Naughty with farrier- advice

_Fran_ said:
Miss L Toe - not really an option. I dont know what you mean by doing it myself either?
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Once you are barefoot, provided you can hack out the feet will self trim, so all you need to [in theory] is to round off the edges with a rasp. I have a struggle getting a farrier to do anything to my boy now, he has been barefoot and in work for six months, unshod for over a year, feet look great. With rasping it only takes a few minutes, so if there is a pain issue, this is momentary.
 
Someone mentioned barefoot on my other thread. I just can't imagine his feet holding up to it - also is it practical when you are jumping and eventing?
 
_Fran_ said:
Someone mentioned barefoot on my other thread. I just can't imagine his feet holding up to it - also is it practical when you are jumping and eventing?
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Others have done it, look at Rockley Farm and other barefoot posts, it is not always an easy option as there is a transition period while hoof adjusts and the nail holes grow out. also you may need to manage your horse to this end, but it might be worth a try when your horse is having a rest, competition wise.
It might be worthwhile adjusting the feed to improve hoof growth anyway.
Micronised linseed meal, non molassed sugar beet, minerals, low sugar high fibre feeds.
The thought is that by allowing the horse to adjust hoof growth, he will walk out better, improve the digital cushion and so on. Provided the horse is fed all mineral and vitamins required, they will be able to adjust growth to the wear.
The horse will not have long toes, and the heels will develop, concussion due to steel shoes is eliminated, for this reason, some good results have been recorded from previously unsound horses.
Sometimes boots have to be used to enable the horse to transition from unshod to barefoot performance.
Ideally, the horse needs to be given exercise on a variety of conformable surfaces, I found my boy hacked out on tarmac, built up from twenty minutes per day to an hour or more. a light rasp round the front feet is all that is required, nothing behind for ten months!
 
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My youngster is getting better to shoe, but hates farriers, I've had 4 on the yard & he hates them all with an equal passion.

He has been getting a tube of dormosedan in the last couple of years, and although it adds £37 to the cost of shoeing it is cheaper than IV sedation. I like that they are conscious and although angry, realising that the farrier isn't actually torturing them. Mine will have one more dormosedan for hinds next week, then hopefully he can be done without anything.

What helps with him, is work beforehand to get him nice and submissive, and bribery.
 
Miss L. Toe- thanks for that information. Would have to thonk about that option .

Thanks Siennamum- will speak to vets about that stuff as they have not mentioned it to me and farrier should be coming out in a couple of weeks. If I can find a routine that works to get him done that will be good as well as obviously trying to establish if its a pain related problem.
 
siennamum said:
My youngster is getting better to shoe, but hates farriers, I've had 4 on the yard & he hates them all with an equal passion.

He has been getting a tube of dormosedan in the last couple of years, and although it adds £37 to the cost of shoeing it is cheaper than IV sedation. I like that they are conscious and although angry, realising that the farrier isn't actually torturing them. Mine will have one more dormosedan for hinds next week, then hopefully he can be done without anything.

What helps with him, is work beforehand to get him nice and submissive, and bribery.
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Can you ask all the farriers to give him a stroke on the neck when they are in the yard, also I used to tie my babies up beside the farrier when others were being done, so they relaxed a bit over time.
 
Is this happening at a particular point in the shoeing procedure? (nailing, searing on etc?).

I have a now retired horse who at times was tricky to shoe in front, sometimes similar to yours behaviour wise, but he would also go quite footy after being shod.

In the end we completely solved the behaviour (and footyness) by giving 2 bute before shoeing and doing the fronts cold shod. Although it might be worth mentioning that this horse is now retired due to navicular syndrome ....
 
We have a mare who was terrible, kicking out, rearing, going down on her front legs. The farrier resorted to twitching her for a few times but the figured out a way around her tantrums. He now does one foot at a time. Takes the shoe off, trims, fits shoe, nails it on. Repeat on all other feet one at a time. Sorted. She is very foot sensitive anyway so to take off 2 or 4 shoes at a time and expect her to stand on hard standing or even rubber did not please her at all.
 
I have also been through this pain and come out the other side!

I had to Sedalin the horse for a bit - Try icing his feet as this will numb them if you do not want to bute. It was the hammering the nails in that would send my horse over the edge so I twitched him just for that bit and he was quite reasonable about it and is not head shy at all. I was able to move from twitching to having a bucket of feed.
I would also load him with calmer as well and practised with his feet all the time.
 
Miss L Toe said:
Can you ask all the farriers to give him a stroke on the neck when they are in the yard, also I used to tie my babies up beside the farrier when others were being done, so they relaxed a bit over time.
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Done all that. He won't accept food from people he doesn't like and wouldn't tolerate a farrier so much as offering him a few nuts. Regular farrier is now able to feed him & fuss him.
 
The mare I lost last year became a cow to shoe. It was strange as she had always been fine with the first 2 farriers I used. Then had to change, and the new farrier really struggled, it was her hinds she'd react to. I took her to the vet to see if he could see any problems, but he thought she was fine and it was in her head. Farrier eventually said he couldn't do her any more, so I changed back to my previous farrier. My mare wasn't perfect any more, but he managed to shoe her without sedative or too much stress.

The farrier that struggled was a very quiet guy, but actually I don't think that helped. He sort of seemed wound up, intense, quiet, rather than chillax'd quiet. And it was a chestnut mare I had! Whereas the current farrier is a chatty red-head, I think she liked the ginger affinity they had :p Seriously though, he was quite light hearted and when she'd snatch a hoof away he'd be in the middle of telling me some tall tale, so would just ignore her and go back in a minute to try again - no stress. Also he'd happily switch between feet rather than forcing the issue. He'd be very gentle hammering her nails in, trying to do it as softly and quietly as possible. Also I asked him not to use the grinder. This mare hated being clipped and the other farrier used one, I wondered if that was also enough to set her on edge. Also, when I pick up feet, mine are taught that I run hands down legs and they pick up automatically. The farrier that struggled would go straight to the fetlock and pull at the hair, whereas the one that managed does it the way I do.

One other thing to try. This same mare fractured her pedal bone last year, and when she was getting heart bars put on, I laid a thick piece of EVA stable wall matting on the floor under her front feet so that when her good leg was being shod, and she was standing on the bad leg, she had a fair amount of cushioning under that foot. Might help if there is some sensitivity whilst the shoes are off?

Anyway basically wanted to say that horses can be very sensitive and there may just be something about this farrier that sets yours off, so definitely worth trying another one. Agree about banging his feet etc as often as possible. Also remember when farrier does them, he lifts them higher and sometimes pulls them out wider than you would, so test this out, and also he holds them for longer so test this out too.

Good luck! I miss my mare every day - except on shoeing day :(
 
Grr - this is the third time i have written a reply and individually replied to everyone so this post is going to be a lot shorter than the previous two.

The gist of what I was going to say was to say thank you to everyone who has given advice and shared their experiences. It is much appreciated and is very helpful - just a matter now of deciding what to try first. Part of this may be a change in farrier.

I-Hate-work - re navicular (and I am naive on the subject) he had full xrays done on both front feet last April/May time so I am assuming this could have shown it if it had been the problem?
 
now_loves_mares said:
One other thing to try. This same mare fractured her pedal bone last year, and when she was getting heart bars put on, I laid a thick piece of EVA stable wall matting on the floor under her front feet so that when her good leg was being shod, and she was standing on the bad leg, she had a fair amount of cushioning under that foot. Might help if there is some sensitivity whilst the shoes are off?

Anyway basically wanted to say that horses can be very sensitive and there may just be something about this farrier that sets yours off, so definitely worth trying another one. Agree about banging his feet etc as often as possible. Also remember when farrier does them, he lifts them higher and sometimes pulls them out wider than you would, so test this out, and also he holds them for longer so test this out too.

Good luck! I miss my mare every day - except on shoeing day :(
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Very good ideas/suggestions. If horses have any pains sensitivities these will be prevalent at shoeing, having to hold a foot up for a long period and maybe a sore leg/foot having to weight bear for a longer while.
 
I have a horse which used to be 100% for farrier and slowly got worse and worse turned out it was navicular.

He could be a total pig to do rearing kicking out barging running backwards. Like Ihatework I started giving him a couple of bute beforehand which seemed to help but not fix the problem. He would kick off when the shoes were hammered in on his front feet.

I was v lucky with my farrier who was calm and carried on despite his antics as others have said may be worth a change in farrier?
 
Just to maybe give you some hope. Mally was shod yesterday, stood on a loose rope and went to sleep :D
She had absolutely nothing to keep her occupied and was as good as gold, not one moment of naughtiness at all!
It's taken a year to get here and I'm sure she's not completely there yet, but yesterday was a huge breakthrough.
So keep persevering, you will get there! :D
 
kirstyhen -good news about Mally. Am currently summoning up courage to phone another farrier and see if they would perhaps come and have a look at his feet and discuss whether he would maybe consider taking him on. :)
 
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