Managing Foot Speed

By: Ted Howard, Production Animal Consultation

Horsemanship skills are achieved during a lifelong learning process. As you start to build on some foundation principles, you can really begin to see magnificent results in your horses. What I have found to be the most beneficial horsemanship tip in the feedlot industry is the ability to control the speed of my horse’s feet. When our horse trusts our hands and feet to ask them for movement, whether it be their front end, ribs or hip, we can then begin to control the speed of their feet.

The speed of our horse’s feet is important in numerous situations. When we receive new cattle or bawling calves, our horse’s feet need to be very slow and quiet to build confidence and trust in these sensitive cattle. The other end of the spectrum is building energy in our fats that tend to not move easily. Our horse’s feet need to be a bit quicker to establish more energy and fluid movement for those heavier cattle.

When pulling individual animals, the speed of our horse’s feet will vary. Individual cattle let us know very quickly how much pressure is required for easy movement. By being able to control our horse’s feet, we will be able to accommodate the flight zone of each animal we are encountering. The slower our horse’s feet move, the closer we can get to our cattle. Not only are we building confidence in the cattle we are pulling, we are also building confidence in our horse.

Due to varying pedigrees in our horses, some horses have more natural “cow sense” than other horses. If we can establish a foundation of trust in slowing down a horse’s feet, they will then have the ability to think and see how a cow is reacting. A horse will then start to adjust their own foot speed to fit the individual animal without as much cue from us.

I appreciate all that I learn from each horseman I encounter in my feedlot travels. I continue to build on the basics and add new tools to better my horsemanship every day.