Horse Difficult with farrier - Suggestions

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vicki25

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My mare has always been difficult to be shod. However now we have to sedate her which is costing a fortune! We used to Sedalin her but now this has no effect and my farrier prefers her to be completly sedated now. He is a very experience farrier put has not come across this before.
I think it is a mixture of her being nervous from a previous experience and also a habit to act this way. She does not kick out but snorts her head off and will suddenly pull her leg away and barge through whoever is handeling her.
If other horses on the yard are being shod she again snorts her head of and gets very nervous. She is fine to pick feet out and all other aspect on the ground.
I have tried bridle/Twitch etc. Any suggestions Please?
 
We have a mare like this, she was mistreated years ago and shes terrible to do her back feet.
Shes gone from barging and rearing to just planting her foot and refusing to pick it up whilst virtually sitting on poor farrier.
Id be interesting to know what people had to suggest as our farrier thinks sedalin wouldnt help at all
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Yes,my mare is worse with her backs. I think we could get away with doing the fronts with sedalin but not the backs. So what do you do with yours when the farrier comes to visit, do you sedate too?
 
is it because she is hot shod?? i know a few who have been sedated which the farrier prefers as he can get the job done quickly without injury to himself or the horse! we also have one who is ok to shoe in front with sedalin but we now leave her barefoot behind as she is a nightmare and i doesnt seem fair to keep stressing her out. is she ok to just trim? sometimes we get the front shoes done on a different day to the hinds if they are still learning - just a few ideas x
 
loads of patience is the answer. spending literally hours picking up foot, picking it out, then pretending to hammer it, then actually hammering it a little (on outside), always patient and kind (no matter what she does as long as it isn't actually evil)
you can make a false arm with a broom handle, padding, sleeve of old shirt, stuffed glove on the end, and then use this to stroke down back legs to get horse used to it without risking getting kicked.
a friend had a youngster that he used to have to sedate every time to get a pair of shoes done (sedation didn't last long enough for 4, plus farrier got exhausted and grumpy from holding sedated horse up!), with patience and kindness we got the horse able to be shod normally.
i suggested he pay his farrier for his time the first few times, so that he wasn't in any hurry, this helped a lot. tbh most good farriers are patient anyway, they know they'll have to deal with the fall-out if the horse gets nasty about being shod.
good luck, time and patience = the answer imho.
 
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Yes,my mare is worse with her backs. I think we could get away with doing the fronts with sedalin but not the backs. So what do you do with yours when the farrier comes to visit, do you sedate too?

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No we dont sedate her, at the moment we're in the stages of patience and lots of praise when she does actually pick the foot up so she knows what we're asking of her.
But she is so so stubborn. We may eventually resort to sedating if she ever had to have shoes on
x
 
Are you sure she's all right behind? Problems being shod behind, especially if they get worse, are classic symptoms of hock/SI problems and various kinds of chronic soft tissue injuries.

Have you tried her on an anti-inflammatory to be shod? It won't work magic the first time but along with a program of desensitisation and training it can be helpful if there is a physical component. I know more than one horse with a diagnosed issue behind that has reacted this way and then improved with treatment of the underlying issue.

If you rule that out and/or for whatever reason don't want to go that route, then you're looking at a training/desensitisation program as above, preferably with your farrier involved.

I haven't found twitching to be particularly effective for shoeing (and don't like to go down that route) because a) the procedure takes too long, b) twitching tends to make horses "plant", which makes it hard for them to relax with a foot held up c) twitched horses can "explode", which makes it dangerous for all involved and d) it often doesn't foster the relaxed attitude you want to get to in the long run. There is always a horse suited to each practice so I never say never but it doesn't seem to be improving your horse, from what you say.

My preference is for a neck twitch or a lip rope, or perhaps, if the horse isn't particularly bargy, a pressure halter. These options are much more subtle and can be "dialled" up or down depending on the situation and the horse's reaction. Because they can be "neutral" you don't get into the situation of having to start with it only after the horse has shown signs of anxiety (or, conversely, before the horse has shown any anxiety, thereby tipping it off that you're planning something unpleasant), in the same way that you have to with a nose twitch. They should also provide a small endorphin "high" providing a mild sedative effect without the drawbacks of chemical restraint.
 
No, she isn't hot shod, have not even tried that as she is the way she is!
I've tried the picking feet up and pretending to hammer etc but she's fine when i do it and does not move. She perfectly fine when i need to stud up at competitions too. Its like she see's the farriers van arrive and goes into melt down.(Any farrier that arrives at the yard).
Cptrayes - I was thinking of taking her barefoot behind if all else fails
 
my mare was mistreated when she was a youngster, she hated being shod (cold and hot) and had to be twitched as a 3yo. We moved yards and farriers, she had another issue with another farrier who beat her. We then found a fantastic guy that spent a lot of time and patience with her and got her to accept being shod.

My other mare didnt like being shod from being ayounsgter (not mistreated at all) she used to get impatient and fed up, so half way through she would decide to barge through people, pull her foot away from the farrier.

Although the 1st mare was fine to be shod she did get inpatient when we had to change farriers few years later, she started to be unpredicatable. We took them and our other 2 barefoot and have not had any problems with them at all since.
 
After a couple of horrendous episodes where one farrier kicked my pony twice in the stomach, I am going down the barefoot route;
I have done months of research on rehab and hoof boots etc.
( My bed time reading is a book called Feet First)

I am also doing some clicker training which is working fab!
He is fine with fronts, because of stiffness he isn't good with his backs unless he is standing really bananced, and hates those tripod things!

He gives me his legs now voluntary, and I am holding them longer each time.
I am using carrots as rewards he loves them
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Oh and I have now found a farrier who is more patient
 
Ditto taking her barefoot, at least for a while.

The problem with shoeing is once it's started she HAS to keep her foot up until the shoes securely on. That restriction can cause panic, esp as you end up fighting to keep the foot up.

With just trimming it's not the end of the world if she needs to put her foot down half way through, which should help foster a more relaxed attitute. Hopefully once she's relaxed more she will be able to keep her foot up for the full time requird to fit a shoe.
 
My TB suddenly decided to be a really pain for the farrier last week. Rather randomly as he has always been a star. He was rearing barging and kicking out at the farrier. My farrier was so patient with him and ended up doing him in the stable, which he was alot better for and eventually got over his paddy! Just patience i think.
 
My young horse has recently become impossible to shoe, he is always a fidget but had a bad experience with the farrier when I wasn't there and now rear's and strikes out when the new farriers tries to nail to shoe on.
I think he does panic with his foot being held up. He was only shod in front but I have left him barefoot now and will just try to get his feet trimmed for the next few times so he realises nothing is going to hurt him then hopefully with time and patience he will learn to trust the farrier.

Also very needle shy so sedating is a no no, although I don't think that's a good idea anyway.
Maybe ride, turnout, give a calmer before the farrier arrives to take the edge off.
 
Just another to suggest taking shoes off...no disrespect to the farriers out there but the difference between MY old farrier and my current natural hoofcare trimmer is vast. No rough handling, no dropping the hoof, no shoving....all very calm and friendly body language etc. etc. I am not poo pooing farriers BTW just an observation of personal experience.
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I had my mare barefoot for quite a while, and I used hoof boots for road work, as were doing quite a bit of mileage.

Before she went barefoot she was very nervy with the farrier - not bad like your horse from the sounds of it - but she was very worried.

Because I have had her barefoot, and using the boots, I handled her feet sooo much more because of this, and I have now just gone back to shoes with her - she had her 3rd full set of shoes on Saturday.

She is so much more chilled about being shod now - and she is hot shod now as well - which we hadn't been able to when she was shod before.

I know that she is older, and has had a lot of experiences between shoeing before and now, but I do think that the hoof handling because of the barefoot and the hoof boots has helped loads.
 
There were a few reasons - many of them to do with time over winter, and the fact the riding I would be doing this winter would be a great deal of road work, and very little off tarmac - as I said I was using boots for road work - which is fine - but I have to say I have really enjoyed having shoes back on over the winter so far, as I can get tacked up and gone in 5 minutes, rather than the 15 - 20 I was having with the boots (by the time I had got feet clean for boots, put boots on etc...)

I do admit that a lot of the reasons for going back to shoes were for me - but I have noticed that as soon as my girl had her shoes on, she was less worried about running around in the field, and seems to have become more forward going and confident when she is out hacking. This may be a coincidence - but just what has happened to us.

I certainly wouldn't rule out barefoot in the future - but I don't believe I have an ideal set up to allow me to get my mare fully barefoot - so would probably be looking to use boots for road work still.
 
Sorry to the OP - I know this has gone a bit off topic...
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coolrunnings - I had old macs g2's first - then changed to the easyboot epics - I much prefered them. I had problems with the old macs rubbing my girly a bit as they go above the hair line, and I did have probs with them twisting. The easyboots sit below the hairline and so don't have anywhere to rub, and they have built in gaiters to. I never had a boot come off or twist at all.

If you do definitely want the old macs though - do you know what size you want, as I still have a pair in my tack room that are busy doing nothing....
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Flo_Bell, I need a size 8 for his fronts and 5 for his backs, because of the shape of his feet, the g2's will be the best fit.

His shoes came off yesterday, he was very nervous, but the new farrier coped fine, and once they were off he was good as gold; the carrots helped loads!

I took him a walk up the road to see how he was and he was great, no footyness at all
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Oh that's a shame - I think mine are a 7! Ah well!

Good luck with the boots! I know it took me absolutely ages to tack up to start with, but once I got the hang of it I did get quicker!
 
I suggest taking her back shoes off to start with and see how you get on. Many horses cope fine with fronts only (barefoot/unshod horses aside)

Also to try and avoid sedating there are few things you can try. The main ones that work is food, often has to be fed from a pocket on little bit at a time to keep the horses attention somewhere else and having a stuffed haynet near by,

Keep her around other horses being shod even when she isnt. It may make her uncomfortable but she needs to see that its nothing to be afraid of. We have to teach them this because as prey animals they are accustomed to being taken down by preditors at the legs so this is can be very nerve wrecking for many horses as its just nature.

I agree with the suggestion to get her back/legs checked over.

Also one of the major things is to work the horse hard before its due to be shod. This helps tire the horse and relaxes the leg muscles because they have been worked.
 
Richard Maxwell works with horses that are bad to shoe and has had a lot of success. Have you considered a consultation visit. It would be cheaper than a years sedation and you get so much more out of it.

I had him out to a filly years ago and haven't looked back since.
 
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