Am I ever going to be able to sell him????

[emc1]

Hi - I have a brilliant horse that must be worth approx 5k BUT he has to be sedated at the vets to be shod. Without sedation or with ACP or Sedalin, he will not let the farrier anywhere near him. I have tried different farriers and he just thinks he is being attacked. He is brilliant with me and will let me do anything with his feet.
Problem is, is anyone ever going to buy a horse like this? I really dont have time to do him justice due to work/family committments and he is so wasted!! It is costing me £130 each time I have front shoes only on him (farrier and vet).
Any thoughts?

 

[Tierra]

Quick question... is he the same regardless of whether he is being hot or cold shod?

 

[Claireg9]

None im afraid, sounds like you'll find it had, but with honesty someone might just want him.
Or the other option is not to tell them, but i couldnt live with myself if i did that horse and people at risk.
The only other thoughts are will he let the farrier just trim?
Could he go without shoes?
And have you tried a different farrier, maybe a female if your is male and vice versa?
Also what about you learning if he is good with you? Might be to far fetched the last one.. but i think to sell you'll have to tell the truth and hope somebody that is loaded might like him enough.. sorry x

 

[Kelly1982]

TBH that would serioulsy put me off, there is no way i would be able to afford £130 every 6 weeks for 2 shoes.

BUT money is not an issue with some people so i'm sure the right home will come along it just may take a bit longer.

Someone who also has their own land and is saving on livery etc may be able to afford extra expense.

You may find you need to drop the price on him though because of this.

What is he like with no shoes at all??

 

[Rambo]

Now I don't advocate *alternative* therapies often....but I have to say if I was paying that sort of money for shoeing, i'd be prepared to try anything

What about contacting someone like Monty Roberts ? He's supposed to be good at working with *difficult* horses isn't he

 

[Rambo]

OR !

Find a vet who's looking to buy a horse just like him

 

[Caritas]

It wouldnt put me off if it was the right horse after all we all have our faults

 

[miss_bird]

Sorry am i being dim why does it cost £130? Sedalin is not that expensive to buy and you dose them yourself

 

[airedale]

I'd forget the shoeing and work him barefoot - his feet may well adjust depending on breeding

If worked unshod you may well be able to trim and rasp him yourself with practice. Whilst it is illegal to shoe without being a trained farrier (rightly) and you are not allowed to do other peoples horses, you can I think rasp and trim your own horse(s).

A horse that worked unshod wouldn't bother me - 4 of mine do including road work and the £24 instead of £56 is a welcome saving. The horses also are never lame or bruised despite some stoney ground.

If you could prove that he worked unshod without lameness and accepted trimming/rasping then it wouldn't put me off.

However a horse that needs shoes and reacts like that I wouldn't have the time or money to support.

Go for the unshod look and then try and sell him

 

[vicijp]

If the horse has a lot of potential, a professional competition yard wont find him much of a problem. Most of these people will be able to sedate him themselves, so market him in that direction.

 

[emc1]

Hi - maybe it wasnt clear - the sedalin and ACP doesnt work at all, he needs introvenous stuff!!
I have worked him barefoot but he doesnt even let the farrier near, let alone a trim. as i said, he is perfect for me to do anything so I am thinking of trying a female farrier - i think its a man thing!
Anyone know how much a horse healer guy (a la monty style) is to come out and visit?

 

[pixie]

Have you tried rasping his feet yourself?

 

[vicijp]

Yes, most big comp yards will have someone knocking about who can bang some dope in the vein.

 

[dwi]

http://www.montyroberts.co.uk/ click on horse help

I can't recommend them enough

 

[tarbra]

I used to retrain horses like yours, it is such a shame you are not in my area. However, have you considered getting training yourself in order to retrain your horse. A lot of the time all it takes is love and time? Take it one step at a time, get the blacksmith to visit without shoeing, just to give your horse a pat and a bit of affection.

If you compete you cannot keep using drugs!

Good luck either way, you never know, you might find a vet or blacksmith who would like your horse? Linda

 

[henryhorn]

Perhaps try a female farrier just paying her to visit and make friends the first couple of times? Our horses have all improved with our super one, one stallion often messed about and now stands like a lamb, and a gelding who snatched one back leg has stopped that too.
Sadly with this problem he is worth meat money, so it's worth investing some money trying to get him out of it. How sad a farrier somewhere has scared him so badly..
If you can touch his feet, will he allow you to use a hammer on them?

 

[runaway]

This isn't going to help much if your farrier can't get near him to even rasp his feet but what about the glue on shoes you can get? Or the "boots" that you can put on and take off?

Like I say he will still need his feet trimming as you'll know. I think it would be money well spent getting a monty roberts/richard maxwell type in to help but be sure you like what they're going to do and feel confident that you can take up where they leave off.

Good luck

 

[MagicMelon]

I think you need to try and sort it out. Have you tried behaviourists / people like Monty Roberts etc.? Im sure someone could help. Maybe if you try and book the behaviour person and book the farrier at the same time for a few hours so they can work together to help get him over his phobia. You spend enough as it is on doping him up so I think this would be far more worth the money.

Failing that, if possible can you leave the front shoes off completely and just have him trimmed?

Im afraid I couldn't buy a horse like this. Although at the same time, I would need to see what he did with the farrier to gauge whether or not he could be helped.