Hi Lisa, Have your horse’s teeth checked.

Push behind her knee gently with your elbow while squeezing the back of the pasturn lightly with your thumb. You hand should be wrapped around the pasturn at this time. Lean into the horse slightly and lift. This won’t force her to pick up that hoof, but will encourage her to do so.

thank you horse whisperer for a detailed account of garlic for horses. My horse absolutely HATES it. I first tried the garlic and apple cidar vinegar in his water. Wouldn’t touch it. Then months later, I put the smallest amount in his “hard food” ( chaff etc) . Normally he loves it and stands impatiently at the gate and i’ve had to train him to wait for me to put it down. The morning I put the garlic in, he looked at it and me with such an expression of “what have you done to my food?” and wouldn’t touch it. Finally he ate some of it but was not happy. I discontinued it but he was suspicious of the hard food for days afterwards. And he loooves his food. Very lively 3 yr old so maybe he just hates the taste?

The most important thing you can do for his welfare is to get him a companion.
Horse, burro, donkey, goat– no horse should be alone.

Tap the horses leg gently until he picks it up. Increase the taps intensity if he doesn’t respond. As soon as he unweights the leg, stop. Let him relax. Start again and he should respond more quickly this time, Eventually keep tapping until he actually lifts his foot. Use your finger first, then, the hoof pick if he is ignoring you. Build on the response until he picks it up when you tap once.

Never get angry or let the horse become upset.

My horses hand me their foot when I am in the hoof cleaning position.

This is key for a broke horse.

Never heard of this before, and would like to give it a try. Where might I get it, and what’s it actually for if other than flies? Thanks.

Peanut butter works too!