‘Why farriers hit horses’
or ‘Where the hell did philosophy and self-awareness go ?’
Nothing about our treatment or management of the horse is sacrosanct or above analysis and question farriery being no exception.
What if our horse was 'bad' because it had reached the point where a little fear had crept in? Any rough treatment received will merely prove that the fear was justified! And next time why should there not be an even greater degree of fear, and associated resistance ?
Which might explain why there are so many horses that one or more farriers have refused to work on they simply go on getting worse more tense, more afraid, less co-operative. What becomes very clear is that there is not a lot of critical reasoning going on the human can but doesn't and the horse probably would, if only it could, but can't.
But then there is nowhere near as much logic being applied to treatment of the feet in general particularly in terms of shoes and their impact.
Taking time out to get some endorphins going with a little massage is likely to be rewarded with a more pleasant working experience with the feet.
Perhaps there has also been a tendency in the past to expect the owner to do this kind of preparation the idea being that a completely relaxed and co-operative horse is presented to the farrier trouble is that even where this happens the farrier remains a complete stranger.
