KBR Horse Net
Training Case Study:

"Sheba"
Part Six

Sheba's feet were long but being a big mare her heels were underrun so I needed to trim her in two stages so as not to cause too extreme of an angle change. Thus we needed to get the first trim done this week so we would have time for her to adjust and get trimmed again before she left. Before I could trim her, I had to get her more fully desensitized on her right side.

We worked in the round corral for a while but Sheba was still pretty uneasy on her right side. So I led her back to the mustang pen to see if the familiarity and more obscure view out would help settle her. It did and brushed her right side from ears to tail without too much hassle. (This definitely needs reinforcing, though.)

Earlier when we picked up feet, Sheba had a tendency to step backwards. I tried an experiment with her which worked, but I caution the readers that it is inherently dangerous if it isn't set up right. I took a Leader Safe Tie and wrapped it around a pole in the mustang pen. Then I attached the leader to her halter by means of a piece of bailing twine. The idea here was to cause some graduated pull on the halter if she stepped back, but to break free in a panic pull. I didn't want her rearing up at the end of the line and possibly coming down on me.

I set it up so that if she did pull and the string broke, the Safe Tie would slap back against the pen wall. I had to maintain my position so that I was out of the recoil path at all times.

I reached down to pick up her right foot. She gave but rocked back. "Step up!" I cued and the Safe Tie pulled on her nose. She stepped up. We did this about three times with click reinforcement for the correction and she basically handed me her foot and left it there. This was her difficult side. Cool!

I went after her hoof with the nippers and it required two passes to take the toe back. She had underrun heels so I had to leave the toe a little longer than I wanted, but I'd get it where I wanted it in a couple of weeks. Then I went to her left side.

She gave me her foot nicely and just as I was settling in, Mikey and CJ came crashing by the mustang pen. She startled, I shifted away and she pulled on the tie pretty hard. The string gave like it was supposed to before she got really worked up. I walked over. held on to her halter and led her back to the tie.

Sheba enjoying the breeze
in her "expanded" quarters

Much shorter front feet,
but we still have a ways to go.

Good behavior has many advantages
(At liberty in the stable)

Classy horses eat from spoons

Trimming was uneventful. As I was putting her foot back down prior to getting the rasp, Mikey came thumping by again and she pulled back a little, drawing tension on the tie, but she walked right back up when I gave her a stern, "Whoa! Step up!"

I rasped the left, then went back over to the right, did a little more nipping and rasped it, gave her some good scratches and we went out for a little walk before going back to her paddock. This system worked out pretty well.