Of the 24 blind horses here, we have only one who is difficult to trim. That's Madison, shown in the photo having her feet trimmed this morning by our master farrier, Rich Boyle. Madison came to us from the Idaho Humane Society in Boise, who had rescued her from an awful neglect situation. We gathered she had never been handled much, let alone had regular hoof care.
We'd never keep a dangerous or aggressive animal, and Madison is neither. But she is wilder than a March hare when it comes to having her feet worked on, so we have to tie her up to a thick fence post set deep in the ground, then use a rope to keep one foot in the air at all times. This makes it very hard for her to thrash around or kick out. (Rich has an amazing rope technique to do this ... I have yet to figure out how he does it. I watch him do it, but there's no way I could duplicate it.)
That's what you see going on in the photo. Today's session went better than previous ones, showing she is beginning to learn that getting her feet trimmed is not the end of the world and she just might survive the experience. She also figured out that the fence post isn't going anywhere, no matter how hard she pulls. That was 'key learning No. 1.'
So thanks to a wise and patient farrier, a strong rope, and a stout post, Madison got all four feet trimmed today.
(Click on photo for larger image.)
Good girl, Madison! Now don't your feet look all pretty? I'll bet they feel rather spiffy as well. Sometimes it takes awhile to get the hang of new things, but you're getting there.
We're sending you hugs for being so good today for Rich!
ginger & Tobias
Posted by: ginger & Tobias (the greythound) | August 05, 2006 at 08:38 PM