Category Groundwork & the Horse That Won’t

Horse Won’t Pick Up Feet? Rule Out Pain, Then Train

A horse who leans on you or refuses a foot is telling you something. Check for pain, stand in the safer spot, and teach a foot he offers.

Where to stand, how to hold the rope, how to get through a gate, and why a horse who barges is a hand injury waiting to happen.

Rule out pain, practice between visits, and hold him where you both stay safe. A plan for the horse who won't stand and a farrier losing patience.

Tie last, untie first, and give him enough rope to lower his head. The order, the length, the release, and what a 2024 transport study found.

The vet appointment is in an hour and he will not go on. How to decide fast, what is safe to try, and when to move the appointment instead.

Train loading on a day you are not going anywhere. The research on what works, the equipment rules, and the methods that injure horses and handlers.

He walks off the moment your foot is in the stirrup. What to rule out with your vet, what the saddle is doing, and how to retrain it safely.

Pulling back is panic, and tying harder is how horses and handlers get hurt. Rule out pain, build a breakaway, and retrain with desensitization.

Why he stopped being catchable, what to rule out with a vet first, and the approach methods that have evidence behind them. No chasing.

Which groundwork exercises actually solve a problem, which are theater, and why a vet exam comes before any of it. From named equine-science sources.