Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's How to shoe a little nasty one

Thought some might enjoy this. This was a little 44"mini john mule that ddin't like anyone looking at his feet. I wanted to shoe them .

I rigged the chain hoist to the rafters and the canvas sling, but when I lifted him up, he kicked with all four feet in all directions. It took about a half hour to settle him down and we still had to scotch hobble the little guy and I had to hold his head.

A tranquilizer works extremely well and is fast acting. They still remember and next time is usually not needed.

You sure don't want to give them one if they are already a bit excited .It usually doesn't work and you can kill them if given to much

I had one mule that must have been started bad.I took her to the vet to get her tranquilized. She still fought so bad, it took three of us to get shoes on her. Not only would she fight,but she would really try to hurt anyone around. That was at least15 years ago.I sold her to a fellow that wanted one as a companion for his old horse.Every year, he takes her to the vet to get her tranquilized for just a trim and she is no better.

Some mules act different with tranquilizers than horses.Got to be careful with tranks with the litle ones

That one little session was all it took to get that little guy convinced not to fight and he was fine after that

I can identify with a mule that doesn't want to be shod. I'm glad my llamas aren't nearly as strong as mules. Very few will let you pick up their feet to trim them. They just lay down with their feet tucked under them. With most of them, I load them in my horse trailer then strap them to the side wall so they can't lay down.

Then there's Jack. He's hell on 4 feet when you need to trim his feet or shear him. Normally they won't spit at people but Jack will hack up stomach contents and spit right in your face when you try to lift his feet. 1st, I snub him up good and tight so he can't get a bead on me. Then I tie 2 ropes to a side rail in the trailer, run them under his belly, and cinch him up tight against the wall so he can't lay down.
Then the screaming starts. Llamas have a large vocabulary and great volume. He will scream so loud that I literally wear ear plugs and he'll keep it up until I'm done. He'll have green stomach gunk dripping off of his lips and all over the side of the trailer.
When I'm done, I remove the side ropes but I keep him snubbed up for a few minutes to let him calm down. After a couple minutes, he's happy again and all's well.

I read about how to take medical supplies on the trail in case one gets a cut foot or something. I can just see me trying to throw and hog tie Jack somewhere on the trail. That would be a real rodeo.

That gave me a chuckle RC.

I won’t t do an animal on Rompun. Phantom kicks and falling are not in my game plan.

I prefer a round pen and giving the critter a choice.
You can cooperate or you can run.

Also works on equine that don’t want to load into a trailer.

Come along hitch is my huckleberry. I use a kids two strand lariat, and Steve Edwards style war bridle. Revolutionized my practice. I have to sedate I.v. A lot of spoiled stock doing teeth. Belly kicking them wasn't always effective, the come along hitch is widely accepted unless you got a white hide on the nose. ( it can scuff them up)

When I had a bunch of green ones, I would take all four feet with a scotch hobble, Then unload the salt in the panniers and take off the saw buck. Most of them didn't take long to give me their feet willingly.

That's right. To each his own though.

Got to be careful with the little ones.You can kill them real fast if the vet is not real knowledgeable

I remember a friend of dads trying to shoe a Timor pony when I was a kid. It was a spoiled little lawn ornament. They ended up snubbing it to a tree with two ropes and two guys on the end of the ropes. The damn thing then decided to climb the tree so the guys just swung the ropes round the tree and tied it there with all 4 feet off the ground, roped the legs so it couldn't move and shoed it right there.
I wish we had video cameras back then, that would have won awards on those funniest video shows.

My opinion, and experience, is that the best way to shoe a nasty one is after about 3 months of working with their hooves. I pick hooves every time I feed...after a couple of times a horse, young or old, gets used to it. If you do it every day, hold the foot like you're shoeing and tap the hoof wall with the pick, your farrier will love you. After a week of it weanlings will raise the foot for you as soon as you slide your hand down the leg. It definitely pays off if you have to Dr. one's foot/lower leg from a cut/etc.

If you've got one that's really nasty, taking the time to do Don Baskins' short rope act is worth the effort. I've only had one that needed it (after I learned it), and it took a lot of work, but the horse ended up good to shoe.

I've only been around one that was un-shoeable. I've learned a lot since then, but I'm not sure it would make much difference with this one. Beautiful but crazy paint my Dad owned when I was young. Would blow up if you touched her feet....would blow up at just about anything. Dad sold her to a guy, telling him all the details. Guy said it was fine, he was going to use her for a brood mare. She died next spring foaling her first....I'm guessing she went crazy when dropping the foal.

I have put shoes my own mules and horses going on 50 years now. At 75 I still do my own. I did it commercially about 5 years quite a few years back. I have taken horses and mules that sorely tested one's patience and turned them into calm shoeable animals. I have also had horses that owners thought farriers should train their horses to have shoes put on as part of the shoeing cost. I have had horses that came in from sale barns that I needed to turn around to use on pack strings or such that I didn't have the time to take 3 months to coddle them. We put them the ground,put them in stocks, or tied up their legs to get the job done.Probably why I'm so banged up in my old age.I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore.

Some animals that I had that didn't come around were worked 2-3 months.Some over a year. Anyone that hasn't run into a few of them hasn't shoed many horses or mules.The little mule in that photo would never see 25 again and was probably 30 + .His team mate was an adorable friendly molly. Anyone who has messed with mules pretty much knows that you can get them so you can work on them, but you won't change them much if they have some age on them. I have two mules now, smaller,but capable.The saddle mule must have had some foot work in the past before I got him as he came around pretty quick.The pack mule, 18 years old when I got him, now 20 has never been rode.Probably only had his feet trimmed twice a year. He has had shoes put on twice now. He didn't like it,but at least wasn't mean about it. Some of these mules you will never get to the point where you can even pick up their feet, let alone work on them.

I certainly agree with JCMCUBIC. There's the best way and then there is the " you need to do it now" way. I have done a lot of both.

I've never dealt with one that was that bad. I have not seen one that a shot didn't fix for shoeing purposes. I've never been around minis and likely never will. I'm not 75 but raise and train pleasure horses for myself and some customers. I totally agree with starting correctly from the ground up because skipping steps doesn't pay off in the end....been bit by that plenty of times. I've just not had one yet that sedating for the first shoeing was that bad for the second. Keep in mind that horse is in training not just shod rode on Saturdays till he/she needs reset.

Some Amish I know have stocks they put kickers in. It has them tied up safely and they can't kick.

Also say the best way and need to do it now statement is well well said. I won't forget that line. Done plenty of both myself

Yep, there are times/situations where it has to be done. I understand and what I wrote wasn't meant as judgement, just preference....and we don't always get what we prefer. I've been lucky to have only been around 1 that never got better though some took a lot longer than others.

I've only seen one mare that a farrier sedated and I have no experience with it. For that matter, I don't have enough experience with mules to amount to anything so I'm ignorant their as well.

When I was a kid we had a big mare that was a pussy cat to shoe. She did have a quirk, though. When you worked on her back feet, you needed to lean her against a tree or building. If you didn't, she'd fall over. Literally. One farrier said that was nonsense so he just picked up a back foot and went to work. Dad and I just stood there waiting for the fun. After about 1 minute she started to sway then, flop, flat on her side. It was hilarious.

Never learned after being dropped?

Pard says there are enough good horses to not put up with the nonsense of some.

Some horses need to be in easy-to-handle-two-pound packages.

Well said. I can't imagine and won't put up with some of the crap people do. I spend a lot of time with good horses. I can't imagine screwing around with one that needs tied up in the trees to shoe. Had 2 reset today and a pulled shoe replaced on one. The 2 that were reset was give dormosadan(spelling?). I want them to be easy to shoe so a good job can be done along with no one being hurt. One of the horses today is a customer horse and I want the shoe job to be good and look good.

I can't think of any of my horses that after being sedated if need be for the first few shoeings continued to need it. I have very little mule experience too..... I have been interested in mules for years but no one I've been around has made me pull the trigger. I'm about to decide it's not that some mules are better but some people just prefer a mule. Maybe it's the persons patience mentality etc...?

I sure don't mess with many bad horses or mules now days. In my younger days, I had to use what was available. Sometimes, those bad ones were just a product of bad treatment and a person could bring them around after little while.

Yep some mules are in fact better,. Some are not, but it is a preference. I always figured that a good mule was ten times better than a good hose,but a bad mule was 100 times worse than a bad horse.However,just like horses I suppose, most of those bad ones were human caused.Some are just born contrary though . Probably from poor breeding .The saying garbage in = garbage out pertains to horses and mules too.

Regarding mules, mules MUST be trained like horses SHOULD be trained. Some of these would be horse trainers never made it to the point where they had it all together. Then when they tried mules, they were lacking in ability and blamed in on the mule. It does take a certain mind set to work with mules. Patience and a sense of humor are prime requirements

And maybe a high pain tolerance?

From a lack of patience and sense of humor or taking shortcuts. Actually I have been hurt more times from horses than mules. Darn short eared affairs will kick out for no reason. A mule will at least have a reason.Most often revenge. As they say, a horse will kill you by accident,a mule will do it on purpose.

Little experience with mules. Tranquilizers today aren’t lethal with horses. First time weanlings can be if it’s from a tranquilizer, the first time and not need one the next time.