Just copying a post from Gwenda's diary so that it will be easier to find later...
Avaris wrote:
What did you change that made your horses love the trimming? Maybe Frodur would like your idea, too
For us, trimming hooves is a game that they are allowed to take part in, not a duty. With that, if follows the principles of games, for example that ending it is easy and you need not fight or discuss about that. It also is a game for me, not just for the horses. For example, with little Bac-Flac the game is: How many actions can I squeeze into the interval before he wants to put down his hoof and still be the one who suggests putting the hoof back down first? So every one of my moves counts as a point, but only if the hoof lifting episode was ended by me, not him.
Here is a short explanation about being fast that I once wrote in Marlene's diary:
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For us, hoof rasping is supposed to be a fun game and the horses are allowed to join in if they want to. However, one of the main features of a game is that you aren't forced to participate and that you (feel that you) can step out of it anytime. Therefore, I have to make sure that we never get into a situation where the horse wants to pull away his hoof and I hold it. That means that I always try to be faster than the horse in suggesting to put the hoof down again. In practice, that means that with a new horse I start by lifting the hoof for about half a second or so, praise him enthusiastically and immediately put the hoof down myself. Next time, I can try to hold it for a whole second already, and so on, until I can trim the entire hoof.
The important part of it is just that I praise and admire the horse during the time when he keeps his hoof up, but I have to anticipate when he will have had enough, and then never let it get that far. In that way, hoof trimming is not a nuisance for the horse for which he feels that once he has agreed, it will be hard for him to get out of it again. Instead, if at all, hoof trimming always ends too early.
And some more posts about hoof trimming:
Pan and being fasterThinking of it as one rasp at a timeAn old post about AMA's BillyPia beginning to like trimmingWhat I did not mention a lot before, I think, is that for my horses trimming also is some sort of competition, at least in situations in which more than one horse wants to join in. This is due to my way of switching between horses, which I do as soon as a horse puts his hoof down. This makes me give him a final reward and then immediately move on to the next horse. Therefore, their way to keep my attention on them is to hold their hooves veeery still.
Another explanation along these lines:
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There is one thing that I think I am doing differently with my horses, and that is the "waiting girlfriend" behaviour. For me, doing the hooves is an offer that I am making to the horses (just like pretty much anything else). It is a game in which they can gain more rewards for much less effort than usual. But it is up to them to do well. For example, if Summy pulls away his hoof again and again, then off I go to the next horse who is waiting. Sorry that you have missed your chance, Mr. Summy, you will get a second chance next time I am around... To me it feels like this makes them understand that we are in this together, and both of us have to do our best, not just me.