Someday farrier visits will be old hat

But not just yet.

The farrier was out yesterday, the last time he came out was the day I was operated on.  Since I wouldn't be there I just asked for Coriander to get a trim. I wasn't comfortable about Gwen getting worked on when I wasn't there. So as you can probably imagine she really needed a trim by yesterday.  For safety, and to ensure that all her feet were done, I arranged to have the vet sedate her for the farrier. (This is only Gwen's second all-around trim ever.)

I got to the barn right on time and found her already sedated and the farrier on the third foot.  Freaking early vet!  She was good for the two feet I was witness to, though I was told she was twitchy about her left hind- the injured leg, which doesn't surprise me one bit.  I'm going to try foregoing the sedation during the next trim, hopefully she was awake enough to remember that everything was fine and that the farrier is nothing to flip out about. That would make the third trim the charm!

Coriander was naughty. He was bad about that right hind again, trying to pull his old falling over trick. Maybe this time was his last ditch effort to see if it would work?  Because it didn't. I hope he gives it up permanently from this point on.  The farrier didn't seem too worried about it.  He says that my boy isn't scared of getting his feet done, he's just impatient. Any tips out there for teaching a horse patience?

Bursting with pride

Today was farrier day and I was nervous. I couldn't help it, farrier day has been touchy for the quarters. Every time I've had him trimmed, Coriander has tried to fall on the farrier, and Gwen has only been trimmed once and it still super anxious about picking her feet up (Well, technically twice. But the first time was before I got her and was completely traumatic for her so I don't count it).

I called the vet and made an appointment a week ago to have Gwen sedated for her trim. So while the farrier was trimming the other horses in the barn I sat and waited for her... and waited... and waited.

Finally I could wait no more, I pulled out Coriander first to buy some time. He was so good. He didn't even pull his feet away and showed me that worrying about him falling on the farrier again was stressing over nothing. Excellent. I'm sure that particular trick will emerge again someday, but getting through once without even an inkling of it was fantastic.

The vet still hadn't shown but I decided to pull Gwen out anyway. She's not too bad about her front feet so I asked him if he could try to do those, but if she got too upset and he couldn't that was okay. She did try a half rear once when he was working on her left front but after that she settled down and let him finish both feet without further issue. The vet still hadn't shown, but the farrier looked at her hinds and said she hadn't had enough growth to need them trimmed anyway (I guess hooves grow slower in the winter). So we left her at that. Overall it was a positive experience for her and I couldn't be prouder of how she handled herself. My little girl is growing up!

Farrier day!

My ever patient farrier was out today and I had him trim Gwen's feet for the first time.  I believe this is the second time ever she's had her front feet trimmed and the first time ever she's had her back feet trimmed.  So for the sake of safety and lowering the traumatic factor, I called the vet out and had her sedated.  She wasn't too bad.  He did the right hind first and after some initial leg jerks she calmed down and let him work.  Then she needed another dose for the left hind, but calmed down again and then was really good about those front feet. 

Here are her feet before:

And here they are after:

 

Coriander was basically a good boy today too.  Today makes his 6th trim.  He stood pretty well for most of his feet, but that right hind is still being an issue.  He tried to fall down on it again today (he knocked the farrier over the first time I had him trimmed, gave me a heart attack), but the farrier knows it's coming now and deals with it really well.  Hopefully my boy will learn sooner than later that little trick doesn't work.

So while I had the vet out I had her look at Gwen's teeth to see if they could be contributing to her weight.  Found out some interesting things.  A) I need to get her teeth floated; B) she has 3 wolf teeth that need to come out before I even think about getting her started with a bit; and C) she's going on 6 not 5. I don't doubt that Coriander needs his teeth floated too, so that will be our next adventure.