Be Nice To Your Farrier Or The Art Of Horse Holding
How can you call holding a horse for the farrier art? Because a horse that is held properly by a good horse holder gets the job done more efficiently and gets the client a better horseshoeing job. Not only is it an art, but a science too! Some folks think that holding the end of a horse's lead rope while the farrier is shoeing your horse is a good time to daydream, chat with friends, or do your hair. Horse holding is a very exacting art requiring the horse holders full attention at all times. The science of it is getting your horse to cooperate with the farrier at all times during the shoeing process. This is not always easy to do and does require some effort on the holders part.
Sometime in the late 1970's I was shoeing horses at a large barn and had been there all day. The last animal to be shod that day was a mule that had just arrived as a gift for the owner. This mule was a dandy. It stood about 15.2 hands, sleek, and very well broke. I went ahead and shod the rear feet first as I did on animals I was unfamiliar with. The owner was very attentive while holding the mule and the job went very easily without a problem. As I was under the left front foot the owners sister arrived and came over too chat. With the owner still holding the leadrope and chatting away the mule seemed to be getting very uneasy. I put the mule's foot down and got the owner's attention once again. The mule seemed very put out that the owner would chat with someone instead of paying attention to him. With that thought the mule reached around and bit my side while I was rasping his foot. My knee jerk reaction was to spin away from the mule and hit him with my rasp so that he would release his teeth that are now clenched to my ribcage. In doing so I inadvertently hit the owner on the arm with my rasp. The blow broke her arm. Sometimes justice is served.
Race horse shoeing was all I could think about in the 1980's. I loved the excitement of racing and the high volume of business I could do shoeing racehorses. My apprentice and I had just finished shoeing about sixty head of two year olds in three grueling days. These horses were headed for a sale and then to the track, so we were working against a deadline. As it turned out there happened to be two more to do after the sixty head. The next morning I came out to finish the remaining two. It was a beautiful cool morning and the stable was quiet as everyone had left for the sale except for my horse holder. I shod the first colt without incident. By the time I was shoeing the front left foot of the second colt my horse holder had become board and was day dreaming. As I was working the colt jerked his leg away from me, reared up, and struck my horse holder in the forehead. Out went the horse holder and off went the $ 80,000 colt I was shoeing. First things first, I caught the colt. My horse holder is still out cold and bleeding from the forehead. I decided I needed to take this horse holder to the hospital. The only trouble was getting a 250lb. horse holder in my truck. You've all heard those stories in times of crisis, you get super human strength. I left my horse holder at the ER with a lacerated forehead and bad concussion.
Now both of these incidents could have been prevented with a horse holder that paid attention. I even went so far as to take my own GOOD horse holder to many jobs for safety as well as efficiency. In the event that you are holding your horse for your farrier remember a couple of simple things.When the farrier is under the horse stay on the same side he is on. This way if the horse does something bad you will be pulling the horse away from the farrier and not into him. When the farrier puts the horse's front foot on the hoof stand you will have to step to the opposite side. Don't expect 9 year old children or non english speaking migrant workers to be good horse holders. By all means, give your farrier your full attention while he is working. Not only will you create a safe working environment,but you will probably get quite an education from a pretty sharp horseman.