Building duration on hoof lifts with Clicker Training

Are you struggling with building duration on hoof lifts?
Does your horse want their foot back quicker than you’re ready to give it back?
One thing I find with equines is that they appreciate predictability and routine. With fearful equines, that’s what helps them feel safe and builds trust.
You may not realise that positive reinforcement has 3 steps, that it’s a process. The first is the antecedent, which is what prompts the behaviour. The second is the actual behaviour the animal performs and the third step is the consequence that happens as a result of their behaviour. We call this the ABC contingency.
When we train animals with positive reinforcement, this 3 step process is constantly occurring and it’s a kind of pleasurable predictability in their training.
There is often a lot of fear involved and trust building in regards to hoof lifts and holding the hoof up for extended periods of time, while we do things to their hoof or strangers touch and do things to them and their hooves.
In order to build trust, there needs to be a dialogue that goes back and forth between us and our equine. This is super important in the process. That means we need to listen to what they are telling us as far as what they feel comfortable to do and what they don’t and most importantly, we need to adjust accordingly.
Trust in us and the process is built through us taking the animal’s feedback via their body language and behaviour and adjusting what we are doing and how much we are asking of them.
It’s best that we are not dictating our goals to them, but we are working with them cooperatively, with their voice being the strongest, in order to get the best results FOR THEM.
In practical terms, this means if you cue the hoof lift and they don’t lift it, there’s a problem for the equine and you could maybe ask one more time in case they missed the cue. But if they don’t lift their hoof and it’s been trained and you know they’ve done it before, then there’s a problem and it’s best not to ask again, but go to something easy and work out why they can’t lift their hoof when you cue it. Is it because of pain in the other hoof or in their body somewhere? Is there something going on in the environment that they don’t feel safe or are distracted? Is there a problem with the food you are offering? Do they feel unwell and not up to doing this at the moment? Is the behaviour or cue perhaps not as well trained as you thought?
If all is well and the hoof is voluntarily lifted, it should be light and pliable and we need to listen to any behaviour the animal conveys through their body language. If you start to feel them fidget or start to waggle or jerk their hoof, it means they want it back and we need to give it back asap. THEN, the next time, we need to ask for less time with the hoof in the air and give it back before we think they are going to ask for it back, so that they don’t need to ask.
If you don’t, you’ll end up stuck in a loop of the equine asking for their hoof back and feeling less safe and less trust and asking for it back more and more and sooner and sooner, because you’re not listening and trust is being reduced.
If you do give the hoof back asap and do less the next time, trust and confidence is being built because the equine feels safe and confident that you are listening, that they have some control and that they won’t be asked to do more than they feel able to offer.
It can seem counter productive, but responding to the equine’s body language and not pushing for more, is what builds stronger behaviours, more trust and confidence in you and the process and builds longer duration over time. This is because they feel safe and have a voice and control over the process..
The process I’m describing and this video is showing a technique I use once the hoof lift has been trained with positive reinforcement, systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning and is on cue and you simply want to build duration while on your own.
Finally, if you’ve read this far, I know this is a long post. But training hoof lifts and preparing for trims is a long process with many steps. I have been through this long process successfully with fearful equines who could not even be touched at the start. It can be done, but it takes a lot of patience and a good ear for listening to your learner and you can’t be in a rush, it doesn’t work that way with fearful animals and their emotions.
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