Do you hold your horses for the farrier?

totally agree but there are loads of people who DO expect the farrier to train their horses to be accepting of being handled and shod, and im sure that if a farrier has been doing the job a very long time and your horse does play up, SOME of them will lose their temper with them, im not saying its right - far from it but ive seen it happen and so will always be there for my horses
 
No my horse is good with the farrier.I really like our farrier I've watched him work with some real nightmare horses and he is very kind.
 
I tie the big girl up as she'll just stand and nod off but the others I've always held and now they are used to being done that way it's just easier. plus i made the mistake of trying to tie the ginger twit up as he'd been so good at being tied up for the last year, new farriers first visit and the ginger twit decided he no longer liked being tied to pulled back, panicked and took the tie up post with him, nearly taking me and farrier too:o
sometimes farrier will do them in the field so they have to be held unless i tie them to me:eek:
 
I tie mine up but stand near their heads just in case, the youngest can be a bit of an idiot sometimes and I think it's up to me to make sure he doesn't do anything to hurt the farrier.
 
I usually do if I'm there I have a great blacksmith though and if I'm not he will do him in the stable or field I trust blacksmith and he gets on well with my horse and it works well if he's doing a few and I'm unable to be there
 
TB is a nightmare with farrier a lot of the time, other times fine! I am doing training to get around his back feet issues but he has to be held by a strong person at the moment and the only time I left him was to pop and get money when I forgot!
 
Bertolie said:
I never hold my horses for the farrier. They are tied up and I am always present whilst they are being shod. My farrier prefers them tied up to being held.
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As above with mine. I'm happy to hold if he asked me to but he never has done. I'll often stand by the horses head though, especially if he's a bum nipper!! I only ever tend to make him tea/coffee in between horses as I like to be around just in case, Ive known most farriers to have very short fuses and I have a very sensitive horse so his smacking of him is not allowed ;) Have to say I really dislike farriers disiplining my horses. I totally understand my horses should behave and they always do! But sometimes they get told off purely for shifting weight a tiny bit because they're not balanced in the first place. My sensitive horse has the manners of a saint, he picks his hooves up for me before I even get to them! But he can get nervous of men so if they even raise their voice at him it just makes him wet himself!
 
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We had a fire on the moor next door and the smoke was bad so we cancelled the farrier. Then the wind changed and the smoke cleared, so I phoned and told him he could come if he could still fit us in (ten to trim).

Farrier turned up with FOUR assistants, led the stallion off and tied him up to trim his feet by himself while the assistants held and trimmed the remainder between them! I held when asked as I usually do but wasn't really needed.
 
Someone ALWAYS holds Ned, he would rip the fence out the ground if he was tied up. That, or snap the headcollar/leadrope/whatever.

Ned's the worst though, one of the ponies actually falls asleep while being shod.
 
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