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[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.
 
-----------Karla Watson/Portland, Oregon