Here's something to think about if you are tempted to complain about the last farrier
you had out.
It is not your farrier's job to train your horse to stand calmly while he works on him. It
just isn't. It is your job.
Often what happens is the farrier starts a trim job and the owner can not control the
horse.
The farrier gets aggrivated as to the fact that, at best, this horse is going to
wear him out and, at worst, the horse is going to injure him. So the farrier tells the owner what they
should do to control the horse, or tries to control the horse himself. This
is about the time the horse kicks at the farrier and then he smacks the horse with the flat edge of his rasp.
The owner then gets upset with the farrier. The horse senses the frustration of both parties
and wants no part of it. Things go down hill fast.
Either the farrier refuses to ever return or the owner never asks him back again. Nether has
anything good to say about the other.
The responsibility of a good trimming session lays directly on the owner. If a horse
is properly trained the owner should never know how their farrier reacts to a problem horse. That situation should
never happen. To be fair, the farrier should only be judged by his skill of trimming and shoeing.
A farrier deals with many horses every day. If he gets kicked and injured he is out of work.
He has to stay in perfect condition to do his job. One hand, arm, leg, back, shoulder, hip, or whatever is
hurt and he is out of work until he is healed up. He will do his best to do what he thinks it right, to keep injury
to himself from happening. He has to, if he wants to stay in business.
