My horse paws really bad. Anytime I tie him up or crosstie him, he will start to paw so furiosly that he grunts, coughs, and looses his balance. I don't mind a little pawing once in a while but, this is crazy!!! It's a pain when I pick up his hoofs to clean them and he jerks them out of my hands to paw, when I'm putting meds on his hoofs, when I linement his legs, shave his legs, bandage him... don't forget the farrier! I usually tell him no, and jerk on his lead, or pop him on his shoulder, but that only distracts him for a few seconds then he crinckles his nose and does it even harder! If I put a saddle on him he calms down and goes to sleep for a little while, unless I leave him saddled and tied. WHAT CAN I DO!

I've seen horses paw like mad before, but never quite to that extent. Sorry I can't be of any real help, but I don't want you to think that you are the only one that can't figure it out! Sorry! Good luck! I'll let you know if I figure anything out!

only suggestion I have is to tie him to a place he can't get a hoof through and let him work it out himself? Keep an eye on him, of course. It's impatience, and sometimes you can't stop it while feeding, for example, but by making him stand more it'll teach him some patience when tied.

True! Now that I think of it my horse used to paw about til he fell over, I left him tied for a large amount of time though and he's stopped since. What's the longest he's been tied for? If it's any time past that, he may be expecting to be untied by then, and demanding you do so! Gelding right? They can be so ornery! (Especially the young ones!)

yes he is a gelding. I figured it was impatience, he has been tied for about an hour at the longest. That was just once though. I'll try tying him in his stall to start with, so he is out of the way and not disturbing the other boarders. Then we will work towards the wash rack and aisle. Thanks for the help.

I heard of a technique about teaching a horse to stand quietly. I've used it on my horse and liked the results. A trainer I heard said that many times people tie a horse up and expect them to do what you want. But a horse dosn't know what you want. She said to stand next to the horse at first while he is tied. If he begins to paw take a whip and swat the offending leg. Now you don't swat so hard that he is terrified. After the swat and the leg gets back on the floor where you want it you stroke the same leg and praise the horse. Start moving farther away as he stands without pawing. If he starts up again come back to him swat the offending leg. My horse would paw with only one foot and he started to wear the toe off. Your horse might get more frantic if he is left alone.

Tying him up and only letting him go when he is NOT pawing is a good place to start, and of course only tie him where he can't get his foot hung up.

Another good thing is to teach him to be hobbled. You tie his front legs together while he's loose in a soft footed area and let him figure it out....takes some work to aquaint him with this and you will want a halter and lead on him ...He may lay down a couple of times when he tries to walk away and can't. But after he gets used to it, you can hobble him while he's tied, and he will learn he CAN'T paw.
The hobble training is also good for if he does manage to get his foot hung elsewhere, he won't panic and hurt himself.

i would agree with firefly. I used this technique on one of the ponies with great results. Just be careful that when you hit the horse with the whip that they don't back up to the point of breaking the halter.

I started by tying her up as if grooming. and I groomed with the whip in my hand. you must immediately discipline. If she pawed, I whipped the leg. Occasionally, I had her pull back on the halter, but not break it. I use break away halters anway, but you don't want your horse to break the halter because you don't want to give him the idea of that habit. if she pulled back, I would just ask her to step up again so the lead rope wasn't so tight. Then repeated the process, if she pawed she got hit. It really didn't take long for her to get the idea that if she didn't paw she didn't get hit.

I agree with everyone else, it's just a matter of teaching him that it's not acceptable behavior. It'll be tougher now since it's gotten so far along, but it can be done. As long as you resolve to stop it from this second on. It's not allowed under any circumstances anymore.

The whip is a good idea since you won't have to be right by his head with a lead, and he'll probably start to ignore a jerk on the lead anyway. When you smack his leg, he'll probably stop for a minute and start right back up again. Smack it again. It's going to take a lot of patience on your part, but you can't give up. Every single time he raises that leg, smack it. He'll be really frustrated and probably throw a bit of a fit at first since he's been allowed to do it so long, but that's ok, just ignore it.

Eventually he will not paw for several minutes, and when that happens untie him and put him away (or walk away). Eventually he will stand for longer and longer periods of time, and if you stay consistant and he gets a smack every time he tries to paw he will quickly learn not to paw.

The tying for a long period of time will work too I think, it'll just take longer. And it might not be as solid of a lesson, since he might try doing it again when he gets in a new place, or is nervous, or the like. I guess it's a matter of your preference though, I think both are good ideas!