Pony hates the farrier...

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Gf5871

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I need advice, success stories, help anything really...
I have an 11hh Welsh section A. He's had a rough start, a little untrusting however myself & my daughter can do anything with him. He's nervey around people that he doesn't know.
I've had the farrier this morning & he was an absolute nightmare. We've got one hoof trimmed (he's barefoot) & that was it. He was abit nervous to start, but settled quick & was then fine until he started to rasp... and that was it. Rearing, bucking, spinning, taking all 4 feet off the ground while lunging forward. What didn't help was that when the farrier then got hold of his foot again & the pony did the same thing he refused to let go causing an epic freak out on my ponies behalf, he fell over on his face, got back up, fell over again in the end I screamed at the farrier to let go. My pony by this point is now is a quivering mess that won't even let me touch him. The farrier has said he will come back but only if the pony is sedated... but I don't think this is behaviour I think it's genuine fear... I wasn't there last time he was trimmed (by a different farrier) and apparently he was fine apart from one of his hinds that he wouldn't let him rasp...
I don't know what to do, I'm so upset!
 
Was it when the pony had his toes on the tripod put in front of him? When I had my young horse I spent ages getting him ready for the farrier, tapping his feet etc and he was great for his first shoeing appointment (he had been trimmed before) but had a freak when he was stretched forward - I never thought to do that bit so I spent the next 6 weeks practising that and next time he was fine
 
Hi,
No this was with the foot bent under (like when you pick there feet out)
He was fine until he started rasping x
 
I would get a rasp and practise then, but it sounds like your pony needs just help with general handling anyway to help his confidence
 
You can always walk him out on tarmac regularly to keep the hooves down. This should give you breathing space to work on the trimming issue.

If he trusts you, you could learn to trim him yourself or find a farrier/trimmer who is very patient and see if (s)he'll come over for some gentle training sessions (if you pay for their time, they should be willing), before attempting to trim all four hooves in one go.
 
That's an idea I think I'll get one, thank you.

I handle him around 5/6 times a day. Just going down, putting his headcollar on, giving him a scratch etc. What I don't think helped is that, aside from his trust issue, but because the farrier didn't let go when he went over he did a full somersault and that was it for him. X
 
Faracat said:
You can always walk him out on tarmac regularly to keep the hooves down. This should give you breathing space to work on the trimming issue.

If he trusts you, you could learn to trim him yourself or find a farrier/trimmer who is very patient and see if (s)he'll come over for some gentle training sessions (if you pay for their time, they should be willing), before attempting to trim all four hooves in one go.
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I was thinking about seeing if there is a female farrier/trimmer local to me that might try him. See if that makes a difference as he can be funny with some men x
 
I think you may need to find a new farrier. Mine came and did a pony that had never even had her feet picked out. Granted she isn't petrified of anything but is nervous around men. Farrier took 10 minutes of picking her feet up and putting down again before she wanted to snatch them. Eventually he was able to trim all four feet with no stress or getting into a battle of wills.

A friend could be the farrier for you to desensitise. My farrier gave me an old rasp to practice with.
 
meleeka said:
I think you may need to find a new farrier. Mine came and did a pony that had never even had her feet picked out. Granted she isn't petrified of anything but is nervous around men. Farrier took 10 minutes of picking her feet up and putting down again before she wanted to snatch them. Eventually he was able to trim all four feet with no stress or getting into a battle of wills.

A friend could be the farrier for you to desensitise. My farrier gave me an old rasp to practice with.
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Thank you, the farrier was recommended to be by a friend but he's never done this pony before and he just came in and went straight to work so to speak. i have ordered a rasp, & ive found a female barefoot trimmer who I'm going to contact on Monday but I will also continue to tap around on his feet etc.
Problem I have now is that he's not speaking to me. I've just been down to see him & I can't get near him again. Fingers crossed he'll of got over it by dinner time!
 
I had 2 that came to me needing sedation for feet. They're both big so not the kind that a farrier would want to argue with.

I did keep their feet under control with sedation for trims for about 12 months whilst I worked on them. I got hold of an old rasp and a hoof stand and spent a lot of time rasping, banging etc.

The biggest change though was finding 2 people (each horse has a different foot person!) who were experienced with difficult horses and prepared to be patient. My draft has a farrier who has worked with heavy horses before and is extremely quiet and sensitive around him. We know he's had a bad experience in the past because he is too terrified to be anywhere near a farrier who is hot shoeing, so with him its all been around making it a nice experience. He gets bribed with treats - I basically stuff him full while his feet are being worked on.

The mare was a physical issue combined with a lack of training. She was tougher because she would kick without warning when she'd had enough. She has a barefoot trimmer who knows she needs extra time and gives her lots of breaks. It was a very long time before I asked anyone to work on the mare's feet though because of the kicking. It was only after she would let me rasp all 4 on the hoof stand that I even considered asking someone else to get near those hind legs!
 
Sometimes the issue with small ponies is that farriers think they are easier because they are smaller and you can physically overwhelm them. Also it is very easy to lift the foot too high for the pony and cause pain.

One way or another pony will almost certainly not let that farrier back near him. You need someone more sympathetic - male or female. Yes lots of practice. And without a doubt progress has been set back a bit. But you will get back to where you were. It takes time to get over a bad experience but they do learn to work around it.
 
My girl used to do all that and worse with our farrier. She had had bad experiences with men in the past and her legs had been wounded by people in the past. I had to run my hand down her leg every day just as far as she would let me and make it a little bit lower each day. Then I picked up each hoof each day always going in the same direction with lots of praise and fuss. I then brought pliers and a file up and got her used to having them around her legs and feet without doing anything to her. We switched to a female farrier but gradually got her used to men. I'd say if you could have your farrier come out for a bit and spend time with her without doing her feet that would be good as well.
 
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