Shoeing nightmare - hates the banging of nails in!

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woodve

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Hi,

I wonder if anyone has any experience with horses that hate being shod. We have a youngster that came through gorsebridge in September. She came to us with four different shoes on ranging from racing plates to cart horse shoes! She is TB type, pretty sensitive, but the most genuine little mare who wants to please......except when being shod. She was terrified the first time but we got shoes on taking time. She is happy to have her feet picked up, rasped, even hot shod today and didn't bat an eyelid, but trying to bang the nails in is a no go (if you want to live!). She will literally do anything to get away from the banging, so after getting 1.5 shoes on today we have had to give up. My plan is to spend the next 2 days banging the walls of her feet to try and get her used to the sensation, and sediline her before my poor farrier comes back Tuesday!

At worst the vet can come and sedate her but has anyone else had experience with this type of behaviour, and if so any ideas as it really is out of character for her?

She has good feet, so I dont think its anything to do with the condition - I simply thinks she hates the banging!

She has to get used to it as I need 4 shoes on for studs to event this year!

Any suggestions much appreciated?

Many thanks
 
woodve said:
Hi,

I wonder if anyone has any experience with horses that hate being shod. We have a youngster that came through gorsebridge in September. She came to us with four different shoes on ranging from racing plates to cart horse shoes! She is TB type, pretty sensitive, but the most genuine little mare who wants to please......except when being shod. She was terrified the first time but we got shoes on taking time. She is happy to have her feet picked up, rasped, even hot shod today and didn't bat an eyelid, but trying to bang the nails in is a no go (if you want to live!). She will literally do anything to get away from the banging, so after getting 1.5 shoes on today we have had to give up. My plan is to spend the next 2 days banging the walls of her feet to try and get her used to the sensation, and sediline her before my poor farrier comes back Tuesday!

At worst the vet can come and sedate her but has anyone else had experience with this type of behaviour, and if so any ideas as it really is out of character for her?

She has good feet, so I dont think its anything to do with the condition - I simply thinks she hates the banging!

She has to get used to it as I need 4 shoes on for studs to event this year!

Any suggestions much appreciated?

Many thanks
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Are shoes actually necessary? If she has good feet then why not go barefoot, if done properly you'll end up with a far better set of healthy hooves than if shod!
 
What level is she to be eventing at? I'd start her without shoes and give yourself longer to get her over her fear. There are plenty of horses that have evented to reasonable levels unshod.
 
On photo so can't quote but I completely agree with Dee O'Dorant.

My mare hates nails been hammered in so she's now barefoot and happier for it. A good friend also events her two horses barefoot at novice level happily.
 
My late mare was exactly the same and she needed shoes so I had no choice!
Basically it was hard work.
Id bang her shoes every day with a hammer until she got used to the noise.
She was shod 2 at a time for a while.
Before the farrier came I would ride her so she was tired. Then give her sedaline and then try and distract her with food for the banging bit.
If she went to rear, pull away or strike out id get the farrier to let go (trying to hold on made her freak out) then id back her up half a dozen times to diffuse her and get her listening. Then give it another go with me stuffing an apple in her gob.
She did get better. We could get full sets done in the end but she was never perfect and would have good and bad days.
 
My girl was the same.

When I picked her feet out everyday I would use a small hammer and tap her soles a few times. If she danced about I would hang on to her foot until she stood still again, tap her foot again then stop before she can react, place her foot on the floor and reward with a small treat. I did this on all 4 feet everyday for a week before she was due to have fornt shoes on and after out drastically failed attempt this time she was an angel!!

I did them randomly too, so not always in the same order and even putting one foot down then picking it up again. holding in it for slightly longer than was needed etc.

Hope that helps :)
 
Hey there

My mare exactly the same, when I first got her she had 2fronts would take an hour and half just to put them on. Like other suggestions I would practice strapping her feet with a small hammer but to no avail, she would fight through stedilin and a jab from the vet made a farrier visit even more expensive and she would just sweat up.

My farrier changed him tactic and we tried it with me holding her hoof whilst he shod her and she was a little better we then tried distracting her with carrots and works to an extent. Problem is like you for grass work XC I need studs.

Now my farrier holds her hoof to take some one the pressure as he bangs the nails in he places the 2outter pins incase she slams a foot down and she is tons better I don't have to hold her now and nor do I have to try and distract her.

If your farrier can take some of the pressure away from the banging of the nails maybe this will help, she is now no trouble (though I touch wood as feet being done next week)

Good luck don't give up and take you time. Btw she is a chestnut TB mare so very argumentative lol
 
Of course there is always the possibilty that nailing on hurts. It often does if there are any underlying, perhaps undiagnosed, issues.
 
Tap her feet each and every time you pick them up - to begin with fairly gentle tapping just with the hoof pick (and reward her for tolerating it with a treat etc) until she can cope with that, and gradually increase it until she is happy with it. End up tapping them hard with a hammer. Some horses don't like the shock on their legs, she may well have been punished and has bad associations - will take longer but you can replace it with good associations, hence the food rewards. Might take some time, but will be quicker and easier if you reward her each time she has coped when you have upped the intensity.
 
LucyPriory said:
Of course there is always the possibilty that nailing on hurts. It often does if there are any underlying, perhaps undiagnosed, issues.
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I agree - it may be worth some x-rays to check foot balance and vet investigations to rule out anything else. I've known horses lame on all 4 feet due to dreadful foot balance who hated being shod, but with time, patience, corrective shoeing and sedation(!) were perfectly happy to be shod.
 
Take the shoes, brush them with a wire brush, paint them with lacquer and then nail them to the stable doors so they look all pretty, then rasp the hooves off tidy and get on and ride :D Ive just come from a racehorse charity, all the horses there are tb's in work and sound and unshod.
 
Thanks everyone that's really helpful. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one with these problems and that with patience and persistence it will (hopefully!) improve. We have had plenty TB type youngsters in the past, so expect the usual dislike for clippers and hot shoeing. This little mare is brilliant with everything else, so this is clearly her thing!

Thanks again.
 
My mare can be like this, she is ok although not thrilled about the feet being picked up but I think it is the clinking noise she doesn't like so I have been tapping her feet with a hoofpick and treating her (preferably OH comes and times the treats just right while I'm doing the feet), she will get used to it eventually but I am going to have her back shoes off for a while, she doesn't really need them, may have all of them off until she is in more work.
 
My mare was like this when I got her.

I started by tapping her shoes with her hoof pick, then giving her a treat when she was good, and if she played up, I just let her compose herself for a few seconds and then did it again until she did behave. Gradually moved up to a hammer, first gently and ended up giving them a good knock.

I still have to keep a close eye on her when she is being shod, but she knows that if she stands and waits for her foot to be 'given back' to her she'll get a reward. It helps that her world revolves around high fibre nuggets!
 
Mine too is funny when her shoes are nailed on. She stands like a lamb for the how process until the hammer and nails come out. I found her slipping on the roads while bare foot and she kept getting gravel stuck too. Other size I would have kept her bare foot.
 
LucyPriory said:
Of course there is always the possibilty that nailing on hurts. It often does if there are any underlying, perhaps undiagnosed, issues.
Click to expand...

This was the case with my mare. She used to kick when having shoes nailed to her hind feet to the farrier's great frustration. Two bute in the morning before shoeing and she was generally ok. She has spavins which was why. Now she is barefoot and Lucy trims her holding her feet lower than a farrier typically would and she is perfect with no need for bute.
 
Ben was also like this, I took him barefoot, not worth the upset to me, he really was terrified. As they get older it must be quite traumatic having your legs pulled about, Ben was worse having them taken off.
 
unbalanced said:
This was the case with my mare. She used to kick when having shoes nailed to her hind feet to the farrier's great frustration. Two bute in the morning before shoeing and she was generally ok. She has spavins which was why. Now she is barefoot and Lucy trims her holding her feet lower than a farrier typically would and she is perfect with no need for bute.
Click to expand...

This! My mare was good as gold 'till the hammer came out. We too dealt with it by giving a couple of Danilon before shoeing and then discovered she had spavins They are now being treated and she is an angel to shoe.
 
IMO, some farriers aren't as careful as others about exactly where the nails are going. If you've got a particularly sensitive horse, you may just need a particularly careful farrier.
 
If she has good feet, which you say she is, why not take the shoes off and try without as you say she's wonderful at everything else, is shoeing worth the upset and stress?
You can always try hoof boots if she is sensitive.

Then if you want to reshoe in a few months it might not be quite so terrifying for her. Good luck. :)
 
We get a few horses over from Ireland that hate the shoes being nailed on. One poor chap even had a scar on hos nose from where they twitched him so tight to put his shoes on :(

We found lots of repetition helps every day we pick up feet and bang them with a hammer gradually getting harder. After a few months of this and a sympathetic yet firm farrier all our horses are gems to be shod.
 
My boy is a bit sensitive to having the nails put in. He flinches when he hears the tapping sound. My farrier is pretty good and patient with him and oddly he is better the harder the farrier hits the nails i.e. at the start when he hears the light tapping he flinches but once the nails are firmly in he is fine with the farrier hammering away. I think it probably is an association response, practise and patience would probably solve the issue (in both mine and yours!) but checking to make sure she isnt in pain is an obvious thing to do.
 
our Section D was the same,but with persistance and time she is now an angel to shoe.One of my friends horse's hates being shod,he rears and can be quite dangerous.Now she uses sedalin,just 3mls does the job.
 
As others have said tap feet everyday, lunge before farrier so she is tired sometimes patting quite firmly on the neck while they are banged on can help, have a radio on that too can help to drown out the noise, hold her in a bridle too you have much more control, sometimes a bit of bribery with treats can be helpfull to distract her.
 
You could try glue on shoes? More expensive but I use them as then easier to swap between barefoot and shod.

Check out the soundhorse website :)
 
my young guy was the same i picked his feet up and tapped them gently. but also my farrier has brilliant nylon hammer as my horse hated the vibration through the nails and it doesn't cause it my youngster was totally different horse after that. hope your mare gets better bless her.
 
Mine used to be bad with the farrier and it was banging in the nails that was worst. She only ever had fronts on though.

She did get better, but she's now barefoot.

We got through it without needing to sedate her, with the help of a patient and sympathetic farrier who was prepared to work with her and who was used to dealing with horses that aren't already angelic for the farrier. This meant changing from the regular yard farrier.

We were really careful to make sure we picked her feet up as much as possible and that we banged her feet ourselves. We made sure she would pick up her feet for other people too. Using treats helped with this.

When the farrier came we held her in a bridle for control, and outside so that there was plenty of space. Both to avoid her being able to squash us and so that we didn't have to move her about too much, and could just work wherever she was standing happily. Some days the farrier did end up following her round the yard. Treats helped, those awful sticky horselyx treat licks are brilliant for keeping them still for the farrier, though the farrier risks getting some "extra hair gel".....

Then by accident we found she was actually better held by someone she didn't know so well. So she was shod held by my sister, and then by the farrier's apprentice/mate/dad etc. Then eventually he got her to the stage where he could do her tied up.

She's had her shoes off now but the same farrier is still doing her feet and is still great with her. He always takes the time to make a bit of a fuss of her and is patient and kind with her, chatting away while he works.

His attitude has been so important to getting her to be good for the farrier. The yard farrier was warned that she wasn't very good to shoe but was told who had shod her before and that she had been done without sedation but he came in with the attitude "why did you buy a horse you can't get shoes on" and you could see he expected trouble from the outset. Then as soon as she so much as flinched he refused to even remove her old shoes without full vet sedation. My current farrier was given the same information and also told that the yard farrier had refused to do her. I told him that I was happy to just have the shoes off if she was difficult but he just said "we'll see" and got on with it. He finished off saying she wasn't that bad and he couldn't understand the fuss.

Getting the right farrier is key.
 
I had this problem with a very genuine, kind horse. He was fine at the front, but when it came to nailing the hinds he really struggled to stand on 3 legs for any time, and would collapse against the farrier. Farrier used a nylon hammer to reduce the shock as he nailed, but also suggested horses like this had hock/stifle/sacro problems. On getting back X rays and using a different physio we did find the horse was very weak over his quarters and started doing various stretches to strengthen him. This made a huge difference, and instead of shovelling 3 packets of polos down him just to nail the hinds, he allowed it to be done with just a worried expression on his face. So yes, lots of foot picking up, banging etc is really useful, but it could also be a genuine physical problem.

The older I get, the more I realise how much pain horses often tolerate - the main problem is finding the source ;)
 
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