I'm a Big Girl Now

Sunday July 1 2012

Two months old and Owhee Super Luna had her first trim.

Any two people can outmuscle a 2-month foal and have their way with her - grab her, force her into a corner and overpower her into standing still and holding her feet up.

Or, you can make it easy for her to stand still and willingly have her feet picked up, held, and worked on.

You won't find any better shoers/trimmers with more patience than Linda and Mike of Perfect Balance. 

They have the knowledge, the skill, and the timing to work with pretty much any equid that needs foot work. 

Luna's been wearing a halter and dragging a lead rope for a few hours almost daily for the last month, and we've picked up her feet, though we haven't been holding them up for any length of time.

Today was Luna's first time to stand there like a big girl, hold her feet up, and have them trimmed. With Linda and Mike working together, and with only a little initial resistance from Luna, it went smoothly and quickly.

Luna gets to know Linda (you can see Luna wasn't too worried)

Luna gets to know Mike

At first Luna had a few objections for holding her foot up longer than she wanted to

But eventually, and with little objection, she allowed it to be held for the work to be done, with no fear

She even let her front feet be set on the stand

The back legs were really no big deal either

Afterwards, she didn't even run to mama to nurse… instead she stood there for 5 minutes while I scratched her, all over

Smokey's First Trim

Friday October 23 2009

It was a landmark day in four-month-old Smokey's life: her first encounter with a farrier. She got her first hoof trim.

Steph's been working on halter breaking Smokey, leading her, picking up her feet. I like working on moving her off pressure, front end, hind end, backing. She's very good, ("smartest baby ever," says an unbiased Steph), though she can show an attitude at times. Like when she's hungry - she'll double barrel when she's waiting for the hay breakfast to be delivered, or she'll balk during her lessons, if you catch her at a bad time - like when she just gets up from a nap and is crabby and needs some of Mamma's milk Right-Now.

Linda and Mike of Perfect Balance Shoeing were very patient with Smokey. They recognize that taking your time at the beginning will save you hours, days, years of headaches down the road.

Steph haltered and held Princess close (who could care less about Smokey now, it seems), while Linda held Smokey for Mike. At first Smokey objected - strangers holding her, a man trying to pick up her feet, and she was just not in the mood to deal with any of this. Fortunately she's still small enough she can't out-muscle a human, so when she tried to get away from Linda, she wasn't able to, and realized she had to yield to pressure - i.e. not try to pull or push away.

Once she stood for Linda, Mike used the approach and retreat method,




and, as soon as Smokey did what he asked - picked up a foot - he used the quick release as a reward. With enough approaching, asking, and retreating, Smokey was soon, without objection, and without further trauma, lightly picking up her feet and letting Mike hold them up and trim and rasp them while licking her lips.

First a back foot:
















Then a front foot:












Afterwards, however, as soon as Linda took off her halter,
she ran right to Mama to nurse.