is necessary to maintain your horse’s feet by picking their hooves out and by having them shod by a farrier. This is also an essential task for many other purposes such as soundness exams. Every horse person should be able to pick up almost any horse’s foot.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Walk up to your horse and put your hand on their shoulder. If you are picking up a hind leg walk from the shoulder to the hip.
2. Stand with your shoulder against the horse’s shoulder and face the back of the horse to pick up a front leg. Stand with your shoulder against the horse’s hip and face away from the front of the horse.
3. Run your hand down the horse’s leg. As you start to hit past the knee begin to lean your body weight into the horse and lightly pinch down the tendon. The horse should lift their foot for you.
4. Pinch the horse’s leg or fetlock harder if the horse refuses to lift his leg.
5. Support your horse’s foot when they lift it for you. Do this by holding the foot in your hands and still using your body as a brace for you and the horse.
6. Do not allow the horse to lean in on you or try to throw their foot down. To keep this from happening keep your horse’s attention by talking to them, slightly shaking their foot or tapping them on the side to keep them off of you.