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Give Me Your Foot
by Steve
Edwards
Years ago when I did a lot of shoeing for
others, I worked with every problem animal
there was. The biggest problem I had
shoeing was the owners. Whoops did I say
that! The problem was they would not pick
up the hoof, clean and inspect it on a daily
basis or at least every time they rode.
There is an old saying: "No hoof, no
mule". The reason I know this is, I
would work with a mule and get him started
in the right direction then show the owner
and say, " Now I want you to do this at
least 4 times a week fifteen minutes a
day." Fifteen minutes a day is not asking
much. Now 6 to 8 weeks later I would come
out to shoe and the mule and I would have to
spend time training again. Folks would be
upset when I would tack on an extra $30.00
to train the mule to pick up the foot or not
to lean. Training and shoeing are two
different jobs. Your farrier should
walk up, ask for the foot, and go to
shoeing.
I’ve stepped on lots of toes about now so
let me explain. Think about how you pick up
your mule’s hoof. Do you reach down and
pick up the hoof by “pulling on it” rather
than asking the mule to give it to you?
Have you allowed the mule to shift his
weight so he can prepare to work with you?
When you are done do you drop the foot?
Does your mule lean on you when you pick up
the hoof? Let’s learn to do it right!
Now before I
get started I want you to understand, any
time you work with animals you have a chance
of getting hurt or your animal getting
hurt. It is very important that you think
things through before you start working with
Mr. mule. When you have fright you can have
flight and fight. When you start getting
mad or Mr. mule gets mad you need to find a
good place to quit. Either start rubbing
Mr. mule to calm him down or leave him to
stand and think about things. Standing is a
great training tool; don’t shy away from
using it.
Let’s start at the beginning and see if we
can make picking up the feet a pleasant
experience. To start you need an attainable
goal. Our final goal would be to have a
mule that picks up all four feet and holds
each up indefinitely without leaning. The
immediate goal would be to achieve any kind
of movement upon touching the shoulder or
hip button. If your mule is young this will
be a fast process, if your mule is older he
has probably found lots of ways to get
around this picking up the foot process.
Remember to always reward by rubbing the
mule and use a quiet tone in your voice.
Say some thing nice and rub the mule at the
same time. Something like, good for you,
good mule, keeps a positive attitude for you
and Mr. mule. Sorry words develop a sorry
attitude.
This is how I
start young mules that no one has spoiled.
Keep the lessons short, always stop on a
good note, this is true any time you’re
training or working with your mule. At
first Mr. Mule may do something you don’t
like, for instance kick at you. If you make
it a big problem it will become exactly
that. Never kick him in the belly or hit
him with a whip. At first he may kick at
the quirt. This is not the time to kick him
in the belly either. You just stay
consistent, keep taping, and as soon as Mr.
mule moves, stop tapping and rub and love on
your mule. Remember; never
make a big deal out of him kicking at you,
just keep tapping.
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STEP #1. I start at the left
front leg, looking from the tail of
the mule. It’s also called the
“near” front. I ask the mule to
pick up the hoof by pushing on the
shoulder blade. You can feel the
sharpness of the bone at the middle
of the shoulder. (See photo on
right.)
Watch
the hoof carefully as you push on
the shoulder blade. Look for the
hoof to get loose on the ground. As
soon as it does, take the pressure
off his shoulder. Do this 3 times
in a row.
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tip of the shoulder blade |
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As you
touch the shoulder blade say, "give
it to me." Mr. Mule will learn
that when you touch the button
(shoulder blade, hipbone), that’s
the cue to pick up the foot . |
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Now
that you have asked each foot to
‘think about giving’ now use a
four-foot long quirt. Rub the
shoulder blade with your thumb and
as you see the foot move tap the
hoof with the quirt. Look for the
smallest attempt to work with
you. As soon as you see it, take the
pressure off the shoulder and stop
tapping the hoof.
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Things To Look For:
At first the hoof will move
a little. As you work on it
every day, Mr. Mule will start
working with you.
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Training Tip: A good
training tip here is to keep
feeling the esophagus. Before
you start your training rub and
shake the esophagus. See how it
feels like a bowl of Jell-O?
This will tell you Mr. Mule is
calm and has an understanding of
what you are teaching.
Throughout the training if the
esophagus tightens up, stop and
rub and speak quietly to the
mule. When he softens up go
back to work.
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tapping the hoof with the
quirt |
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STEP #3. Use the quirt the same
way as you did with the front feet.
Light taps increasing until he picks
up the foot. The back foot is
usually more difficult than the
front.
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Things To Look for: On
the back foot he may just take
the weight off the foot. That’s
OK—
this is a great place to stop.
When you are able to pick up the
rear hoof, as he gives you the
hoof bring the hoof to the front
first then take it back. This
will get the back leg to relax
and uncheck the hip. Then take
the leg back again and get your
work done to the hoof or leg.
Everybody wants to hurry up and
go riding.
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Training Tip: Groundwork
is more important than riding.
Another
problem is that folks drop the hoof
after they are done. You are teaching the
mule to pull a way from you by first
teaching the mule to get in a hurry by
dropping the hoof. When you are done
cleaning the hoof put your left hand on the
hip and the right hand on the canon bone and
set the foot down. This training will be
good when you need to care for the health of
your mule. |
point of the
hipbone
tapping while pushing on the
hipbone |
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