Awesome newsletter as always, my name is Tina and I have a question about pawing. I am a new horse person I have had my Arabian/ QH gelding for 1yr now he is 6 yrs old and when I got him he was perfect in every way except he was very head strong. I have been taking lessons with a trainer so I can be taught the proper way to work and ride him. He has been at the same place now for a yr and it seems he is picking up habits and one being the worst is pawing, he paws as soon as I walk in the barn or as soon as he sees me walking toward the paddock, he is often getting his foot caught in the buckets, (they have been moved all over his stall) I have tried all kinds of things not to reinforce this behavior (such as no treats if he does this), I wont take him out to groom him if he paws and sometimes when I am grooming him it seems he paws right at me. The barn manager wants to use hobbles on him and I am not sure if that is the right thing to do, can you suggest anything I can do to stop this behavior? I do see him every day we do have a fair to good relationship he does test me from time to time but I don't know if what I am doing is wrong and makes him do this. I know I have a lot to learn so I am sure part of his problems is because of my lack of knowledge. If you have any ideas they would be greatly appreciated

Thank you,

Pawing is a common problem and it is a communicative gesture on the part of the horse that means that he is frustrated and wants to be moving. And yes, people contribute to this behavior in several ways. Probably the fact that you give him treats at all is a big cause. He has learned to associate you with a handout and when he sees you he is very anxious to receive his treat (the feeding of treats erodes your leadership over the horse). I would suggest that you not give treats at all- ever- and that will help to resolve this problem and other problems that you are having with leadership with your horse. There are numerous articles on my website about the problems that hand-feeding treats cause and once people understand the horse's behavior better, they generally will stop giving treats (you'll find very few professional horsemen that give treats to horses).

Another common situation that exacerbates the horse pawing is that when he paws he gets attention from you. Horses are just like kids sometimes- they would rather get negative attention than no attention. So if every time your horse paws, you come to him to stop him, he begins to think he is controlling your actions (and he is) and getting you to come to him and keep him company. Therefore it is best to totally ignore his pawing and only come to him when he is quiet.

Like most trainers, I am a big believer in the "patience post." We will leave young or untrained, ill-mannered horses tied at the hitching rails for hours each day. In the beginning the horse will fuss and paw and carry on, but eventually he will learn that his fussing does him no good and he will learn to stand tied patiently. This may take a week or two, but eventually he'll learn to have patience when he is tied. Using rubber mats at the hitching rails will help prevent a horse fro digging a big hole when he paws.

There is certainly nothing wrong with hobble training a horse and in fact, many people think that all horses should be hobble broke so that they learn not to fight restraints. This way if the horse is ever caught in the fence or a rope, they will not fight it and injure themselves. Just make sure your hobbles are soft, comfortable and well fitted and that whoever is helping you is knowledgeable about training a horse to hobbles. There was recently an article in Western Horseman about hobble training a horse (summer 2004). Craig Cameron, a clinician from Texas, makes my favorite kind of hobble. They are made of re-braided cotton rope and are very soft and easy on the horse's legs.

One more thought on your pawing problem: you need to do more ground work. Your horse should know to stand still without moving a foot when you are around him or when you ask him to. Your horse should not be moving at all when you groom him and if he is, it is an indication that he has poor ground manners, is disobedient and does not think of you as his leader. There are numerous articles on my website about ground work and teaching ground manners to your horse, but you'll probably need some on-site help to do it with your horse. Groundwork done well will always result in a quiet, more responsive and willing horse that is focused on you and totally obedient to you.

JG

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