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Hi Drin,

Because you mentioned that Dianne had "worked hours and hours with just 
picking up the hinds" but with no results when the shoer is out, it 
struck me that some experimentation is in order.  If the mare picks up 
her hind hooves with no argument for Dianne, then pain is probably not 
an issue, nor having her hind feet handled.   Since the shoer has no 
problem doing the mare's front feet, the mare is probably not afraid of 
men or this particular shoer, nor does she appear to actively dislike 
this shoer.  Additionally, she doesn't appear to have a problem with the 
process of shoeing, since she handles being shod in front well.  This 
doesn't leave much for the mare to be upset about :)  However, since she 
clearly IS upset, there must be some facet(s) of shoeing her hind feet 
that do(es) bother her.

Dianne needs to try different things to see what exactly bothers the 
mare.  We know she can pick up the hind feet; can she clean them with a 
hoof pick?  Can she straddle the leg (like the shoer does)?  Can she 
hammer the hoof (a regular claw-type hammer can be used in the 
experiment).  If the mare is currently unshod in back, can Dianne file 
the hind hooves?

Next, when the shoer comes, he needs to do EXACTLY the same things 
Dianne does, one by one, to see if any of the things SHE can do bother 
the mare when HE does them.  It would be useful for her to go first and 
then the farrier so he could see exactly what she is doing that is NOT a 
problem.

Trying to fix any problem without knowing its cause is usually a waste 
of time and as Alissa said, just drugging her isn't productive.  
Pinpoint the precise area that troubles the horse and then you at least 
have a chance of correcting the mare's behavior.  Let us know what you 
find out about how the mare reacts to different parts of the shoeing 
process and perhaps someone here will be able to give some really good 
technique for curing the mare's unhappiness.



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