Really good idea to have the vet on site so that the horse can be laid out if needed.
I’d try Dorm and my farrier also mentioned Torb for a horse that really jerked her legs and feet. The farrier said Torb is good for getting them to plant their feet.
We tried a tiny dose of IM Dorm for my older horse for his last appointment because he’s pretty uncomfortable with arthritis and gets very defensive about holding his leg up. It definitely helped him relax his hinds. He’s already on equioxx.
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If he needs to get them trimmed, and you have a vet and farrier that will work together, you could have the vet knock him out and let the farrier work while horse is laying down. It’s a bit of an extreme measure, but If his feet are really really bad and need attention asap, it might be worth considering. It’s certainly not without its risks though, so trying different drugs for sedation might be a better option.
I misunderstood the situation, and thought that you felt confident that you had ruled out pain.
How long will he stand on three legs without using the tools?
My old mare who had pain issues I would trim with her laying flat out (as someone mentioned above). But she had 100 percent trust in me.
My mustang has been very difficult to train for the farrier. I put the saddle on, run a hobble around her fetlock, run the rope around the saddle horn. She can pull on herself without me being involved. She’s gotten much better. Sometimes needs you to place a hand on her knee, as she wants to paw with the front foot. I’ve even introduced the hoof stand. Usually I lunge her until she really wants to come in and follow me. Then work on farrier work. Treats make her worse, unless you only reward her for standing quietly.
Beating or punishing the horse only makes things worse. You need a farrier that won’t punish the horse - if horse pulls away, allow him to pull away, but ask again, and again, and again. One swipe with the rasp, then reward, etc.
I absolutely hate dealing with a horse that wasn’t taught to be good for the farrier. It can be done. Just is going to take a long time and you need an understanding farrier willing to help you train the horse.
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He has no obvious lameness or pain, but he’s also a 20 YO 18h draft horse that spent the first 10 years of his life living with the Amish, and from my experience the Amish don’t sell a horse unless there is something mentally or physically wrong with them.
I’ve been waiting to do a lameness exam until his feet are in order
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Torb is my vet’s go to for busy feet. My horse used to just jerk his foot away because he had an injury in the lower leg at one point and got sick of anyone messing with it. If he wasn’t in work for some reason and thus a little more wild and ornery, he got a Dorm and Torb cocktail for the farrier. Just enough to chill him out but not make him unstable.
It does wear off fast. We only needed it for the fronts, and he got shoes. If you want to have something longer lasting, Ace can be added to the cocktail. Your vet can make this up to be given either IV or IM.
I’d have your vet out for the next time and possibly see if you can get some to have on hand for smaller doses for when you are working with him in small sessions. The goal is not necessarily to knock them out but to try to avoid the fight so that you can start having some experiences without fighting to break the pattern and the negative associations.
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Another vote for dorm gel.
I had to use it when I first put shoes on my horse (at 9 years old and a perfect barefoot pony to trim, he melted down at being shod). We started at the recommended dose and weaned him off of it over the course of a year. I also worked with him in between shoeings, without any sedation of course. It really does make it a less stressful experience for the horse and farrier. Give it plenty of time to work and get it under the tongue if you can.
As a long-time body clipper, I have also had more horses fight through Ace and torb than the dorm gel. YMMV
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Ace is generally useless for farrier issues. Dorm torb cocktail is the way to go
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Rompun/torb cocktail. You can do surgery with this stuff. Vet must administer.
The other option that could be considered is a tipping table. They are mobile, someone will own one. It’s a “squeeze” that the horse is led into. Then it tips over on it’s side. Apparently no drugs/sedation is used. Sounds scary, but apparently draft horses just lay there, motionless. The PMU farms used these things with their draft mares, who had little training or handling. You would have to find someone who owns one, and knows how to use it. It is likely what has been used previously with this horse. I have never seen it done, but asked the PMU ranchers how they trimmed feet, and this option was described for me. I was astounded,
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Interesting, there’s a lot of cattle around here so someone may have one for the cows. I’ll see if I can find someone with one big enough
my farrier, nor I will ever work on a horse that has been given xylazine (Rompun)
I had one come up out of head down position onto his hind legs and charge me with his mouth open on xylazine
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Op I tried Rompum / Xylazine on my hard to do
Horse it was was effective but he was in a place too sedated and weird to LEARN. Then I discovered Dormosedan. Torb for pain. Initially we did 3/4 dorm 1/4 torb. Back then my Dad who was a vet was alive. It worked perfectly. When my Dad retired and then died I just did the dorm paste. Couldn’t get injectable anymore. It worked. Then we weaned him. And he stood fine.
Agreed, xylazine makes them very weird and unpredictable.
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I apologize I stopped reading all the replies as I saw a few I really disagree with.
That means there’s a chance someone mentioned diet and I missed it. If not — DIET.
I’ve had my onery, A.D.D. Horse for 26 of his 28 years. When another horse was diagnosed with metabolic issues in 2007, everybody got their diet changed.
That was the moment I discovered Mr. Onery had serious sensitivity to not only grains but soy. Soy is the protein source for just about every feed and RB out there.
The difference in his attitude was so stark, even my non-horse husband asked who was that horse? For the first time in this horse’s life, I didn’t need the riding crop in the bath bucket for his hind legs.
When he was young, his 16.1H self would try to jerk his hind hooves away from my 5’2” self to no avail. Back then I had a lot of strength and knew how to leverage myself against his hip and hang onto his hoof. That lower leg of his really wanted to do battle, but I “had until midnight” lollol.
OP, by now, however, your horse has a lot of bad habits to unlearn. Were he mine, along with diet change, I would start with a AAA chiropractor who also does acupuncture.
Just my two cents, based on my own onery horse that most people would have sent to the auction after trying all those old time cowboy tricks, instead of trying to find the root cause for his bad behavior.
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This is off topic, but what were the behaviors he was exhibiting before the feed change? A friend has had a horse now for a few months that was a rescue. At the rescue, the horse was allegedly friendly and everyone loved her. At our barn, she is a complete witch nearly 100% of the time. Ears pinned, nostrils flared, will bite out, threaten to kick etc. Just not nice and unpredictable on the ground. So far she’s been pretty solid under saddle.
Friend had the vet out to ultrasound/draw a bunch of blood work and everything had come back normal. Massage therapist/chiropractor have also been out and she does have soreness in places but nothing horrific.
Im curious if it could be a food sensitivity now given the attitude change seemingly was after she moved to our barn provided it was true info they gave her about her personality. I’ll have to ask if she knows what she was being fed previously.
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@FjordBCRF a general y bad “I don’t want to and I don’t have to” attitude. Ears back in annoyance a lot. Did not like to be brushed (he’s a Tennessee Walker so not thin skinned). Threatened to lift that hind leg if I was grooming him and he happened to wake up on the wrong side of the saw dust that morning.
He was a Jekyll-Hyde personality. Those times I caught glimpses of a sweet horse told me something was strong somehow. It was only because of my other horse with metabolic issues, did I discover this horse’s sensitivities to grains and soy.
I also kept up with his discipline. I used to joke that Rusty got more lacings in a week than all my Keeper horses put together in a year. I had to come down on him hard sometimes and I hated that because that’s not how I was raised.
In the end, he turned out to be my best “listen to me at Liberty” horse and my current farrier hasn’t asked to halter him for the last year. She just walks into his open end stall and starts trimming. She also gets a kick out of being able to go into his paddock, point and say “get in the barn” and he goes.
None of this happened overnight because he is still inherently a con man, but his generally bad attitude started to disappear when I changed his diet:)
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Thank you much!
He sounds like he keeps you on your toes! 
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