Does your farrier have a stall jack with the canvas sling top? My old TB had shivers, and while it was not so severe to really be a problem, he did benefit from being able to rest some weight on the sling top. There is also a very low version, so if his joints are stiff, he can keep his hoof lower to the ground which may be more comfortable as well.
Might not be a popular idea … but can you borrow or find a cattle trimmer? (like this)
If the bute doesn’t work, and you want to give this guy more time to figure him out, but you NEED to trim his feet some of the way, a cattle trimmer might buy you some time in-between.
And to be honest, this is how my family trimmed our horses until I was about 14 and we started doing it “the right way”. I will say, it’s a nice option for an older horse that has trouble holding up their feet, and it puts a great bevel on the hoof (no chips or cracks). Or just an option when you have no other option. No lifting feet required.
So anywho … throwing that out there!
My EPSM mare struggles to keep her feet up for the farrier, I wonder if the diet is worth a shot? Vit e seconded. Best of luck with him.
1 Like
Ugh, there’s no way he can lean up against a wall even if it’s not in the stall (like in a corner of the aisle with the door closed behind him?
I have a very very arthritic horse with terrible ringbone that I board. He’s physically incapable of holding his foot up, even very low, for shoeing. He’s so sweet, you can tell he wants to cooperate. He just LITERALLY CANNOT.
I give him tons of bute and we trim him with him leaning up against the corner of the stall. It’s enough support to quickly trim. I don’t think they could shoe, but he does ok with just the trim.
1 Like
We will try that once he is sedated. The farrier was not comfortable with that when he initially was out.
Update!
Farrier was back out today. The vet gave us Dorm, IM, but I don’t think it was nearly enough. We were able to start on one hoof, which was improvement from last time, but not without Will trying to hop around on three legs while farrier held his foot up. Upon trying to start on a different hood Will was saying “nope! I’m going to walk away now”. I’ve learned he is just an A$$ moreso than incapable. I’ve been trying to work with him on picking his feet up but it is hard to see from that perspective if he can’t balance or won’t stand.
Anyway, I had a few treats in my pocket and when we started talking about giving up for the day, I tried distracting him with the treats. It worked fabulously! We were able to trim all hooves without risk of one of us getting injured.
Clearly, there is a much bigger training issue at hand that will be addressed, but we HAD to get this boy’s feet done. I gave the farrier a nice tip for his patience and good attitude despite the fact that it’s bitter cold.
11 Likes
I am glad you got the job done.
That’s awesome. Nothing wrong with using treats and food as a positive distraction to make the horse cooperate. Especially if it works.
3 Likes
No, he’s not being an A$$…there is clearly a training/pain/memory of pain issue going on here. Learn to listen to your horse instead of calling him names. I’m glad he found a distraction in that if getting feet done is a memory trigger for him, the treats may have just been different enough to change the course for him.
I would still recommend natural Vit E for him, especially if he is not on fresh grass for the winter. Drafts are really susceptible to a deficiency and they have a variety of ways of showing it that come out seemingly as behavioral when it’s actually something subclinical going on and they are trying to tell you.
1 Like
I will bet money it’s not a pain issue. A training issue? Yes, absolutely. He wants to walk off, because someone has let him do it before. In his 20 years he has probably always been done in stocks where he had no choice but to stand. He is the type who if you give an inch he will take a mile. When the incentive to stand was bigger than the desire to leave he stood. Sorry, if I have a horse who is going to be problematic because he wants to be, he is an A$$. I love him, and he will receive training to improve the issue. Don’t worry, he doesn’t know that I am “calling him names”. He’s on bute (have not noticed a difference) and supplements as a precaution.
7 Likes
Glad you got him done. As above, my friend’s draft cross stands perfectly with some food in her face. People have chastised me for not “training” but hey—not my horse. My job is to make it easy for the trimmer and food is what does it. Trimmer is happy and has no problem with it. Horse standing still and square while eating or 1650 lbs pulling and swaying??
Continued good luck with your lucky guys.
Susan
Thanks Fordtraktor, I hadn’t checked back to answer. Yes, just put the rope around their leg, and put pressure on to pick up, then release.
Sounds like the cookie plan worked though. At least you have time to work on ui before the next appt.
We really need pictures of Will…
Bless you for helping him. He’s got to be a lot more comfortable with his feet tended to.
So he wasn’t trained 
He is the type who if you give an inch he will take a mile. When the incentive to stand was bigger than the desire to leave he stood. Sorry, if I have a horse who is going to be problematic because he wants to be, he is an A$$.
He wasn’t (well/properly) trained.
I love him, and he will receive training to improve the issue. Don’t worry, he doesn’t know that I am “calling him names”.
He does’t know it, but you do, and how we behave around horses is greatly affected by how we perceive them. Viewing a horse as needing training puts you in a different mental state than calling him an ass, or even just thinking he’s being an ass. We know what we mean when we say that about a person - they know exactly what they are supposed to be doing but choose to willfully not do it (or do the opposite).
I’m happy the job got done - definitely nothing wrong with food to distract and reward!
with all due respect, what might put ONE person in a bad mental state to deal with an animal may not do the same thing for another. Just like we can’t assume one training method works for all horses, it turns out people are possibly even more complex.
That said, if I did say a horse was being an ass and showed no clear understanding that it was a training issue and I had a plan to resolve it, yeah, then maybe I could tolerate a little finger wagging about my personal approach to communicating on a BB. But in this case I feel like it is a little over the top, especially given this poster has kind of gone above and beyond what most people do (myself very included in that list)!
There are some of us just wired to communicate that way (I cheerfully and not so cheerfully call them all sorts of names, sometimes it is in affection and sometimes it is to let loose a little frustration so I CAN go back to being effective) and it may not be your (the collective you) cup of tea, and that’s OK, you don’t have to embrace it. I have the same meh feelings with (as I refer to them) the oogy gooey sappy people, but if they get the job done right…
4 Likes
Look, no horses or farriers were harmed in the making of this post. OP seems like a rational person who did a nice thing taking a horse of unknown background out of the stream for slaughter. He’s hard to shoe. She’s working on it. If she calls him an A-hole and you call him untrained, what does it really matter? It’s not like she’s advocating beating him or something. She fed him treats to get the shoeing down. Big whoop.
8 Likes
This might be an option. It is a combination of stocks and a hydraulic tilt table.
I have seen several videos with this type of setup, for cattle as well as for horses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKPGbS8-w1A
NM, saw that cookies worked. But the video could something to keep in mind for the occasion or horse that needs assistance.
This might be an option. It is a combination of stocks and a hydraulic tilt table.
I have seen several videos with this type of setup, for cattle as well as for horses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKPGbS8-w1A
NM, saw that cookies worked. But the video could something to keep in mind for the occasion or horse that needs assistance.
Fair enough - we don’t know the OP or her level of training ability (though it sounds at least pretty ok). I still think the anthropomorphic name calling is worth discussing because there are a lot of lurkers who probably do the same thing and as a result, look at the horse’s behavior from the viewpoint of “he just doesn’t want to”, instead of “he doesn’t understand”. I see it far too often, and many others have pointed out very similar things on more than a few threads, so at least I’m not the only one who thinks it’s an important enough aspect to point out
1 Like
We had a boarder come in (TB) and the owner warned that previous barn had found him to be “bad to shoe” and had resorted to tranqs. He had some other issues but after a couple of weeks it appeared as if he was relaxing and the “problems” were not nearly as bad were advertised.
So the farrier is scheduled and the BO encourages owner to let them try without medication to see how it goes. Bo will hold as owner is working and I just happened to be there. Horse starts out a bit tense. Suddenly tries backing up and spinning. BO controls and moves him back into place and he stands, wide-eyed. Carrot piece for standing. Farrier is working patiently and quietly, touching the horse to let him know he is there. BO periodically gives horse a carrot piece for standing and as a distraction.
This worked well until the first hammer strike. Horse flips head up, tries to rear and dances around. After the initial reaction, he is eyeing the BO and trying to stay away. BO moves him back into place and, when he is standing again, gives a carrot piece. Horse is looking like he I still waiting for the Bad Thing to happen. More carrots, careful hammer tapping, building up to driving the nails and horse starts to relax. Some flinches with sudden sounds, but eyes the BO and only shuffles a bit and starts expecting a carrot piece. All four feet done and the horse is more relaxed at the end.
We believe the most likely scenario is that someone was impatient with him during shoeing and tried to solve the issue by strong “discipline” most likely involving a lot of shanking. With an honestly nervous horse of course this only made things worse as shoeing was now scary both for itself and for what the handler was going to do!
3 Likes
