There is an old western adage that states "No Feet, No Horse." This is of course simply to say that if you are unable to keep your horse's feet in good condition and are consequently unable to use him, then you may as well not have the horse. But what happens when we are confronted by the horse that does not want to have its feet worked on?

Few things are more embarrassing for the horse owner, frustrating for the horseshoer, and traumatic for the horse, than the unruly and often dangerous behavior of a horse that is determined not to let you work on its feet. Every farrier has been confronted by horses that attempt to get rid of him by such vicious behavior as:

*Leaning *Kicking *Striking *Spinning *Biting *Laying down *Rearing *Balking

The majority of farriers are not disposed to handle these problems: after all they get paid for trimming and shoeing, their time is valuable, and not that many of them are corrective behavior horse trainers. What then is the horse owner to do? Well, this site is devoted to answering that question!

My name is Larry Fox. I am an retired professor, trainer and farrier. When I retired from horse shoeing I wanted to provide horsemen and women with a book on how to train their horses to stand in a relaxed and self controlled manner while having their feet (the horses' feet that is) worked on. But I was unable to find any such book, so I wrote one; and to this day I believe that my book "No Feet, No Horse" is the only one of its kind that solely addresses the problem of how to correct the bad behavior that a horse may exhibit during trimming and shoeing.

My book is available for free on this website as a downloadable e-book. I offer it to those of you who visit this site at the rate of one chapter bi-monthly (i.e. every two months). If you're interested you can take a detailed look at what it's about by downloading the Introduction, Foreword, Table of Contents and Index. To do this just click on the "Corrective Training" button near the top left of this page (or the link at the bottom of this page) and it will take you to that site page where you will find the download button. Then if you would like to download your free current chapter, just go click on the download button which says "Current Chapter." I welcome any questions you may have about the book or this website. If you wish you can e-mail me at "foxco@nednet.net".

For a list of the personal and financial benefits to be had for horse owners and farriers, from learning how to correct behavior problems that occur during shoeing and trimming, click on the Farriers & Owners link below.

For a special consideration of the concerns of farriers, click on The Special Farriers' Page below.

For a review of 'women and horses' and especially of 'women and handling horses feet" click on the Horse Talk link below.