Baker training session 6 - Picking up his feet

I worked with Baker today for about 20 minutes.  Fiona seemed a little bit more relaxed with my presence, and she only got upset once while I was working with him.  He was fabulous with everything I had previously done - he came right up to me and let me rub him all over, even on his face, he was fine with the leadline on too.  We didn't do any leading around today because I was working solo.  He did do a little bit of leaning, but he was quickly reminded that is not ok.  Baby horses are no different from baby people - they all like to push boundaries and see what they can get away with.  It's up to us, the trainer or parents, to set and maintain the boundaries, and instill consequences that are firm but fair.  Since he was so good with everything else, I decided to really work on picking up his feet.  I had touched on this lesson a few days ago, but only for a minute or two, nothing too intense.  I only focused on the front feet today.  Once the front feet are easy, then i'll move on to the back feet.  This exercise was not difficult, but it required a LOT of repetition before he relaxed enough.  Basically, I just pick up one foot at at time and hold it until he relaxes.  The first time or two, I just pick it up and put it right back down, so that he can see that he won't fall down, and that it is possible to stand on three legs.  Once he is comfortable with that, I pick up and hold the foot for a little longer.  I make sure to have a good grip on the leg so that he can't get it out of my hands (thus figuring out that if he struggles, then he will get what he wants), but I don't hold him so tight that it hurts or upsets him either.  You have to find the right balance.  I also have to make sure to keep his front leg bent and not let him straighten it out in front of himself.  Finally, I also alternate between the right and left legs each time, so that he gets a little break with one while I work on the other.  Because he is so small right now, it is easy to pick up each foot and fairly easy to hold on to it, even when he struggles.  He did struggle a lot at first - he tried to walk away from me, or lay down, or turn, or lean on me, but I just held tight through it all until he relaxed.  Once he relaxed I immediately put the leg down.  In this way, he learns that struggling does not get him what he wants, but relaxing does.  Once he was better about me holding the leg with my hands, I would pick it up and put it between my legs, the same way a farrier will do when he needs to trim Baker's hooves.

 This was scary for him at first, but I responded to his struggles in the exact same way as before - I held on until he relaxed, and then once he relaxed I immediately put his foot down.  Since I had both my hands mostly free for this part, I was also able to scratch him on his neck and back while holding him, so that he learns to associate good things with me picking up his foot.  That really helped him to relax too!  So far, this has been his hardest lesson, but he did finally settle and realize that I wasn't going to hurt him, and that once he relaxed he would get what he wanted.  This is probably a lesson I will have to repeat with him a few times before it becomes a non-issue, but today was a good start!