How to Help the Leg Shy Horse

Helping a horse that is fearful and claustrophobic around his legs to become confident and respectful for grooming veterinary and farrier work is a delicate process. If done wrong the result can be a more fearful horse. Horses are flight animals and their legs provide the means for their primary survival tactic. You cant blame your horse for doing what he feels he needs to do for selfpreservation. Yet when they trust us its amazing how many things horses will accept that go against their instincts.

This is why horsemanship experience is important. You need to have a sensitive feel a quick timed release and most importantly an understanding of the horse youre trying to help and knowledge of why they are so protective of their legs. Im looking forward to sharing some concepts that can help many horses with leg handling issues.
I start by establishing communication with the whole horse rather than focusing only on the legs. This way I establish a connection a respect system and personal space before dealing with any issues. A horse that is worried about his legs can strike or kick a handler in a blink so establishing personal space is an important first step. When it comes time to address the feet I start by using a long soft rope as it allows me to touch the legs from a distance and keep out of range of being kicked or struck.
I use a twostep strategy with a legshy horse to help him become confident. First I simply rub the rope around his legs and have him accept it being placed there. Then I begin teaching him to lead by the legs. This helps the horse replace his fear with positive thought and a yield. I find that by teaching horses to replace their fear with a responsive yield to pressure they figure out that its okay to be touched on their sensitive spots and that feeling of confidence lasts for a longer period of time than with other methods. This confidence not only helps the horse feel better about having things around his legs but it makes him safer in the event that he gets his legs caught in something for example if the horse gets his leg tangled in a fence he is less likely to panic if he is confident about having his legs touched and controlled.
The horse demonstrating the techniques in