When the farrier came out to take off the mare’s shoes just after the birth and she wasn’t standing quietly he hit her in the head with his hammer. Right… Not most people’s idea of horsemanship.
He did not seem to think that her just giving birth and her son harassing her to get milk at the time was reason enough for him to show some patience. Neither did he seem too worried about the damage he could have inflicted on her.
When I was told I didn’t know what to say. Or actually I did, but I am not going to list my whole repertoire of swear words here to describe how I feel about him. But to put it this way: He won’t be getting business from us again.
Just like there are bastard people there are bastard horses. And just like some people need to be taught a lesson, so do some horses. But still in the western world we choose to find other ways of doing it than stoning people to death or hitting them over the head with a hammer. Although it can be bloody tempting sometimes.
Instead we lock people up to prevent them from damaging themselves and others. But because jail sentences and economic sanctions are not really applicable on horses we sometimes have to resort to a well placed slap or two. Because as much as a crazy axe murder can kill you so could potentially an out of control horse.
500 kilos of uncontrolled flesh can cause a lot of damage. When I was working with horses full time I always assisted the farrier in his work. It mainly involved bringing endless cups of tea and providing the latest gossip from the yard but when a particularly bastard of a horse in my care was refusing to cooperate we had to resort to teaching him a lesson that involved a certain amount of violent action. But no hammer. The result was that after a few sessions he stood still and did as he was told. And I can assure you it was not because he was scared of us, he had just realised that as supposed to his owner we would not let him get away with walking all over us.
In a perfect world you would not let it get to that point. I have now got the chance to form the little baby foal the way I want. And there is no way I am letting some stupid ass farrier ruin that because he can’t control his temper.
I would much rather go through the seemingly impossible task of finding another capable farrier.
He did not seem to think that her just giving birth and her son harassing her to get milk at the time was reason enough for him to show some patience. Neither did he seem too worried about the damage he could have inflicted on her.
When I was told I didn’t know what to say. Or actually I did, but I am not going to list my whole repertoire of swear words here to describe how I feel about him. But to put it this way: He won’t be getting business from us again.
Just like there are bastard people there are bastard horses. And just like some people need to be taught a lesson, so do some horses. But still in the western world we choose to find other ways of doing it than stoning people to death or hitting them over the head with a hammer. Although it can be bloody tempting sometimes.
Instead we lock people up to prevent them from damaging themselves and others. But because jail sentences and economic sanctions are not really applicable on horses we sometimes have to resort to a well placed slap or two. Because as much as a crazy axe murder can kill you so could potentially an out of control horse.
500 kilos of uncontrolled flesh can cause a lot of damage. When I was working with horses full time I always assisted the farrier in his work. It mainly involved bringing endless cups of tea and providing the latest gossip from the yard but when a particularly bastard of a horse in my care was refusing to cooperate we had to resort to teaching him a lesson that involved a certain amount of violent action. But no hammer. The result was that after a few sessions he stood still and did as he was told. And I can assure you it was not because he was scared of us, he had just realised that as supposed to his owner we would not let him get away with walking all over us.
In a perfect world you would not let it get to that point. I have now got the chance to form the little baby foal the way I want. And there is no way I am letting some stupid ass farrier ruin that because he can’t control his temper.
I would much rather go through the seemingly impossible task of finding another capable farrier.
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