This is the method I most commonly use to teach the wild ones to pick up their feet. Every once in a while I have one where I get them used to letting me touch their legs (separate process) and then find that they’re happier if I just use my hand rather than the leg rope. For the most part though, this is what I do.
I’m going to try and break the process down and explain briefly. Every horse is a little different, and it’s more important to watch the horse, yourself and your communication than to put your brain on autopilot to follow some cookie cutter training approach.
I’m a notorious rope dragger (There are two kinds of people in this world, rope draggers and rope carriers. You can identify them by what their ropes look like when the ground is wet ) so all the horses get used to ropes moving around them on the ground pretty quickly and I can move on to the next step. If you’re more organized with your lead ropes, you’ll need to get them used to ropes around their legs on the ground first.
I start by standing just a little off to the side (so I don’t get run over if they startle and jump forward) and swinging the lash of a training stick around their legs.
Then I put the leg rope (retired 12 or 14 ft lead rope with a loop instead of hardware) on the leg, starting with a front leg. On many horses I’ll use the hook on a stick as opposed to bending down and using my hands (as mentioned before that’s a separate training process for many wild ones).
Not pictured, but I first teach them to lead by each foot. That helps them get used to the idea of giving to the rope pressure rather than fighting it, and to the sensation of the rope around their pastern.
I always work on each front foot, then each hind foot. This process can take several sessions.
Then I ask for the leg, low at first and for just a moment. I start by rewarding just taking the weight off of the foot, then for more. With horses that don’t like me standing next to them yet I’ll ask for the leg forward, with others I might ask from the shoulder.
Either way, the position you ultimately want the leg in needs to be taught. Remember that they have no clue what you’re trying to accomplish so you need to break it down into small steps that make sense and are achievable. Also, some Mustangs are stiff/in pain from old injuries or arthritis and may have limited range of motion. Be mind- and respectful of that.
The idea is that I gradually work myself into the position I want to be in to pick up the foot by hand, little by little shortening the rope so I get closer to the foot, while also showing the horse the desired leg position.
Final steps are picking up foot with rope, and then taking it in my hand, picking up foot by hand and having the leg rope there for back up, and then graduating to picking up foot by hand without leg rope.
It’s totally ok to go back as many steps as possible if your horse forgot or is having an off day. Remember to also teach your wildie that people will be using tools such as hoof picks and rasps on his feet that look funny and make strange sounds on his hooves. He will need to learn to let you pull each foot forward too so it can rest on a stand for the farrier.
Don’t play farrier if you don’t know enough about hoof care, but it’s good to play pretend here as much as you safely can, and to introduce strangers to your Mustang, and to let them pick up his feet when it’s safe to do so, so that when the farrier shows up, it’s just another day in paradise and not some big traumatic event.
Horses pictured: Sand Wash Basin Mustang geldings Storm (dun) and Kiko (grulla). Sorry, no you can’t have them. They have wonderful homes and were/are with us at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for gentling.
