Horse Foot Care

[1812laura]

Hi

I am looking for any help and advice I can get. My grandparents recently took on two shetland ponies. They have a croft and the owners were going to put the horses down as they could no longer care for them. However one of the horses "Buttons" is a nightmare. The horse goes wild whenever you try to catch her and worse when we try to trim her feed.

We obtained a mouth drop from the vet to try to relax her before trimming the feet but this makes no difference. I have never been in this position before and I am unsure what to do next.

Would a farrier be happy to deal with this type of horse or is it our responsibility to get something from the vet to knock the horse out in order to get the feet clipped. If that is the case are we best just to get the vet out to sedate it then go ahead and clip the feet ourselves. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Oberon]

Can they pull a cart on the roads enough to self trim? And have a gravel turnout area to walk on too?

 

[mandwhy]

Do you know what you're doing trimming horses feet? Yes a farrier will have dealt with this kind of thing plenty of times, obviously some horses act up too much though so sedation or a twitch may be needed. Find a local farrier and explain the situation, I am sure they will do their best. A net of hay to distract them might help.

 

[1812laura]

Thanks for the advice. I have called a few farriers today so just waiting for them to call back. They do have a cement area to turn out onto. I will look into the options of walking them up and down the road to help with self trimming.