Feet, Part One!

There's an old saying that goes, "No hoof, no horse" and what it means, basically, is that hooves are important to a horse's wellbeing. In the wild horses rely on their feet to be in good shape for helping them escape from predators, and for walking miles and miles for food and water. In the domestic setting horses spend nearly their entire lives on their feet: they stand to eat, to drink, to socialize, and even to sleep.

So an essential part of horse care is making sure their feet are healthy. And because horses hooves grow continuously they need to be trimmed on a regular basis, kind of like human fingernails.

But remember how horses need those feet to run away from predators? That also means they aren't crazy about having people mess with them. After all, somewhere in their instinctual make-up, horses know that being able to run at any moment on those feet can save their life. Horses must be trained to get their hooves trimmed, and go against all those instincts to let humans do it.

On Friday Gobie and the rest of the horses at the farm are getting a visit from the farrier--the professional that trims horse hooves. But today we had to do a little prep work! After all, my heroes at the rescue cautions that I may have to have Gobie sedated for a hoof trimming. I decided first thing was first: better find out if he would even lift his feet!

After work I drove out to the farm (almost two hours! traffiiiick!) and found all the horses munching hay together. As soon as Gobie saw me he moseyed over to say hi. I came into the paddock with him, and he was soon abandoning his hay to come follow me into the work area. It was pretty cute, I have to say. We started right away--a lead rope and a little socializing. I started with his front left foot and that was a piece of cake. I itched him on the fetlock and he lifted his hoof up with no hesitation. I scraped out the little bit of muck in it and put his foot back down and gave him a treat. Then it was on to the front right hoof. Also no problem--though he did try to put his foot down sooner than I wanted. He didn't put up a fight when I held on to it, though.

So, emboldened, I went for the back feet. First itching down his back and down his right hind leg. He didn't really want to pick it up, but when I leaned against him he leaned away so I could lift it. He seemed more willing to pull it back then lift it up. Regardless, when I held it in my hand he started to try to snatch it away and put it back down, but I held on and kept my hand on his leg. I won the disagreement and at no time did he try to kick me or run off! When I went for the left back leg there was a little hesitance but he was way more willing than the previous leg. All in all a great first experience!

Of course, picking your feet up is one thing and standing there patiently while someone clips and files them is another. We'll see how Friday goes. It's not high stakes or anything--his feet look okay so if we have a wait a little while to get a good trim he'll be alright. But this experience confirmed what I already knew about Gobie--he's not looking for a fight, is pretty easily convinced, and has a great mellow temperament. Good pony!