{div}Aili Sundberg trims and shoes a horse, keeping the horse relaxed and comfortable.{/div}

{div}Aili Sundberg trims and shoes a horse, keeping the horse relaxed and comfortable.{/div}

If a horse fidgets and won’t stand still to have his feet worked on, or tries to pull a foot away, this may be because it’s uncomfortable to stand on a certain foot or to put so much weight on one foot or to have the leg held up in a certain position.

The problem may be as simple as bad footing, says Aili Sundberg, who has been shoeing horses a long time.

“If the horse is standing on gravel, I do one foot at a time — taking the old shoe off, trimming and shoeing that one before taking the other shoes off or trimming the other feet,” Sundberg said. “I give the horse less reason to not behave when I’m working on the bare foot; he is still standing on a shoe that’s protecting the other foot. Then he isn’t standing on rocks with a bare foot and getting punished because he is uncomfortable and moving around.”

A fidgety horse may simply be adjusting the foot he has to stand on, trying to find a place without rocks. His uncooperative attitude may be due to the terrain and footing, yet many farriers prefer to take all the shoes off at once.

“When shoeing on gravel, I often use a thin roll of rubber mat for the horse to stand on,” Sundberg said. “You could also teach a horse to stand on a piece of carpet. If I am shoeing a horse that’s barefoot and we’re standing on gravel, I’ve even ripped up a shoebox and let the horse stand on cardboard. The horse knows you are trying to help, and will generally stand still if his feet aren’t tender. He won’t be moving around or trying to move away from me every time I walk up to him.”

If you recognize that a horse is sore (perhaps arthritis in a joint) and has trouble in certain positions, compromise. Don’t hold that foot up as high.

“I’m also not going to keep his foot up as long, because I know he’s sore,” Sundberg said. “Some farriers get into problems with resistance, trying to hang onto the horse’s hind leg. Often it’s a height issue; the horse doesn’t like the foot hiked up that high. A horse has large muscles in the hindquarter and this position can be uncomfortable. It’s similar to a human trying to do a hamstring stretch when we haven’t stretched in a while.”

She continued: “Often it’s a matter of having empathy for that animal. I assure the horse that I’m going to keep the foot low, and in some cases I’ve actually nailed shoes on, just holding the foot on my boot. The horse realizes I’m not going to cause pain and tends to stand still for me, because I am keeping the leg comfortable.”

There are a lot of reasons a horse may be doing what it’s doing.

“When a horse tries to jerk his foot away from you, why is he doing it? Maybe he is standing on gravel and sore, or you kept the foot up too long, or cranked the knee too much to the side,” Sundberg said. “There are many reasons why a horse might resist what you are doing. In that situation, I may clean the other foot, in case there’s a rock or something jammed in it and that’s why he doesn’t want to stand on that foot.”

In some instances, the horse might have a stiff knee.

“When you pick up a front foot you can feel how stiff it is,” she said. “As you try to pull that knee out, to have it in position for trimming/shoeing, the horse is already moving to try to get that leg underneath him (or even rearing up to try to take the leg back). With those horses, I use a cradle, and work on that foot right under the belly — and then the horse stands still because his knee is not in such an uncomfortable position. Many farriers won’t take time to go get their cradle, however, and some won’t even buy or use a cradle, yet it would make their job easier and the horse happier.”

If a horse is having trouble holding a foot up very long, Sundberg puts in just two nails (enough to hold the shoe in place), then lets him have the foot again.

“I give him a friendly scratch, pick the foot up again, drive two more nails, and put the foot down again,” she said.

The horse stays calm and stands for that long, and you are not creating a fight. You are accomplishing the goal, but on his terms, and he’s comfortable.

“If you start a tug-of-war, and the horse really wants to take his foot back, and you insist on holding onto it, you are wasting time. While you are fighting with the horse, you are not driving nails, you are not trimming, you are not accomplishing anything,” she explains.

It would be quicker to just give him his foot a few times so he can stand on it for a moment.

“As soon as the horse starts telling you he’s uncomfortable and wants his foot back, you might drive one more nail and then give the foot back,” Sundberg said. “I try to give it back before the horse asks for it the second time.”

Otherwise the horse may become more insistent because he’s uncomfortable and impatient or gets in a panic because he can’t have his foot.

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