Last month a mare bit me while I was nailing her front left shoe

I was working on this old Quarter Horse outside of Salem, nice calm mare normally. She stood fine for the trim but the second I started nailing she whipped her head around and clamped down on my arm. Not hard enough to break skin but enough to leave a bruise for a week. The owner just laughed and said she does that to everyone. I finished the shoe but I kept one eye on her teeth the whole time. Has anyone else had a horse get grabby like that out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery3569d ago

That line about "she does that to everyone" would've had me walking off the job right there. A buddy of mine had a similar thing happen with this old Paint up near Woodburn where the mare seemed fine until he picked up her back foot and she cowkicked him square in the thigh. He said he was limping for two weeks and the owner just shrugged and said she was "just being playful." I don't get how some folks act like that kind of behavior is something to laugh about when you're dealing with a thousand pound animal that can ruin your day in a split second. Makes you wonder what that horse went through before that made her think biting was the only way to say she didn't like something.

derek_brown289d ago

Man that's rough, I feel for your buddy. A cowkick to the thigh is no joke, I had a mare catch me in the ribs once and I couldn't breathe right for a month. It's wild how some owners just brush it off like it's no big deal, especially when you're the one who has to deal with the aftermath and the pain. That horse definitely learned somewhere that biting or kicking is the only way to get what she wants, and it's sad nobody bothered to fix it.