Pony scared off farrier..Anyone else have this problem, or would you put up with it??

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Amy89

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Hi,
I have owned my 20year old Cob X for over 11years now. And she has always had a total fear of farriers. Orginally she was shod every 12 weeks but had to have 15 ASP's and then two sedations before you could think about letting a farrier near her feet. Her feet are very good and grow very slow. She is now shod every 4-6 months and lives out all summer.

We have reason to believe she was beaten by a farrier when she was younger as when a farrier is wearing her chaps she freaks and tries to get away. Oh and a farriers van is a no-no or even one that looks like one.

I wouldnt change her for the world, and she works out cheaper to shoe than my other mare who shod every 6 weeks. But i wondered whether anyone else has a horse who dislikes farriers, or whether you would put up with it?

Thanks
 
No, I wouldn't have put up with it for 11 years and nor would my farrier. We'd have worked some way round it, whether that meant my borrowing his chaps and wearing them round her, him dropping in every day at feeding time, her going to stay with him or him coming in every time he was passing and picking her feet up. I'd certainly have had her pick her feet up for every Tom, Dick and Harry that happened to come on to the yard.

However I do have one I have to work round - not for the farrier, he adores the farrier! - but for other things so I do know how you feel!
 
I am going through a similar problem. 3 months I ago I was sold a horse that was "good to shoe". She had new shoes on. I didn't have a problem picking her feet out. My farrier arrived 6 weeks later and as soon as he tapped the hammer on her foot, she flinched and proceeded to be very rude to the farrier. He struggled to get the fronts done and would not try the hinds. We tried sedalin, which did not work, so we had to have her sedated to do the hinds.

The farrier has said he will shoe her fronts and then come back to do the hinds, so she gets double the visits. She needs to be shod every 6 weeks. Every day I pick up her feet and tap the shoes with the hoof pick, I practise holding her feet in positions the farrier will want. Some days this goes better than others.

Last wed he shod her fronts and she was very, very good, he also had a play with the hinds. in 2 weeks he will come back to try the hinds with sedalin.

You have to put a lot of work in, to fix a horse who has a fear of the farrier. If you persevere, you will fix it.
 
No mine dislikes the farrier and we are working with it with the help of a farrier who is understanding (took a bit of searching to find the right one).

My farrier suggested shoeing her more often rather than less for two reasons:
1. The more he does it the more she will get used to it
2. If he does it more regularly there will be less to do and it is less likely to be difficult than if she were allowed to go longer and risk casting shoes.

He is getting there with her and she is improving, she only has fronts on so that we aren't doing more than we have to.

I wouldn't accept having to have a full sedation everytime, in fact I didn't use the yard farrier because he said he wouldn't do her without sedation. I would do everything possible to work towards having her good to shoe.
 
Well i hope she is good in 2 weeks time for you. My young mare was the same but i did exactly what you did and she is as good as gold now.

My mare is just set in her ways now i think. But she had a very hard life before i got her, hoping that some of the things i heard happened to her were not true. She is better when it comes to walking past the farrier, she has her off days everynow and then.
 
I used to have a Clydie mare who was terrified of having her feet trimmed. Fortunately she had very good feet, so didn't need shoes. She was fine for us to lift her feet and do pretty well anything we wanted to.
We had the vet and farrier together for several months, then downgraded to Sedalin. She was getting better and our farrier was very patient with her but then unfortunately she had a rectal prolapse and had to be PTS.
We had had her for 4 years by then. I always wonder if she found it physically uncomfortable/painful to lift, particularly, her back feet. Our farrier though is pretty sure that she had previously had a bad experience with a farrier.
Either way, so long as the farrier was prepared to work with her, we were certainly prepared to keep at it, as she was a fabulous horse otherwise.
 
My horse refuses to go anywhere near the shed when the farrier is there, so we have to put him in an hour before he arrives otherwise we have no chance.
There is no reason for him being a knob. I have had him checked over to make sure there is no physical difficulties he just intensely dislikes my farrier.
We have managed to get front shoes on him(cold shod) but even picking up the back feet is a challenge. I religiously pick them out and batter them with the hoofpick but no, he's a 5yr old and a big wuss.
My farrier rolls his eyes when the yard manager brings him out but he perseveres and hopefully one day all will be ok. I am off to the shops shortly to buy him an instant calmer for tuesday as we are going to try and get a full set on him.
Nobody would want to buy a neurotic ,16.1 5yr old, so at the moment I am lumbered with him.
 
How about going barefoot :D no nasty burny, bangy goings on with her feets then!!

I say this a bit in jest - but on a serious note - my tb was bought knowing that he was horrific to shoe...he had to be hobbled...WTF?! So I decided to go barefoot (although i was already with my wb) and used my trimmer who has worked with wild horses and has been FABULOUS! Ok, we have to stand in a specific spot on the yard, we can't tie him up and he has to chew on a towel - but she has been so lovely and understanding and patient. Definately helps that you are not going at him wealding a red hot piece of metal!!!!
 
Years ago my farrier turned up very late so I left the YO in charge and next time he came my mare went ballistic lashing out, rearing etc, prior to this she had been excellent to shoe. I found out later that she had flicked her tail at a fly and caught him in the eye (with her tail) so he laid into her with a hammer.

I changed farriers and it took another farrier a couple of years to get her back to being good to shoe. He came armed with treats and always spend a while just stroking her. He also always made sure we last on his list so he could take as long as was necessary.

I also asked any strange men that were around that would threy come and say "hello" to her. Those that were confident enough used to pick her feet up and tap them with a hammer.

It did take a very long time but we got there.
 
I think as they get older, they don't appreciate having their hind legs yanked up too tight when the farrier is handling them.
 
i have the opposite problem ! my horse's face lights up when he see's my farrier turn up ! not because he likes him - but because he likes annoying him...if my farrier asks him to pick up his near fore he will pick up his opposite leg ! slam it down whenever my farrier isnt concentrating....every time he gets told off you can see him grinning away so pleased with himself that he managed to annoy my farrier so quickly ! keep telling my self he will improve but after 3 years of being shod every six weeks.....he still plays games ! im lucky my farrier sees the funny side of it !!
 
BigRed said:
I think as they get older, they don't appreciate having their hind legs yanked up too tight when the farrier is handling them.
Click to expand...

Exactly, although some horses don't like the trauma of nails being hammered in either. I went barefoot with my 20 year old for this reason and the fact that a farrier had kicked him in the stomach :(

A trim is much more gentle, and I have a lady now, Ben actually goes to sleep!

I would take the shoes off, how on earth do you get away with only having the horse shod every 4/6 months! sure they would have grown half a hoof by then?!
 
The things we do/did with mine to help her improve with the farrier included:

1. Back check, she had some tightness and did seem to find it easier to stand on three legs after her back was done, it was also good practice as a strange man turned up and made her pick her feet up and hold them in funny places but he didn't bang shoes on. She actually liked having the osteopath.

2. Lots of practice, I (or someone) pick her feet out twice a day without fail. If she snatches a foot back it is picked up again immediately and held. She isn't allowed to put her foot down while she is squirming I hold it until she stands still.

3. Banging round with the hoof pick when i pick her feet up.

4. Treats and praise when she holds her feet up nicely.

5. General practice of manners re: standing still etc.

6. When the farrier comes she isn't tied up but held and we have lots of treats for her to praise her and distract her.

7. Farrier is gentle, firm, and praises when she is behaving and gives her a firm stand or steady if she starts to squirm.

8. I hold her in a bridle so that I have more control.

9. I try to work her before the farrier arrives and not have her stand around waiting for him. This makes a real difference, if she is a bit tired and hungry she behaves much better and is much more keen to get treats!

10. Leave her in to "observe" when other horses are being shod.

11. Farrier will make a fuss of her when he has finished and give her a treat.

12. Farrier is prepared to do some bits with her foot on the ground if she is struggling.

13. As I said before he comes regularly so that she gets used to him.

We are getting there and she is ok to do without any sedation or instant calmer.
 
try barefoot and regular walking on roads, (hacking) 30-40 minutes a day and you will find her feet will self trim. My ISH feet were fantastic when we did regular road work. no farrier for months and they looked the best they had ever been.
 
My shire x isn't great for farrier but with work has improved. With him it's a combination of worry, finding it hard to balance on three legs and boredom.

I pick his feet up all the time, doing them in a certain order which the farrier does too. The farriers do the leg he struggles most on in stages so they do a bit, do other legs, do a bit etc etc which seems to work. I also find he's better if I give him a bute the night before (I'm sure he has some arthritis) and if we shoe him in stable on his rubber matting so he has more grip and a wall to lean on!!!

I think alot of cobby types find it hard to balance themselves and therefore panic xx
 
BigRed said:
I am going through a similar problem. 3 months I ago I was sold a horse that was "good to shoe". She had new shoes on. I didn't have a problem picking her feet out. My farrier arrived 6 weeks later and as soon as he tapped the hammer on her foot, she flinched and proceeded to be very rude to the farrier. He struggled to get the fronts done and would not try the hinds. We tried sedalin, which did not work, so we had to have her sedated to do the hinds.

The farrier has said he will shoe her fronts and then come back to do the hinds, so she gets double the visits. She needs to be shod every 6 weeks. Every day I pick up her feet and tap the shoes with the hoof pick, I practise holding her feet in positions the farrier will want. Some days this goes better than others.

Last wed he shod her fronts and she was very, very good, he also had a play with the hinds. in 2 weeks he will come back to try the hinds with sedalin.

You have to put a lot of work in, to fix a horse who has a fear of the farrier. If you persevere, you will fix it.
Click to expand...

This sounds like our mare but for her the root of the problem turned out to be her pelvis had dropped and rotated so holding her back feet up was difficult and uncomfortable for her, once this was addressed she was fine. As well as working with her as you are would it be worth maybe trying to give her some Devil's Claw before next farrier visit and see if it makes a difference? Not saying it will...
 
My horse used to be awful with the farrier, so much so the farrier who I'd had a few times refused to shoe him anymore and I really didn't blame him. The farrier was great, he was a nice guy and I knew him well but really enough was enough.

I got a hammer and banged on his feet everyday and he gradually relaxed. It still took a few more farriers before I could get him shod. I felt like giving up as I went through most of the farriers in the area until I finally found one willing to give him a go.. He was newly qualified so needed the clients, I kept up banging his feet with a hammer and gradually we saw major impovements.

The farrier used to get 2 nails in and then he'd go up and was very dangerous but within a year he'd gone from being cold shod and dangerous to being hot shod and relaxed. Now his dangerous behaviour is a thing of the past and no one can believe its the same horse!!!

I don't know if this could be an option for you? really, if your horse is dangerous to be shod you should consider barefoot. I'm suprised your farrier hasn't given up on her!
 
BigRed said:
I am going through a similar problem. 3 months I ago I was sold a horse that was "good to shoe". She had new shoes on. I didn't have a problem picking her feet out. My farrier arrived 6 weeks later and as soon as he tapped the hammer on her foot, she flinched and proceeded to be very rude to the farrier. He struggled to get the fronts done and would not try the hinds. We tried sedalin, which did not work, so we had to have her sedated to do the hinds.

The farrier has said he will shoe her fronts and then come back to do the hinds, so she gets double the visits. She needs to be shod every 6 weeks. Every day I pick up her feet and tap the shoes with the hoof pick, I practise holding her feet in positions the farrier will want. Some days this goes better than others.

Last wed he shod her fronts and she was very, very good, he also had a play with the hinds. in 2 weeks he will come back to try the hinds with sedalin.

You have to put a lot of work in, to fix a horse who has a fear of the farrier. If you persevere, you will fix it.
Click to expand...
Are you sure she needs shod behind?
 
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