Hammer shy ?

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Donuts

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Horse has never had back shoes on (14 yrs old)farrier advised 4 months ago put on as I was doing more work than previous owner and not much foot growing. We held off however eventually put them on, however first back shoe fitting horse was a nightmare when nails where banged in. 6 weeks later horse a nightmare to remove shoes so we couldn’t put new set on.
Farrier says get vet , could be related to hocks or back ? I called my vet who said because horse is ok with everything else ie moving legs, trimming feet etc just hates nails being banged in , either sedate or realise he just hates it and leave barefoot. Farrier , yard owner etc disagree ! What do I do, who do I believe etc
Anyone else ever had this situation
Oh he’s 💯 sound
 
The one I had that was like this with his front feet it was pain related (he had foot pain). Could definitely see if being related to hock / back issues and would suggest speaking to a different vet who will actually come & examine the horse before reaching a conclusion! At the very least would say it would be worth trialling giving Bute before shoeing
 
I'd want to look further into it- if he just didn't like the nails being hammered in I'd expect to see the same behaviour for the fronts, but it sounds as though he's okay with having those shod?
If the vet is confident he's fine (did they do any flexions etc, or just see him trotted up?) it might be worth having a physio check for any stiffness/weakness that might not show up on a basic lameness check. I'd also possibly want to look further into the possibility of issues in the hoof. Although I expect the farrier would have mentioned any he'd noticed, they can't see inside the hoof.
If your usual vet doesn't want to investigate further, it could be as well to get a second opinion.
 
I have to bute my smallest cob for hind shoes - she has kissing spine behind where the saddle goes and doesn't like having her right hind done. If it's discomfort a couple of sachets of bute might help.
 
I had a youngster come to me that was afraid of the rasp - the actual metal tool. My very nice farrier left an old one with me so I could play at 'rasping', and horse very quickly learned not to be afraid of it. I'd be inclined to spend a few weeks just pretending to be a farrier putting nails in to see if this anxiety is about remembered pain/fear.
 
Baggs my 20 year old is hammer shy - he hates the hammer being used full stop. He'd get himself so worked up that he coliced on one occasion - so I put my foot down, got an equine podiatrist and now have him barefoot but booted when hacking. Best thing I did cause he's so much better to be trimmed now x

If you do need shoes etc for the workload, I'd say try some bute first to rule out pain and go from there x
 
Good plan ref Bute to rule out pain. Happy to use boots for hacking and horse does not mind the rasp etc it’s literally just the hammer on backs
 
We have one that hates back shoes being nailed on. Everything else fine with hind shoeing just literally the nailing on bit. He’s Irish so maybe not been handled so much as a youngster??? I’ve looked into it with Lameness work up/ physio and found nothing so we just sedate him for shoeing.
 
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