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Where do I start?
let the horse tell you

The handiest technique I share with folks during an Equine Positional Release appointment is how to release portions of the hoof.  This is a really quick and positive thing you can do for your horse as your cleaning out its feet.  Because it's working with a semi-solid structure, you can do it daily if you want and you won't be overdoing it.  (Not for the horse, anyway, you might get fed up with it!  But the horse's system would be okay.)

So the main question usually is, 'Which foot do I start with?'

The horse will tell you.

The foot on the ground is the 'good' foot 

I remember asking about this in class and the teacher was like, 'well, you just know, don't you?'

And I was like, 'no, you don't, do you?  otherwise I wouldn't be asking!'

But a moment (or two or three or a year or so depending) eventually an answer does percolate through, and you're very much the wiser for having figured it out yourself.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, what's happening to your horse?

So, here's the thinking:

the horse has a 'good foot' and a 'bad foot.'  which foot is the horse going to stand on?  

will the horse opt for pain or for comfort?  (which do you opt for?)

following this further, will the horse stand on the painful foot?  (or the painful leg?)  

if it has two bad feet, which foot will it stand on?  etc. etc.

As you are now thinking, this is totally obvious: the horse stands on the good foot, or the better foot, because it hurts less.

(So which foot to work with?)

Basically, the foot in the air is the one to work with.  Or if one isn't actually off the ground, the one with less weight.  Which one is that?  The one the horse will let you have.  

What if the horse won't let you have the foot?  That's because the horse is standing on it.  That's the foot with the weight.  The one that's comfortable enough to work for the horse.

If the horse has a foot that is 'nailed to the ground' that's maybe the one good foot the horse has and it for sure isn't taking it off the ground!  Do not start with that foot.

The shortcut to all of this: the foot that works is the foot doing the job

When the horse walks up, if it doesn't stand square, it is putting weight on feet that work better and taking weight off feet that work less better.  (Why?  Because the feet that work better don't hurt as much when you put weight on them, so those on the ones that do the work of carrying the horse's weight.)

If you're like a lot of folks, you were taught to teach your horse to stand square.  The thing is, how the horse stands is telling you how aligned it is.  If it doesn't automatically stand square, it's not aligned.  And how it deviates from square tells you how it's not aligned.  Teaching it, or making it, to stand square, erases the message the horse would've given you about how aligned it is.  

If it's not aligned, something is less well.  It could be feet, it could be the back, it could be anything, to be honest, but since we're looking at feet, the take away here is that how the horse is standing can tell you about its feet.

Rather than make the horse stand square, let it stand the way it is comfortable standing and it will tell you which foot/leg is comfortable, and which is not.

The leg that's under the horse is the one that works better and the foot that's either in the air or not 'under' the horse is the one that works less well.

When you go to pick up a foot, pick up the one that's already off the ground.  Get it to feeling better.  Then when you ask the horse to put weight on it, it won't feel so bad.  The other one won't be so nailed to the ground.  If it's truly nailed to the ground, consider that you're asking the horse to move into a dangerous place -- ie falling over, and part of the resistance is the preservation instinct kicking in.

Example

Again, pulling a pic from the internet, here's a horse standing on two legs.  It has a preference for those two legs  -- those are the two 'good' legs.  The other two legs are not carrying as much weight -- and you might correctly infer that the less weight they are carrying the more 'owie' they are.  The legs the horse is standing on are the left fore and the right hind.  The leg with the least amount of weight is the left hind.  I would start with it. 

Another pic pulled from the internet with the horse standing on two legs.  The legs the horse is standing on are the left fore and the right hind.  I'm guessing (making this up) this horse is 'caught at an odd moment,' though.  It looks like it had been walking and stopped.  For this horse I would ask it to take one more step and become clearer about where it wants to put its weight.  The left hind might be the easiest to get off the ground.  OR, it may be that the left fore is the easiest.  IF it's the left fore, you can *ask* the horse for the foot and if it adjusts the weight by squaring up the hind feet or moving the left hind back and gives you the foot, then you've got the correct foot.  If the horse puts more weight into the left fore, then that's the 'one good foot' and it needs to stay on the ground.  In that case, ask the horse to move forward a little bit and maybe start with the right fore.  If both front feet work then the horse at least has two feet helping it out then working with a back foot will be a lot easier.  Get one one of the back feet helping out and now you've got three feet doing their job.  (total side note, if this were the preferred stance of this horse, I would be doing a psoas release on the left side ... very easy to do, another of the releases I like to share with owners!)

If you're interested in learning any of this, teaching folks how to release the foot is part of all of my Equine Positional Release horse sessions (EPR is for people, too!) and part of my half day biomechanics clinics.   

I also have been getting a booth at the Bluebonnet Equine Expo so you can find me there.   Stop by and say 'Hi!'

L

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"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities." 

~ James Allen