young horse being very difficult with farrier- any ideas???????

[cumbriamax]

I have WB x ISH who will be 2 years in may, however he is very difficult with farrier, he was always good to have his feet done until he was just over a year old, then he got bolshy but after he was gelded he was ok again. now though he is being worse than ever with farrier, most annoying thing is I can pick up his hooves myself fine even when he is turned out with others I canwalk in and start picking up feet. any ideas?/

 

[Wagtail]

Treats are the only way I have found. As farrier approaches treat the horse (I just use horse and pony cubes as you can have a large pocketful and just give one or two at a time). Feed him whilst the farrier is doing his feet and stop when he walks away, resuming when the farrier picks up another foot.

 

[Honey08]

We use lickits for treats for our youngsters - the first few times they are clipped/shod/manes pulled etc. We find that they go into a bit of a trance licking away, and don't notice whats being done to them. We only use them at these times, so the horses are not getting the lickits at other times. A bucket of feed works, but they eat too much during the shoeing for my liking!

 

[LucyPriory]

Just remember lickits are somewhere in the region of 97% sugar.

Never found the need to 'treat' for hoof care purposes.

 

[LucyPriory]

Just remember lickits are somewhere in the region of 97% sugar.

Never found the need to 'treat' for hoof care purposes.

Sorry lost connection while doing this.

Explore pain issues - from feather mites, mud fever or thrush or other. Often when in pain they will pick up a foot for the short time it takes to pick it out, but struggle to do so for longer.

Also some horses especially growing youngsters find it hard to balance with their legs held at certain angles. There are techniques to deal with this that do no harm and do not involve any aggression from either side (and they don't take any longer either)

With rescues etc I use desensitisation. Again no treats involved.

 

[LouS]

When you say he is difficult, what exactly is he doing?

My mare was absolutely terrible when she came to me, would fling herself all over the place, rear up, try to jump over the top of him when he kept hold of her leg, get really worked up, after a lot of patience and a kind but firm farrier she's a lot better. She's easier to do in the stable and I stand with a bucket of chaff while he does it, even with the feed she still gets upset, but her reaction is out of fear. If she was just being rude and bolshy I wouldn't be feeding her.

But its not just the farrier that is the issue for my mare, when I got her she was incredibly head shy, would stand at the back of the stable, nervous of anyone touching her, obviously had a bad time of it.

 

[Wagtail]

Sorry lost connection while doing this.

Explore pain issues - from feather mites, mud fever or thrush or other. Often when in pain they will pick up a foot for the short time it takes to pick it out, but struggle to do so for longer.

Also some horses especially growing youngsters find it hard to balance with their legs held at certain angles. There are techniques to deal with this that do no harm and do not involve any aggression from either side (and they don't take any longer either)

With rescues etc I use desensitisation. Again no treats involved.

I don't understand the aversion to treats unless a horse becomes nippy. When a new livery arrived on my yard she said she didn't want her horse treating for that reason. Of course I respected that at all times but after nine months he was still a stressy TB being a pain to change rugs, rearing up when being handled and generally being quite dangerous. She had a change of heart regarding treat rewards and his behaviour changed almost over night. Now he stands calmly for his rug change, has stopped barging and rearing when handled and is a much less stressed boy. All because the treats (herbal) have helped him to understand how people want him to behave and therefore he feels more secure. I do accept that treating horses is not always the best policy. It depends on the individual animal, but I have never had a problem with it personally.