From: GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan)
Subject: another horse that was tranked for shoeing
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 22:54:58 GMT



      blythedr@infonode.ingr.com (Dennis Blythe) writes:
Subject: Can You Believe...


  A few weeks ago my ferrier came out to put shoes on my mare. My
horse acts terrible when it comes to shoeing  She has only been through
this a few times so I am sure it is still a frightening experience
for her. He tied her to a post that was rotting, and of coarse my
mare did act up and pulled the post out of the ground. After the
ferrier left I had noticed a day later that there was a
deep hole left in the ground where the post had been. He did not bother
to mention to me that this hole was there, and I had not noticed it
there for at least a day. I can't imagine what would have happened if
my horse would have stepped in it.

    Figuring that it was an honest mistake I just brushed it off. Well
this morning it was time to be reshoed and I was not able to be there
to watch them do it  ( Needed to be in the house w/ baby.) I got out my
binoculars only to see him injecting my horse with a tranquilizer. I
understand that at times it is nesesary to do this to prevent the horse
and ferrier from geting hurt when she acts up. I was hoping that when the
job was done that he would mention to me that he needed to do this. But
he never did. So finally I asked him if he ever needed to tranquilize a
horse before and he said "yes" I then asked him for the name of the drug
that he used on her for fear that she might have a reaction to it.

   What has me so fumed is that he would have not of mentioned it to me
if I had not wittnesed it. And if my horse were to have a bad reaction
to it I would not have been able to identify why. Well this is it. I am
now looking for a good ferrier, though what upsets me is that he has
had a lot of experience in shoeing, though it is his ethics that are
in question to me. Good ferriers are hard to find around here.


  Any suggestions or comments?

                                    Pam
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My six year old horse had not been shod ever when I got her.  The
first time she was okay for the shoer, the second time she was
nervous so instead of me holding her he tied her up high in a tree
and once I was gone she was fine. The third time she got upset when
he cut the clinches (okay for nailing), pulled back and tore a huge
part of the tree off! He said he would be back to trank her.

He used an oral tranquilizer called Ace (cost $30), I held her and
scratched her head, and she was better.  He did find that he could
just file off the clinches, which was a little more work for him,
and left some file marks in her hoof (which we decided was better
that $30 for the trank!)

This was all frustrating as I have always had horses that were easy
to shoe and my last mare did fine barefoot for 7 years...

The benefit from it all is that she is relaxing more.  He also
happened to have some hi-tech plastic with gel insert pony shoes
that fit my pony exactly that he gave me for free as they had been
rattling around the back of his truck for a while.  I will try these
on the road and see if they do better than the steel shoes with
pads. (for driving the cart on the road)

Karen