Our 6 yr old TB horse, Ronin, was scheduled to get his shoes done today. Up until a couple months ago, this was no big deal because our farrier (horse shoe-er), Nick, would just take care of all of it and all we did was leave him a check. Like I said, that was up until a couple months ago when Ronin suddenly realized that he's an ex-race horse, and decided to pull some typical TB off-the-track BS. He flipped out while cross-tied and practically took out Nick, and almost killed himself. Keep in mind, for the last two years, we've been cross-tying him without any trouble.
Since then, he's also discovered flipping out at the regular tie post. We've started using a cinch buckle as blocker tie ring (it's a great, cheap solution!), for everyday tying, but getting his shoes done adds a whole 'nother level of difficulty. Nick asked that either Rogér or myself be there to hold Ronin during shoeing, which is perfectly legit. In fact, after witnessing Ronin getting his shoes done today, I'm surprised Nick is willing to do Ronin's feet at all! I wouldn't.
I even gave Ronin B-Kalm (tryptophan) 1.5 hours before the ordeal, hoping that this would help take the edge off. Didn't work. The only thing that did work was to distract Ronin with the one thing he values more than life itself....FOOD. Nick had a bag of little treats, which distracted the beast so well that his shoes were done in record time!
This might take a little work, but I hope that one day, Ronin will be able to stand still and quiet for the farrier and for us!
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