T-zers Feet

[MustangsInNC]

So Tesoro is doing great. Today I walked up to him in the pen, haltered him, snapped on a rope, opened the gate, and walked him outside. We grazed for a while, took a stroll around the field, spooked at a dog (but he gave at the end of the rope and came right back!), and went back in the pen.

I can touch him anywhere now, even his dreaded hiney, lol. Now I'm working on his feet. OMG, his front feet are soooooo long. I can pick his feet up and clean them out with his lead rope just dragging the ground, but I have no one to work with me to hold him. He's very mouthy and if he feels that I've held his foot up too long he gets nippy, so it's kinda hard to turn my back and really work on his feet. I haven't even tried the hind feet yet.

So what's everyone's advice on preparing him for his first trim? I do my own trims on my other guys, but I'm not so sure I want to be the first one to work on him. I want someone "good" to do it, lol. Plus he has typical Mustang feet, and the walls are like an inch and half thick. I'm not sure I have the strength to cut them with the nippers! No one else has tried to handle his feet, so I'm not sure how he'll react to a stranger. I have to do it soon though, his feet are grossly long and I'm afraid he might break one off and hurt himself. I guess if I had to I could get someone else to hold him while I try to work on his feet...

[Michelle Clarke]

I keep the lead rope draped over the crook of my elbow or over his neck, so the loop is down by you and you can get ahold of it if you need to. Give him lots of breaks when first holding his feet; pick one up, clean some of it, put it back down. Let him switch his weight, get his balance and pick it up again. I find this works really well with young horses or ones that have not had alot of work done. All they want to know is that they can have the foot back. Get a patient farrier, one used to working on young ones and that will take him time.

Sounds like things are going very well!

[angelsdream]

Sounds like you're doing great!! Any new pics?

[MustangsInNC]

New pics! I decided to give it a try myself. I am definately no expert, but I thought for his first trim maybe I should do it to get him familiar with what I am asking of him before freaking him out bringing some strange farrier guy out. He was PERFECT! My husband came with me to hold the rope while I trimmed. He didn't freak out at all. He pulled his foot away a few times, but nothing bad! I LOVE my pony! He's seriously the best thing ever to set a hoof on the face of the earth, lol. Here ya go!

One trimmed, one not. Can you tell which one?


Check out how LONG his feet were


Here's the bottom after being trimmed


And here's both


I know they're still a little long, and he has too much heel, but hey, it's his first trim! And yes... I only did the front. We haven't tackled holding up the back feet yet.... I'll work on him again, and hopefully after that he'll be ready for a professional to work on him.

Here's a pic of the hinds that I'll be working on next.

[fantasykiger]

You know what I say kudos to you and when your farrier arrives, he should thank you. Alot folks would just let the farrier battle it out the first time with out doing the training first on their horse and not only are you training your horse to pick his feet up first but you are getting him familiar with being trimmed by doing a bit yourself first hand. Good job to T ' as well he has really learned to trust you and take your direction.
When first atempting to pick up his back feet you may want to try and do so with a soft cotton rope around his fetlock. Just apply enough pressure to see if he will bring his foot up and gauge his reaction, before reaching down there with your hand.

[stormyranch]

Nice job on the trim. His back feet don't look too bad! Kevin does all our horses feet. He doesn't take much heel off. Just a little bit of filing. He mostly just trims off toe.