Needs his hooves trimmed… Can’t touch him!

Опубликовано: 13 Март 2025
на канале: Connection Training

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Eeek - what do you do when you have to help your horse with something physical/medical yet they’re not emotionally ready for it?This is a common scenario and it can be tricky to navigate - which is the highest priority? How do you take care of their physical needs without ruining your trust and relationship?

Meet Coconut, my donkey (he’s one of 3 donkeys who came with the house when I bought it in France). His previous owners hadn’t been able to get anyone to trim his feet because he kicked and they were really overgrown. I really wanted to address it as fast as possible, but also build some trust with him, too.This shows a little of the first part of my journey with him. I spent lots of time working on things non-foot-related, too, so it wasn’t all working on something that worried him, but this was how I began to touch and then trim his feet.

Interestingly, through this process, lifting his front feet has become his very favourite thing to do (even now, when I can touch him all over, lift all 4 feet etc). This is often the case - when we use positive reinforcement to help an equine overcome an old fear, it seems to really empower them and often that becomes their favourite thing to do ❤️

You can see more of this process in detail with Coco (and others) in my Youtube Video on 4 Ways to Train Touching Legs and Hooves. Click the link to view: • 4 Ways to Train Touching Your Horse’s...