08/09/2026
Horse Owners, we need to talk. ⬇️
HOW ARE YOUR HORSES BEHAVING FOR YOUR FARRIER??? 🤔🤔🤔
More than a few times someone I care about has been injured while trimming/shoeing horses and consequently, no longer able to earn any income for several months. Why am I making a fuss about it? Because if the horse owners had been responsible and prepared their horses, the accidents could have been prevented from ever occurring. I know, as an equine professional, injuries aren’t completely avoidable, but in today’s world I feel like farrier injuries are happening much too often. 🫤
🛑 If you own a horse, your horse’s behavior while getting their hooves trimmed/shod should concern you.
Why?
Because horses are 1,000 pound animals that can break an equine professionals bones in the blink of an eye. They can end their career in a snap. They can destroy their only source of income in a heartbeat. That’s just the honest truth. And we all know it. So why are so many horse owners doing nothing to prevent their farriers from getting hurt?
YOU are responsible for your horse’s behavior. Just like when you are raising your children, you are responsible for teaching them respectful behavior. Same goes for horses in your care. You need to prepare your horses to be able to be safely handled by others.
‼️It is not your farriers job to teach your horse to stand still‼️ (Unless you’ve hired them specifically for hoof handling training, in which case, kudos to you!).
Your farrier should not have to jump, duck, dive, or do the matrix (especially multiple times in one visit!) to avoid getting hurt by your horse.
Now, I am fully aware, even the best of horses aren’t always perfect. There are fluke accidents. But that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about horses that are always difficult when handling their feet and therefore increase the risk of injury to your farrier tenfold. The horses that misbehave so much during a farrier visit that when the farrier walks away unharmed the owner sighs in relief, apologizes profusely for their horse’s bad behavior, and the farrier gets in their truck and says a silent prayer thanking God for letting them finish the job without getting hurt.
THAT horse needs YOU, their owner, to take responsibility. Either YOU need to teach them how they can be safe for the farrier OR HIRE someone that can teach them to be safe for the farrier. 🤝🏼
🚨 This goes for everyone! Even if your horse just sits pretty in your backyard and you don’t do anything with them, they still need their hooves cared for. Every horse owner should make sure that at the very very least, their horse can be haltered nicely, stand quietly, and allow their hooves to be trimmed. This is the absolutely necessary bare minimum!
Please, as a horse trainer and barefoot farrier myself I am begging you, PLEASE, teach your horses how to be safe for their farrier. I want myself and my associates to all go home at the end of the day to our loved ones in one piece. 🙏🏼
And to those of you that have taken measures to help create safe horses for us to work on, I offer the sincerest of thank yous. Thank you for helping keep us safe and allowing us to continue to provide for our families while serving our horse community. 💛
