MAYBE THIS BAD habit begins when feed buckets appear, or perhaps while the horse is waiting to be turned out into his field. Maybe he does it when his tack is being fetched, or once tacked up but still tied up and impatient to leave the yard. Whatever the trigger, the annoying habit of pawing the ground is a difficult behaviour to remedy. Not only does pawing risk damage to a horse's hooves, but the sound of it can be deafening and irritating to others.
The stigma attached to owning a pawer can leave owners feeling frustrated and at a loss as to what to do, but equine behaviourist Trudi Dempsey points out that unless an owner understands
