HELP SCARED HORSE

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KINGLIAM

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Hi,i have got a new horse he is a belgium warmblood i have had him for about 6 months i had him vetted he passed a 5 stage vetting problem was a slight heart murmur grade 2 which went after exsersize,he was in very poor condition had to have all he jabs redone because the owners could not aford to look after him,he is now in very good condition also had him frezzed marked,he is good with the vet loading and everything else except with the farrier he had no shoes when i got him so i got my old farrier to take a look he said he would trim them he did this for the first 3 months was fine the he put his first set of shoes not very good the horse let him trim and put 3 shoes on when it came to put the last shoe on the horse snatched his legback anyway he managed to get the shoe on,now my farrier has retied and i had a new farrier today he was realy nice i explained wat happoend befor anyway all went well till the last shoe farrier said the horse is scared and i should have him sedated for a couple of times till he get used 2 it where do i get the sedation do i have to have a vet do it i really have not go a clue so please help
 
Ask your vet for some Sedalin gel. It's in a syringe (like wormer) and you can put it in yourself about 30 mins before the farriers due. Not sure if your vet will want to see him first but the gel is about £15 I think.
 
Discuss it with the vet and then see if the vet will give you some Sedaline gell for the next time. The vet will be able to tell you the dosage and how soon before the farrier is due to give it to him.
 
Sedation is good as a short term solution, but it will not help your horse get over his fear of shoeing. Being sedated the horse will not have any memory of being shod and will not get better over time and learn to trust.

Have you tried cold shoeing him?
You could try shoeing only the fronts
You could try fronts one week and doing the backs the next so it is not too much in one go for him
Is it always the same foot that your horse has a 'thing' about -if so, shoe that foot first.
Is there another horse in the yard who is good to shoe? If so, stand your horse near him whilst being shod so he can see there is nothing to fear and learn from the other horse.
If its always the same leg, have the vet check it, he may be in pain.

I think it is going to take time and patience and assuming he is not in pain, he will come round with time.

He is lucky you are wanting to help him.

x
 
When I got my mare she was a nightmare to be shod. We tried sedalin but it didn't seem to work so I ended up having the vet sedate her every time she was shod. After a while as it was working out so expensive we tried acp tablets and by the time she was sold she could be shod with no problems at all and no sedatives.

Speak to your vet and find out what works best for your horse.

I also used to get the farrier to give her a treat when he came up to shoe others so she didn't associate him with the shoeing every time

Good Luck.
 
I had a big problem with my horse - he is a shiverer which complicates matters.

Anyway we thought we would have to sedate him - I was really concerned that the farrier would be injured as much as anything else!

However I discussed it with the more experienced farrier in the partnership and he came to shoe him the next time- he came 'mob handed' discussed what he was going to do and what everyones job was. Shod him very calmly, firmly, quickly and expertly with everyone on hand. It wasn't 'easy' but it was certainly less traumatic for everyone (including the horse!!). He did this the next couple of times but reduced the number of 'helpers'. For my part I exercised the horse well before he arrived so he was a little tired and hopefully more 'chilled'.

He eventually shod him as he would any other horse and now we are back to the original (less experienced) farrier. This has all taken about 12 months to get to this stage but has been well worth it.

Whilst the horse had (and still has) a specific problem he was also a young horse and can 'take the mick'. We were/are fortunate to have such an experienced person who knows when the horse was genuinely having problems and was 'worried' and when he was just messing about.
 
I got my mare 6 months ago the same state as yours was, everything redone. But when it came to shoeing when she saw the farrier she wouldnt come out of the stable, then when she did she would explode out and dance around him (v quiet horse otherwise). We have had to twitch her (i wouldnt like to sedate as sometimes this can make them V dangerous& unpredictable) she hates front and back being worked with, but like yours is petrified she sweats up badly standing there! As im in control of the twitch i loosen when shes being good and put abit of tension when she may explode! My farrier is great whistles when going to do anything noisy and if she pulls the foot off him, says nothing and takes it back again. She is still not 100% but she had only the halter on the last front set that was put on and she dropped her bottom lip & looked relaxed for once. Trust and patience im afraid
 
Mine is a pain to shoe too! Its been interesting reading this post, makes me feel like im not alone
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Its been 3 years with my mare, my old farrier was great with her, he would come out and do fronts one week and hinds the next. I would always ride her first so she was chilled. When he was shoeing I would feed her from a bucket of food. I isolated that it was the banging noise she hated the most so for 3 years ive been tapping on her shoes every night with a small hammer. These methods have helped although she can still be unpridictable (occasionally rearing with fronts and lashing out with hinds) we have always been able to put shoes on her using these methods though.

Now I have moved yards and have had to change farriers. There are a shortage of good farriers in my area and to get a farrier ive had to lie and say she is fine to shoe! He comes at the end of the month and im really scared shes going to be horrid!! My plan is to sedate her with sedalin, this has helped a bit in the past and im hoping she will be ok enough for her not to put off the new farrier! (she has seedy toe and i really will be up s*** creek if no-one will shoe her!)
 
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