[Anti-Silence]

farrier came today. she was due to come at 9 am. she arrived at 9:30. ok, whatever. we start with bogey, she (farrier) wants to go to the shelter, and he doesnt. he practically runs me over trying to get away from her. she whacks him in the side with her rasp. he freaks out more. she does it again. he calms down. we finish him after a half hour. move on to smores. he's great. parker. lets just say he didnt get finished. farrier tells me i should get rid of him. she whacks him in the side with the rasp, he still doesnt calm down. she unties him, takes him a ways away and tries to "calm" parker, in circles... smudge freaks out. he pulled right OUT of his halter. and off he goes. i couldn't catch him. owner of the land we have them on has the nerve to come out and talk to the farrier while i'm running after smudge. she then has the nerve to start to open a gate that could either a) trap him in a small pathway... bad road, or b) let him right out of the pasture into the driveway and out to the highway. i tell her not to, and she says "i thought you wanted to catch him". i was like how will that help?
i pay the farrier, who only trimmed two of four horses. she tells me she has other techniques that are more aggressive, that she could to with parker to teach him not to run the farrier over. she leaves.
land owner comes over and has the nerve to tell ME, the 17 year old, that she wants us to lock the horses out of the main pasture so her sons can dirtbike in there. theres a small pasture and a bigger one left still, but the big one has bad fencing, bordered by highway on two sides and a train track on a third, theres a gate by the road that anyone could open and let the horses out, and theres ALWAYS a car parked on the side of the road there, but not always the same one, and the pasture is rather wet, so we dont let them in. this also means we need to move their water trough. meanwhile, i'm nodding along. THEN she says to me, "if you dont want them in the far pasture (big one), then i guess you'll have to find some pasture somewhere else". so i'm still nodding along. i got in my car after un haltering everyone, left, and many many bad words came out of my mouth. she should have told my mom or father about that, not me.

now i'm waiting for my mom to be on lunch break so i can phone her and repeat this to her. anyways, its not that bad but typing helped, so yeah...

[Blistering Winds]

Originally Posted by Anti-Silence

farrier came today. she was due to come at 9 am. she arrived at 9:30. ok, whatever. we start with bogey, she (farrier) wants to go to the shelter, and he doesnt. he practically runs me over trying to get away from her. she whacks him in the side with her rasp. he freaks out more. she does it again. he calms down. we finish him after a half hour. move on to smores. he's great. parker. lets just say he didnt get finished. farrier tells me i should get rid of him. she whacks him in the side with the rasp, he still doesnt calm down. she unties him, takes him a ways away and tries to "calm" parker, in circles... smudge freaks out. he pulled right OUT of his halter. and off he goes. i couldn't catch him. owner of the land we have them on has the nerve to come out and talk to the farrier while i'm running after smudge. she then has the nerve to start to open a gate that could either a) trap him in a small pathway... bad road, or b) let him right out of the pasture into the driveway and out to the highway. i tell her not to, and she says "i thought you wanted to catch him". i was like how will that help?
i pay the farrier, who only trimmed two of four horses. she tells me she has other techniques that are more aggressive, that she could to with parker to teach him not to run the farrier over. she leaves.
land owner comes over and has the nerve to tell ME, the 17 year old, that she wants us to lock the horses out of the main pasture so her sons can dirtbike in there. theres a small pasture and a bigger one left still, but the big one has bad fencing, bordered by highway on two sides and a train track on a third, theres a gate by the road that anyone could open and let the horses out, and theres ALWAYS a car parked on the side of the road there, but not always the same one, and the pasture is rather wet, so we dont let them in. this also means we need to move their water trough. meanwhile, i'm nodding along. THEN she says to me, "if you dont want them in the far pasture (big one), then i guess you'll have to find some pasture somewhere else". so i'm still nodding along. i got in my car after un haltering everyone, left, and many many bad words came out of my mouth. she should have told my mom or father about that, not me.

now i'm waiting for my mom to be on lunch break so i can phone her and repeat this to her. anyways, its not that bad but typing helped, so yeah...

How about this.

GET RID OF YOUR FARRIER

HOnestly, from your description, the behavior of the farrier is APPAULING at best.

A scared horse you don't HIT. let alone hit with a rasp.

I have no issues with punishing what needs to be punished....but there are BETTER ways that are LESS aggressive.

Did you happen to try TWITCHING the poor thing before he went to pounding on it with the rasp?




as to the land owner....I'd find a new place.

As for hte gate by the road....lock it. That is a simple issue.

I lock external gates that may be "high traffic" areas.

[TrailRiding555]

Im no expert, but I'd get a new farrier.

[Anti-Silence]

i don't plan on calling this farrier back. she WAS the new farrier. i'm considering calling the old farrier, even though i didnt like her as a person, she NEVER hit my horses when they were scared. she found the way parker needed to be trimmed, and he was fine. this farrier didnt bother trying anything else first. just WHACK.
I'm gonna ask my mom if we can maybe move the horses back to my uncle's for the summer, but pay them this time so they dont have to be bothered by other people complaining about them being there. i really just want to move the horses, and right now.

AND after the farrier left, parker was back to his somewhat-angelic self.

[TrailRiding555]

Souns like a good idea. Keep usposted

[prairiegirl]

Where in Alberta are you? I can highly recommend two awesome farriers in my area...in fact, they are both so wonderful that I'm stressing over which one to use!

[Anti-Silence]

Originally Posted by prairiegirl

Where in Alberta are you? I can highly recommend two awesome farriers in my area...in fact, they are both so wonderful that I'm stressing over which one to use!

we're in lacombe... near red deer.

[prairiegirl]

That's a ways from GP but I will ask one of the farriers if he can recommend someone out there...I'll let you know.

[Anti-Silence]

so i went back out to the horses about an hour ago. my mom came with me, but she was being rather unpleasant, so she headed back to the car. i wanted to check on Bogey after the whole farrier hitting him with the rasp deal. i started out on the side that she wasnt on, just rubbing him. he was fine. then i went to the side the farrier had been on. started at his neck. when i got to his ribs, on the spot where she'd been hitting him, he moved off, turned around, and walked away. he was also sweating in that spot. me = .