My mare has had several episodes in the past year involving her panicing when her feet were restrained. She got caught her back leg caught in some vines on the trail... She got hung in an unattended halter and lead rope... Both times scared me badly, especially the halter and lead rope incident. I thought she was going to seriously injure herself.
So I've been throwing about hobble training. I know nothing about this (but am researching as we speak), but maybe this would slowly allow her to get use to having her feet restrained and she would no longer freak out when caught in vines, etc. I find it somewhat nerve racking to ride a trail horse who is afraid of vines.
Is it dangerous to teach? My horse's freak outs when faced with foot restraint involve a lot of thrashing... I don't think she would flip out badly if I did this step-by-step and slowly, but you can never know what a horse will do... How did your horses react when you fully hobbled them for the first time?
Also, can you hobble back legs as well? I've never heard of anyone doing that. I would rather get all four legs vine-worthly...
What sort of hobbles should I use? I asked a friend, and he said you could just use thick cotton rope to introduce them.
So I've been throwing about hobble training. I know nothing about this (but am researching as we speak), but maybe this would slowly allow her to get use to having her feet restrained and she would no longer freak out when caught in vines, etc. I find it somewhat nerve racking to ride a trail horse who is afraid of vines.
Is it dangerous to teach? My horse's freak outs when faced with foot restraint involve a lot of thrashing... I don't think she would flip out badly if I did this step-by-step and slowly, but you can never know what a horse will do... How did your horses react when you fully hobbled them for the first time?
Also, can you hobble back legs as well? I've never heard of anyone doing that. I would rather get all four legs vine-worthly...
What sort of hobbles should I use? I asked a friend, and he said you could just use thick cotton rope to introduce them.