bad behavior and farriers

[June Scheunemann & Mike Bernsdorf <equineent@lakefield.net>]

Mike does farrier work part time.  He enjoys helping horses and
helping owners with their horses.  Since he is only does this
part time he has started getting choosey with clients and their
horses.  If the client is honest and expresses concerns about
their horses behavior he will go and take his time to try and
make any foot work he does an enjoyable procedure.  He would
rather take 2 hours with a horse who has had bad experiences and
is truly fearful of foot work than have a fight or muslce
flexing contest with the horse.  He is very good with young
horses and very patient.  The horses that are truly
dangerous...due to lack of owner working with their horses or
just spoiled horses he won't take on anymore.  He does find that
most problems stem from people mishandling horses creating fear
problems or bad behavior problems.  He also will no longer go to
clients who are not present when he is working on their horse.
Since he works during the day as a chemist and most of his
"partime " work is done at night he doesn't feel that he should
be responsible for catching the horse and cleaning him or her up
to work on them.

I have gone with him at times and am amazed of how he tries to
work with horses that are old and cannot hold feet up....he'll
kneel and just flip the foot over and trim qucikly then move on
to another foot and come back to rasp later ....so the horse
doens't have to stand with weight for any length of time on one
foot.

I have also watched him train a horse while there for a trim due
to lack of knowledge of the owners.  He will show them how to
teach a horse to pick up their feet and hold them.  fortuanately
most people really want to know how to do these things and just
don't know who to call or how to start.  He will also suggest
reading material and videos...however people soemtimes don't
realize that the time he is spending on their horses takes away
from his free time at home.  If more would realize what the time
spending training their horse is his free time and be more
appreciative it sure would make his part time job more fun.  He
does watch the progress horses make and if the owners aren't
working with them he will drop them.  He does not like using
force with horses....No twitches.

june...
...in the sloppy midwest