Many farriers starting out in the business today may not have much experience with horses. They might not realize the importance of reading a horse to understand its frame of mind before they pick up a leg to start working on the foot — especially if it’s a new horse they haven’t worked with before.

James Wyatt Weatherford, a horseman and farrier in Chandler, Ariz., says to take a moment to acquaint yourself with the horse and get a feel for whether it is relaxed and at ease or nervous.

“Is the horse looking around, with its attention focused on everything but the farrier?” he asks. “Is it resistant to your lifting its leg because it is fearful and untrusting, or because of a pain response? It pays huge benefits to be able to ‘read’ a horse and adjust your approach accordingly.”

You’ll want to know if that horse is fidgety or a problem to shoe because it’s scared and insecure, won’t stand still because it’s in pain or just seeing how much it can get away with. Your strategy for working with that horse will be much different, depending on the situation. If you misread the horse, you can create a worse problem — and safety risks — that could have been avoided.

“Misreading and subsequent mishandling of that horse could also make your job more challenging in the future when you come back again for the next trimming/shoeing — if you are able to return,” he says.

Weatherford has been shoeing horses for 40 years. He tells young farriers that their inability to read a horse is their single greatest and most challenging personal and professional liability. Taking time to read a horse and “get acquainted” when you first meet it is crucial.

“I begin my initial approach to any horse with the understanding that I have to observe, remember and compare with other horses I have encountered how this horse’s behavior is manifesting,” he says. “I wait few moments, before I begin doing any work on that horse, and allow that animal to tell me everything I need to know about it. I let that horse show me; I am waiting to read what that horse is telling me.”

This kind of observation and communication with a horse — to come to a workable understanding so that the horse can trust the farrier and the farrier can proceed with a proper strategy for doing his/her job — is vital to success. But it takes a bit of time to develop this skill.

Learning To Read

It’s hard to teach someone how to read a horse, but if a new farrier really wants to learn and doesn’t have a clue, Weatherford says he would love to help. That person does not have any preconceived ideas about horse handling or horse behavior. The beginning farrier who doesn’t already have a lot of experience with horses needs to be open to learning and, most of all, to what each horse is trying to tell the farrier.

Weatherford says that when farriers approach a horse they’ve never worked with before, they have to be able to develop some sort of communication and a rapport with that horse — a relationship that is mutually beneficial. You want the horse to be at ease with you, and you at ease with it.

That sounds very simple, but if you are handling a new horse and you are not sure what it is telling you, it can be challenging. Weatherford says you have a 50% chance of guessing the right answer, and a 90% chance of getting the wrong answer.

“The unprepared and the uneducated people have to guess,” he says. “Preparedness through education helps you accurately predict, and then the odds of a safe outcome for the farrier and the horse are in your favor.

“It’s all part of trying to understand the horse, and having empathy. Putting yourself in the horse’s position is the key. If the horse seems to be ‘misbehaving’ or difficult, instead of saying the horse is ‘whacko’ or ‘bad,’ I want these young farriers to ask themselves, ‘What am I doing to cause this horse to react like that? What went wrong in this relationship?’ It’s too easy to blame the horse for something that it does when it’s simply its response to something you did not communicate properly.

Weatherford emphasizes the importance of taking the time in the beginning to fully assess the horse and start off on the proper footing for working with it. He tells new farriers that if they hurry and skip that introductory phase of the relationship, things can sometimes go wrong very fast.

Tia Nelson, a veterinarian and farrier in Helena, Mont., says that often a farrier or a young veterinarian today does not have a good base of understanding for handling horses. If they don’t have a horse background, it’s harder for them to learn these things from a book or from a course in horseshoeing.

“One thing to realize when working on horses is that no matter who you are, you are not stronger than a horse,” she says. “Therefore, you need to work with the horse, not against it. If you end up fighting or resisting the horse, that animal will respond in kind.”

To protect yourself from injury, you need to be able to assess the horse’s attitude before you start working on it.

“When I am working on a horse as a farrier or veterinarian, I always introduce myself to the horse first,” says Nelson. “I let it sniff my hands, and I rub its forehead between its eyes, and stroke my hand down its neck. I watch how it responds to my touch, and whether the horse is at ease or nervous.”

Making It Work

Some horses, like some people, already have a closed mind and a bad attitude due to past experiences.

“Sometimes you encounter a horse that just sulls up and doesn’t like the farrier,” she says. “It’s had a bad experience and its mind is already set; it doesn’t want to cooperate. I’ve worked on some of those. I’m not really sure I know how to explain the way I can tell the difference between a horse that is going to respond to a relaxed attitude of, ‘Hey, let’s get along and this is going to be fine,’ and lets me calmly pick up the foot and continue working while ignoring its bad attitude, and the horse that needs to have some correction, but I can tell.

“If I do have to give the horse correction, it is pretty severe, and then it’s done. One and done. I don’t hit them with rasps or with any tool. I may put a lip line on them, so they quickly realize that behaving is the better choice rather than being stupid, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve had to use a twitch or a lip line on a horse.”

Nelson has found ways to work around a horse’s bad attitude and foster cooperation. There are some horses that will take full advantage of a person unless you give them a window of acceptable behavior and let them choose to stay in it.

“It boils down to the fine art of reading a horse,” she says, “and determining whether this one needs emotional support or correction.”

You want to read the horse accurately because if you misjudge the reason for the bad behavior and respond inappropriately, it can end up in disaster.

“If you are dealing with a horse that really needs to be corrected and you try to coddle that horse, you might get pushed around or kicked,” Nelson says. “Getting hurt is not a money-maker. Many horse owners don’t care if their horse kicks you, and they will not pay for your medical bills or your time off if you end up not being able to work for a while as you heal up.”

You don’t want to misread the horse. If you correct a horse that is misbehaving because it is anxious, you will simply exacerbate the problem. That horse cannot trust you, won’t relax — and won’t behave. Proper communication is crucial.

“When I shod horses, I always felt like it was a mutual grooming experience,” she says. “We liked each other and I would do things to make the horse feel good. I had horses that would put their lips on my hair and wiggle their lips and rub my hair, and do all sorts of things that were obviously friendly, showing that they were enjoying the experience.”

She found that anxious horses would be fine if she just stopped and gave them a chance to become more at ease.

“Sometimes I would talk to them and explain what I was going to do,” Nelson says. “This probably helped calm me down, calm the owner and calm the horse because of my conversational talking. It’s amazing how many horses relax when you do that.”

Overcoming Challenges

When it comes to the horses that won’t calm down or change their behavior, Nelson says that remaining unafraid and being careful can make a difference in getting a shoeing job done.

“With the exception of one mare that liked to come after me with her front feet and teeth, I have never been afraid of a horse,” she says. “Even if they are acting crazy, they don’t scare me. I am careful, and I have a lot of respect for them and what they could do, but I am not afraid of them. If you are afraid of a horse, you are going to get hurt.”

The horse readily detects your insecurity. If you are afraid, you are not thinking with logic or focus; you are not open to real communication with that horse. Nelson says that the changes in your thought pattern and body language are obvious to the horse. You are now in fight-or-flight mode yourself, and this limits your ability to do anything else very well.

“Perhaps your chemistry changes and the horses can smell it, or maybe they can sense your elevated heart rate,” Nelson says. “I’m not sure what they sense, but they definitely know as soon as you are insecure. The horse immediately reacts, wondering what’s up. They are herd animals and rely on signals from their herd-mates to know if something is scary, so they can be prepared to run from danger.”

Nelson says that once the horse goes into defense mode, you’ve lost your opportunity to communicate effectively with the horse and have to start over. Thus, it’s important to read a horse in the beginning and determine what it’s thinking and how it’s responding to you and the handler. You have to know the difference between fear, nervousness, defiance, etc. In some situations, the horse may have a pain issue that makes it hesitant to relax and let you manipulate its foot.

“Forcing a horse to do something is always counterproductive and ineffective,” she says. “If the horse doesn’t want you to pick up a hind leg very far, for instance, it may be a stifle problem. If you push that leg beyond comfort level, the horse will resent that. Some horses are forgiving and kind, and they will tolerate more, while others will adamantly say, ‘That’s as far as we’re going and I’ve got to have my leg back!’ When they are scared, upset or adamant about not cooperating, they can do a lot of damage to the person trying to manhandle them.”

There are many things that can give a clue to the horse’s frame of mind and inclinations when you approach it.

“I watch their eyes and ears, and I pay attention to what their body language says,” she says. “If they are tossing their heads and unable to focus on me, or swishing their tail or moving their hindquarters, then I take extra time to settle them.”

Paying attention to what the horse is saying with its body language is essential.

“If you need some help learning about this, find a trainer who knows how to do round pen work,” Nelson says. “That trainer will be able to explain to you what that horse’s body language is saying. You need to learn the horse’s language.”

You always need to listen to the horse. Beginning farriers need to take time to get in tune.

“When you are working on a horse, you are not looking at its ears or face; you are bent over and your back is to their head, but you can tell if the horse gets tense,” she says. “You must also learn how to position yourself to make the horse comfortable. If you pick up a foot, don’t assume that it’ll accommodate to make you comfortable. You need to figure out the best position to find his best comfort level.”

The first step, however, with any horse, is to approach it with an open and neutral manner, and to try to “read” the horse accurately, to know how to proceed in developing a good rapport and good relationship with it as an individual — for the future safety and satisfaction of all concerned.

September/October 2018 Issue Contents