For Sharon - about Celeste

Hi Sharon,

Celeste is a lovely girl and very lucky to have ended up with someone with your patience and compassion. I applaud you for taking such good care of her and looking out for her welfare the way you do. I know you're having difficulty finding someone to help you train her who will handle her the way you want. Perhaps I can offer a perspective you haven't considered in the way of explanation.

I have developed friendships with both my farrier and my vet over the years, as well as with a number of trainers and instructors. All of these people make their livings (or at least part of their livings) working with horses, and none of them can afford to get hurt on the job. If a farrier gets seriously kicked, laid down on, or otherwise mutilated by an untrained horse, he can be out of commission for weeks or months, if not permanently. Who feeds his family then? It's not like he can run out and get a safer job if his leg or back is broken. Same goes for any other equine professional. They will all take whatever measures they feel are necessary to prevent themselves from being seriously injured ... and rightly so.

Does this mean that every horse who twitches while having his feet trimmed should be thrown to the ground? No. Does this mean that a 3 yr old mustang who's never been taught to have her feet handled should be thrown to the ground? Maybe. It depends on just how aggressively she protects her feet, whether she will respond to other hoof handling options, whether you have enough money to pay a trainer or farrier to take the time to actually train her to have her feet handled, whether or not you have a safe environment with deep and soft footing in which to throw her, whether the person throwing her knows what he's doing and cares as much about your mare's welfare as he does about his own.

Of course the best option is for you to find a way to get this mare trained to allow her feet to be handled quietly and calmly. That is what every farrier has a right to expect when he comes out to trim her feet.

So, let's start at the beginning. When you groom Celeste, are you able to brush all the way down to the tops of her hooves along the insides, outsides, fronts, and backs of all four legs? Can you tap firmly with a hoof pick or small hammer on each of her hooves? Are you comfortable handling a horse's feet, and do you know how to pick up and hold a hoof properly and safely?

Laurie