This message is from: Rovena Kessinger <ro_k...@yahoo.com>
Hi Mary. This is what happened. I held Odi the mule, while Bam-Bam was tied up and watching. (That was probably a mistake; he always watches stuff that's going on.) The farrier did Odi's front hooves fine (he doesn't need much work, it just took a few minutes). Then he went for his back hooves, and Odi didn't like that and started moving around. Before I really knew what was happening, he had a rope out and was going to use it somehow on his back feet. Odi freaked out and wasn't having any of that, and the farrier said, "He's been hog-tied before", and gave up on him. That was annoying to me, because I didn't know he was going to do something traumatic to Odi. When he started with Odi, he didn't introduce himself or go slowly, just had me hold him and went at his feet. So after that, I got Bam-Bam, and the farrier couldn't even get near him, he went wild when the farrier started got close to us. He didn't rear, but he was jumping all around and it was hard for me to hold onto. The farrier was like, OK, no way, and he turned around and left. The Bam-Bam was fine. Bam-Bam just didn't want that bad guy carrying torture-implements (for all he knew) getting close to him. So, I can see that mistakes that were made. Strange man holding strange tools, he sees the man do something bad to Odi, then the man goes at him like a predator, I haven't been lifting his hooves, etc. My fault. Oh good, thanks so much for that link. I'll check it out. The state of his hooves are my main worry with him. I've tried several leads but nothing has panned out yet. I need to get him more comfortable first anyway, I guess. --- On Wed, 11/28/12, Mary Ofjord <ma...@boreal.org> wrote: From: Mary Ofjord <ma...@boreal.org> Subject: Re: Introduction To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 9:27 AM This message is from: "Mary Ofjord" <ma...@boreal.org> The mule is 12. He is much more well-trained than the fjord, but also a lot more suspicious > and spooky. So they both need a lot of work. Somebody told me that mules and > fjords are a lot alike, so it made sense what happened with those two. I > thought those two made the other horses seem like sheep in comparison. We have a mule and five Fjords. And yes, the mule and Fjords have similarities, such as needing to understand if it benefits them to do something, then convinicing them to do so. A farrier came just to trim, but my horse wouldn't let the > guy get near him. So I am trying to desensitize him to having his feet > handled. I can touch all of them now, but haven't picked them up yet. If this horse has had problems in the past, he may be wary of farriers. How did he approach your horse? Did he let the horse sniff him, and did he 'introduce' himself to the horse, or did he just go in and grab a leg and start to trim? Most farriers come in smelling like other horses, and sometimes that will make a horse suspicious. I am in northern Wisconsin (Rhinelander). If anybody > knows a good trimmer near me, especially for a fjord and any special needs > they may have, I would appreciate if you let me know. All our animals are barefoot and have been for several years. We do occasionally use boots - Cavallo Sport are my choice. Here's a link to the Wisconsin Association for the Advancement of Natural Horse Care Practices: http://www.aanhcp.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140&Itemid =121 Good luck in your search for a Natural Hoof Care Practitioner. __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 7741 (20121128) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
