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I think a lot of farriers are way too quick to blame the horse for being 'bad' to shoe.
I was at a clinic in Lexington last month and watched a guy struggle for an hour with a young quarter horse. He kept saying the horse was just being stubborn and needed to learn respect. I stepped in, adjusted my hold on the pastern, and the horse stood quiet as could be. It wasn't the horse, it was the angle and pressure he was using. I see this all the time. We label a horse difficult when maybe we just need to check our own technique first. How do you guys approach a horse that seems resistant before deciding it's a behavior problem?
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hugo_hayes6mo ago
My old mentor in Texas always said to check your own two feet first. If a horse is fighting me, I stop and change something small, like where I'm standing or how I'm holding the leg. Most of the time, that fixes it. Calling a horse bad is just an excuse for not figuring out the real problem. It's our job to make the shoe fit the horse, not force the horse to fit our routine.
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caleb1405mo ago
@hugo_hayes nailed it when he said to check your own two feet first. I've had that same thing happen more times than I can count, and it's almost always something simple I was doing wrong. A few weeks ago I had a mare that was throwing her head and dancing around until I realized I was bracing my shoulder into her hip too hard without meaning to. Soon as I eased up, she sighed and stood solid. We'd all do well to remember that horses communicate through their bodies, not their mouths, so if they're fighting, maybe we're just not listening to what they're saying.
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