Left & Right Handed Horses

by David Farmilo
Accredited Master Farrier, Oakbank SA
PH 0418 835 186
www.horsefarrier.com.au

It is important to be able to recognize the left or right handed tendencies in horses, from the farrier’s point of view and also from a rider’s point of view.

Many years ago, working as a colt breaker and farrier, I noticed that most young horses seemed to be more tractable on one side than the other. Later on when the time came for their first shoeing, it was notable that the fronts were different sizes, and that the larger shoe corresponded with the more tractable side.

When I was fifteen years old, Old Joe, my mentor who was then eighty, always taught me to shape up the shoes in matching sized pairs in order to see right away if there was any difference in the horse’s hooves. At that stage I never thought to ask why there was a difference and he never volunteered the information unless I asked the question. Many years later when I realized the value of the information, I made a point of observing the tendency of every horse and have spent the past thirty years studying this relationship of hoof size to natural athletic tendencies.

The first observation was born out of my own need for self preservation, and I noted that if the young horse bucked, it would always go to the side of its largest hoof. Quite a useful piece of information for any handler. This was also his most tractable side during the mouthing process.

As a farrier, I began asking every client or horse owner what they used the horse for and how did it perform, then also noted any difference in hoof size. It soon became obvious that there was a predictable pattern of behavior. A larger near-fore worked easier to the left while a larger off-fore worked easier to the right but where both fronts were of equal size, the horse was easy on both sides.

I was born left handed but over time have learned to be about 90% ambidextrous. In my shoeing techniques, I have tried to achieve as near as possible equal sized and shaped fronts on every horse, together with the owner’s cooperation in schooling the horse a little more on his weak side. Sometimes there was an improvement for a period of time, and appearance wise they looked better with even sized hooves, but their natural tendency was still to favor the side of the natural strong hoof.

Some horses become quite frustrated if we pressure them to work on their weak side.
To reinforce this left and right hand study, I practiced recognizing the different hoof size as they walked towards me for shoeing, and tested it by telling the owner in advance how the horse would favor or resist accordingly and the accuracy was amazing.
While practicing roll-backs on my polo Crosse horse, I noticed that he took half a step more to do a left roll than a right roll, thus he was right handed. On the polo Crosse field it was beneficial for me to recognize my opponent’s horse’s weak side. It would obviously be of great benefit for riders of competitive horses to be able to identify these natural left and right handed traits. And similarly for rodeo horses coming out of a chute.

Many horse buyers buy horses at auction, and look to a vet for guidance on the horse’s health and soundness, while overlooking the fact that the horse may be totally unsuitable for the purpose for which they require it simply because of its natural athletic tendencies.

Working on a thoroughbred breeding, training and racing stud, I was able to observe that foals as early as twenty one days old were developing a difference in hoof size, and by the age of weaning, without the influence of any human, were already noticeably left or right handed or ambidextrous. As foals they were handled only briefly then allowed to grow up in the paddock, haltered every six weeks for hoof inspection, and by yearling preparation time they were definitely in the groove of their natural tendencies.

During the breaking in and the mouthing process, again the young horse wants to favor its natural born athletic movement, giving to one rein much easier than the other. My observation over this long period of time is that horses, like us, are born left or right handed, with only about one in a hundred born ambidextrous. So often I have heard people criticize a horse for not racing kindly clockwise or anti-clockwise - it is usually only because they are running against their natural dominant tendency, and if they are given a chance to race the other way, their performance will improve.

I was fortunate to be in a position where a group of horses could be observed from foals right through their working life to being brood mares themselves, and then observing their foals who also were born left or right handed.

Many clients and horse owners who are unaware of left and right handedness in horses are initially dubious that such a condition even exists. When shown how to recognize this, they have found their horses much easier to work with and understand.

Over the years I have taught many students to recognize this natural born trait in horses, and how we can as furriers, by using consistent standards of shoeing, help the horse and rider maintain a higher level of natural ability.

If you have any doubts at all, email me and arrange an immediate on-line consultation. Have 2 digital photos on hand for my diagnosis.