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Post by moondogie1 on Sept 11, 2007 11:53:17 GMT -5
Windy is real good about having her feet done except for when he puts the hot shoe on to burn the little tabs he puts on. She FREAKS with the smoke around her and the sizzling sound. any ideas on how I can get her over this? She doesn't try to kick him (good thing), she just tries to get away. She doesn't stay panicked either. As soon as he's done, she settles down and starts licking her lips and chewing. I'm thinking we can work with her on our own by building a smoke pit and putting stuff in to make a sizzle sound and just desensitize her to it -- but I just don't know. Maybe there's something better??? She's all relaxed when he puts her hoof on the post thing and she's all relaxed when he pounds them on. But the smoke -- she's afraid of that. When he was doing one of her back feet, she was doing fine until the smoke came up front to her face. The farrier is very good and patient with her and when she jumps and tries to get away, he says... "are you okay?" He thinks Windy is going to hurt me. And I'm afraid she's going to hurt him! LOL. Windy is careful to not jump into me and I know she won't if she can help it. If she does, its by accident.
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Post by Calaminty Jane on Sept 11, 2007 15:27:29 GMT -5
We had a playday at Carol's and Steve brought smoke bombs and set them off in the ring to desensitize the horses. He did a whole clinic on bomb-proofing the horses starting with simple things like flags and working up to vacuums and leaf blowers and a huge ball. That was on a tether but the wind blew it loose and the horses didn't want any part of that. Anyway I digress, the last thing we did was smoke bombs. He set them off in the middle of the ring and we walked around getting closer and closer making sure to walk thru the smoke. After a while the horses totally ignored the smoke and the sputtering noise. If you can't put your hands on smoke bombs try a fire pit and throw water on it to make it sizzle. Be sure to keep the horse moving. Don't try to make her stand still. As long as she thinks she can escape, she will get used to the smoke and noise. And keep yourself between the horse and the scary thing. If she jumps sideways, you don't want her to jump on you.
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Post by sunshinesglow on Sept 12, 2007 18:22:37 GMT -5
Just make sure you get smoke bombs instead of stink bombs! LOL
I remember one sure we used when I was younger was carrots! They will take their mind off anything until you can get them totally desensitized. Works for my cow!
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Post by moondogie1 on Sept 13, 2007 9:04:00 GMT -5
I had a pocket full of carrots and only gave them to her when she was relaxed. Didn't help at all when her feet were smoking - ha, ha.... We'll try the smoke bombs or build a fire. I have til next spring now. This will be her last shoeing for the riding season. We pull shoes in the late fall early winter and let them go barefoot til ground thaws out in the spring.
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