Plastic Desensitization and

Solving Foot Handling Problems

After working on desensitizing Sampson to the ropes, we move on to desensitizing him to plastic. It's amazing how many horses can be afraid of plastic and how dangerous that can be if they haven't been desensitized to it, and remain desensitized to it. Here I'm rubbing Sampson on the neck with a plastic bag. Because we already introduced this to him in his last session, he's doing nicely here.

   I'm rubbing Sampson all over his body with the plastic bag, noisily too! But not only is it not an issue with Sampson this time, but he's busy watching horses play out in the pasture, oblivious to the noisy plastic. Nice to see! Don't back off from working on this if a horse first shows signs of great fear of plastic, but do the opposite: keep at it, desensitizing the horse compassionately and patiently, and it will quickly be no big deal. Don't avoid the things a horse is afraid of; steer into them instead, and desensitize the horse to those "scary-to-them" things in their world, and you'll create a far safer and far more confident horse.

Next we move on to working with Sampson on his feet issues. Sampson has had trouble in the past with picking up his feet. It's not so much fear of picking them up as it is about: he loses his balance when one is picked up and he either struggles to pull it back or he leans them too heavily on the human or, worse, he starts to fall down! Now, Samson is a big horse and all those behaviors can be dangerous to the human. So, we back up and teach him the right way to lift his feet, rebuilding a new foundation for that behavior. I'm using here something called a "training string" that I keep handy at all times, for this and for several other helpful training purposes, but any smaller length of rope like this will do. I start off by rubbing the training string up and down the inside of his leg to get him accustomed to the feel of it first. Then, I let it drop right above Sampson's hoof and apply pressure forward. Not, pull, not jerk, just steady pressure. When I get even the slightest change in his foot (or even a shift in his weight ready to lift it to begin with), I release the pressure instantly. The horse quickly learns via the release, not the pressure, to lift his foot softly. Start off accepting only a small give, and reward with the release, so the horse can back up in his training and learn how to better balance himself when holding his foot only slightly off the ground. Baby steps!

 Here's a close-up of how I'm using the training string to help Sampson better understand a "foot yield," and how to keep his balance better. I only reward with the release when HE is holding his foot up all by himself, not leaning his weight on the string (or on me!) and maintaining his balance. This is one of the best ways to teach a horse proper foot-gives. And it's keeping me at a safer distance while he's on this learning curve. If a horse had a real serious kicking problem there, I would simply run one end of the training string through the loop on the other, draw it snugly around the foot above the hoof, and I have a longer rope to work with, and a safer distance (good idea to put on gloves with kickers so you can get a better grip and not be releasing for kicks, but only when they go soft there, THEN release)

As I proceed with this lesson, I begin to reward with my releases for longer and longer foot-gives, helping Sampson to grasp that he is the one who is supposed to be doing the work (holding his foot up with his own muscles, while remaining balanced), not me/the human taking the brunt of his weight there. Always remember when doing this lesson, to make sure the horse's all four feet are squared up well so that he can balance properly on just three feet! Shift him into proper squared position first if you have to. Usually I hold the lead rope as well so the horse won't move off, but Sampson had no issues with moving off in this lesson, so I didn't concern myself with the lead rope, just reschooled him on how to hold his own foot up via pressure/release.

As Sampson progresses, I move on to using my hand to lift his foot and reward with a release when he is using his own strength to hold the foot up, but here again, I'm taking baby steps to get there. While you've got the foot up, it helps the horse to relax if you rub on the inside of that leg, and give a leg massage, rewarding for the effort and relaxing them all at the same time. Also, always set the foot down softly, where you want it, not releasing if a horse is fighting it, only when they are "soft" and you'll get there faster.

Here's a close-up of the same picture above.  I'm not using my own muscles here, Sampson is!  And that's what we want. The training string, or a similar rope used for this teaching purpose, speeds a horse along that foot-lifting learning curve.

 

Always end every lesson ON A POSITIVE NOTE. It's the end of our second round pen session together and Sampson did great! He's leaving the lesson softer, happier and in a far better, trusting spot and we worked on some problems and made great headway. Leaving on a positive always helps the horse to come back into the next lesson more positively and ready to learn more, the Natural Horsemanship way!

The "training string" you see me using in the above photos with Sampson is one of my favorite Natural Horsemanship training tools. It is a handy, versatile tool that has a myriad of valuable uses. Above, I'm using it to help teach proper foot "gives," but it has many other various uses as well. For example, it can be used in the saddle to help the horse with backing-up lessons (using the training string for added support pressure on the neck). Other uses: riding with one rein, leading your horse, even practicing your knot tying. The uses are as vast as your imagination! Best of all: It's small enough to fit into your pocket to keep handy at all times.

Whispering Way™ Training String: The custom-made Whispering Way™ Training String is a full 6 feet long, made of strong 5/16" diameter double braid rope, and yet is small and light enough to easily slip into your pocket. With an eye spliced loop on one end and 5 1/2" leather popper on the other end, this incredibly versatile tool can help with all kinds of horse problems -- from first foot handling lessons to using it to teach your horse to ride bridleless, it has a thousand and one uses. My pocket is never without this handy tool!

To check out or purchase this training string online, visit my Web Store Here

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