Cinnamon the rescue horse developed a phobia of horseshoers after not having her feet trimmed for a long period of time. The first farrier I had work on her was unwilling to take the time to develop trust and bond with her. Instead, he was rough with her and triggered a panic that caused her to act dangerously when he attempted to trim her feet. He insisted that the only way to safely trim her badly overgrown feet was to tranquilize her.
Phobia of Farriers turns into Terror of Tranquilizing
Cinnamon quickly became terrified of the intravenous jugular injection required to tranquilize her. What’s worse is that, once tranquilized, she would not remember any of the procedure, so there was no hope for her to get used to the process over time. She became more and more difficult to inject, rearing up and striking out when the needle was inserted. Trying to hold a rearing horse next to someone wielding a long needle oozing horse tranquilizer is not a process I’d like to soon repeat. The third time we attempted to trim her feet, the farrier was unable to tranquilize Cinnamon.
I knew this was not a long term solution to the problem, and I worried about the effect of repeated tranquilization on Cinny’s physical and emotional health. I was at a loss when it seemed like there was no safe way to trim her feet.
Joanna Schwartzel, Horse Whisperer
I found Joanna on craigslist, where she described herself as a provider of Holistic Hoof Care through Natural Horsemanship. Joanna came out to work with Cinnamon and immediately connected with her. She did some groundwork in Cinnamon’s corral, laying down boundaries and developing trust. She worked with her in the turn-out ring for about 15 minutes, desensitizing her to sudden movements and picking up each of her hooves.
Once she felt that she could handle each foot without resistance, Joanna got her gear and easily trimmed all four feet with Cinnamon standing patiently. I was shocked and amazed that Cinnamon stood quietly, without being tied up, while Joanna trimmed and filed each of her hooves. Cinnamon felt no fear and was relieved of the panic that she previously had associated with farriers. Her feet looked great when finished, with a huge improvement in the shape and angle, which will only be improved with subsequent trimmings.
The whole process took 90 minutes and the charge was $60, which is absolutely wonderful compared to the previous charge of $60 that I was paying for the trimming, plus $25 for the tranquilizer and the impending $25 for the vet call to administer the tranquilizer.
Joanna’s method was a miracle for Cinnamon and has solved her biggest problem as a rescue horse. I look forward to getting her feet back in shape and learning more about Joanna’s methods so I can implement them to work on Cinnamon’s other issues!
Joanna's email is joschwartzel@gmail.com.
Hooray for Natural Horsemanship!
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| Interested, but not alarmed! |
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| Waiting patiently... |
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| A miracle and a natural horsemanship success! |
Awesome post Claire!
ReplyDeletehorsemanship can be quite physical and strict. In Natural Horsemanship the horse benefits by having him to be taught in a language that he understands.
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