[RC] Hard to Shoe Horse--We have one of those!! - Karla Watson
We have a hard to shoe gelding. He got stuck bad
once with his last owner and was never the same again. We were told about his
issue with shoeing but my daughter fell MADLY in love with him so we bought him.
He had no other history of abuse with shoers or people shoeing him as we know
most of his history. He is a very sensitive Paso Fino/Arab cross. He was
alright for hind feet but front feet always put him up in the air and then he
shakes and panics.
We had a farrier/natural horsemanship (very kind)
trainer work with him with treats (he is treat motivated) and tons of patience
and time. He got a little better but never alright about it. We found out it is
the actual hammering of "nails" that puts him over the edge. You can hammer
without nails on his feet or pull off the shoe or anything else but the nails
going in are in his panic zone. Its his front feet he has an issue with since
that is where he got stuck. We worked for over a year with everything we could
think of to make it better for him.
This is my daughter's endurance horse and he does
well in the sport so we wanted to be able to shoe him successfully. My current
farrier suggested keeping him barefoot and finding a boot that would work for
endurance. So far, he is in Epics boots (6 months) and doing well and is much,
much happier. He actually gaits better in boots than steel shoes (not to open a
barefoot debate here!). We feel he just either had a issue with the nails going
in or actually felt the pressure of it and didn't like it. We can now have him
trimmed and he is very relaxed, almost falls asleep! Just don't show him a NAIL!
These horses are individuals and some have issues
we have to work around. Some horses never get over something and you have to
find an alternative solution. Being from 2 sensitive breeds, this is a
horse you cannot cowboy with or get angry with. He just panics more and then you
have a monster on your hands. The boots made for riding are improving tenfold
every year so we know that we may never have to shoe this little guy again
if that is what he is most comfortable with. He is the one we want to make happy
here. Not us.
