05/04/2024
"Haha! You're so funny (horse), he shakes his hind legs when you pick them up" - no, your horse has advanced arthritis you've chosen to stay blind to.
"She's just a bitchy mare, she doesn't like her belly touched" - no, living in a 10x10 stall, little to no turnout, no equine friends, and going hours and hours between feedings has given her ulcers (at the least)
"My horse has become unpredictable and explosive out of nowhere" -no, they've been telling me at every appointment that something is wrong in their body. I've expressed my concerns, and you are too selfish/lazy/scared to acknowledge that something needs addressed because of your own ego.
I'm tired, so tired, of owners dismissing pain faces, stiffness, crankiness, etc as behavioral traits. Thank you Skorstad Farrier Service for this perfectly articulated post 💕
This topic rolls around my head all the time. The more horses I get under, the more I understand equine behavior and their body, the more I am convinced I don’t need to be stronger. Hear me out.
I am 5’6” and 125 lbs. I am a strong and fit person, with limits. Like most people, we all have limits to what our bodies can handle. Working with a 1000 lbs animal, has understandable limits. I have heard more than once, that the horse just needs “a strong man” to get under them and not have it be awful. That a man can “just hang on”. Just because that man can bear down and hold on, doesn’t mean it was any better for the horse than me being slung around. It just makes the human at the end of the lead feel better not seeing me slung around or struggle.
But here is the thing I know. Besides a handful of horses, very very few intentionally want to make it hard to hold a leg up. If they are struggling to stand well for the farrier, it almost always comes down to a few things. The following is said assuming that the farrier is truly a horse person and knows how to help your horse have a positive experience and adjust their approach when necessary.
1. Pain or fear of pain or altered sensation or awareness
2. A reduction in stability and appropriate loading patterns
3. Lack of understanding
4. Lack of emotional agility
As I primarily work with performance horses, I most commonly see 1 and 2. Yet, no performance problems are noted and an obvious head nodding lameness isn’t always present.
It’s tough because I know about how the body and nervous system works and equine behavior more than most farriers, more than a lot of horse people. I understand gait patterns and muscle development. I can feel your horse’s body every time I pick up a hoof. I have picked up 100s of 1000s of hooves (no joke, I did the math, it’s well over 150,000 hooves). Every single one of them is attached to a leg, attached to a horse. I have felt the bodies of so so many horses in every stage of life, from pasture puffs to Olympic level dressage horses and in many different compensation patterns, with all sorts of aches and pains from arthritis and other diseases. I know what a healthy body has the potential to feel like when I pick up a leg. I know what is possible for hoof care when the body is functioning well. I also know the possibilities of what a body will feel like that is struggling with nerve compression in the shoulders, hock arthritis, kissing spine, DSLD, Etc.
If a horse can’t relax, shift its weight, engage it’s core, lift a leg and keep it there, there is work to do to help the horse. Inherently, horses want to stay vertical and eyes level with the horizon to protect their spine, it is imperative to their survival. If they aren’t doing this, there is work to do to help the horse.
I know it can be an uncomfortable topic, especially when nothing seems wrong otherwise with the horse. It’s easier to blame the other human than take a look at the horse in front of us and truly listen.
I can also acknowledge that my approach isn’t right for every horse. I am not saying every visit with every horse needs to be perfect. But I know horses. I know what they feel like and I understand what they are telling us. If I don’t know, I will be the first to say it. I know the potential that exists in every interaction when we listen.
I don’t need to be stronger. I don’t need to hang on. I don’t need to be a man. We need to listen to what the horse is telling us. They don’t tend to be disingenuous with what they are saying. I will always seek to find a way to make hoof care easier and more relaxing for the horse and if I can’t find a way, we really need to look deeper at the horse and see what answers we can find.
Can we stop misinterpreting their behavior and take a deeper look?
Can we stop trying to out muscle and strong arm?
Can we collaborate more for the horse?
Can we start to recognize the subtle changes?
Can we get softer and listen?
