All That Training Paid Off
The farrier has come and gone, and Amigo now has all four hooves nicely trimmed. I had hoped he would be good with his feet for her, but I was a bit concerned about how spooky he gets around new things… like a short, loud German lady in heavy leather chaps with big iron tools approaching him. Sure enough, when she first walked up to him, he panicked, and backed away from her about 10 feet with head raised, eyes big, and trembling.
So, we took about ten minutes to do some “approach and retreat” training. I had her walk up to him at normal speed (don’t slow down), let him back up, and when his feet stop moving, rub him all over. As soon as he shows a sign of relaxing, I had her turn and walk away from him. Repeat… and repeat… and repeat. In about 10 minutes, she could walk up to him with no reaction whatsoever. When he finally cocked a back foot, I told her he was ready for her to do his feet.
And so she trimmed all four feet without any pulling or kicking. (Two weeks ago he tried to kick her into the next county.)
Good boy, Amigo!