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How do you feel about the concept of putting hobbles on a horse a couple of hours before feeding to prevent him from getting too excited and pawing up his bucket? I recently was caught up in a debate over this. It would never even occur to me to hobble a horse to “teach” him to not get excited during feeding. I was wondering if this is considered inhumane.
I would not recommend using hobbles to prevent a horse from pawing and getting excited around feeding time. There is a simple and humane solution to eliminate the behavior that will take only about seven feedings and a fair amount of patience. Right now the horse is being rewarded for pawing, as he is fed when he is pawing. Simply wait until he ceases pawing, and use that moment to cue the correct behavior by feeding him. He will learn quickly that the way to “turn on” the food is to stop pawing. Be patient, though. The behavior will get stronger at first, because the horse will be frustrated that the pawing behavior is no longer producing food. He will paw more, and harder—so just take a deep breath, relax and wait. Thanks for the question, Claire.
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