Yesterday was Calvin's day off and today was supposed to be another day off for him, but I ended up having the day off work. This worked out though because he had his feet done today! I spoke with some people while Calvin was turned-out and one of the men mentioned that "I shoe all 4 hooves on my horses because we go over rocks and rough terrain" and I said, "well thats nice, but Calvin also goes over rough terrain and he's goes barefoot no problem." This guy was not so sure and I definitely got the vibe like he believed I don't know what I'm doing because my horse is barefoot. I tried to explain to this guy how natural selection works in the wild: if a horse has bad feet and goes lame, it will die sooner. Mother nature isn't like humans, she doesn't care if a horse colics or is ill or has bad feet. In the wild, it's survival of the fittest and every horse for himself. Therefore, generations of mustangs have developed strong hooves and bones in order to run on rough desert terrain. Anyway, this guy can believe what he wants, and I'm sure his horses do need shoes, but this is one of those instances where I go to my trusted quote: "The first rule in the horse world is don't listen to anyone else." It's true though, I've never heard more opinionated people than horse-people.
This thought was confirmed when the farrier said Mustang (and Arabian!) feet are some of the best he's ever seen, with Calvin being no exception. He even said that one other mustang he trims he only has to do the frog on the back hooves once every 6 months (compare to regular shoeing which is done every 5-7 weeks). This is a major reason I chose a Mustang, they are naturally healthy horses! No one can believe how calm and sensible Calvin is for a baby and many are blown away that I'm already riding him after only having him 8 days. But the fact is, he's just a great horse and very intelligent. I recommend people do their research because if I'd listen to the nay-sayers, I wouldn't have a great horse :)
Anyway, so Calvin has never had his feet trimmed without the use of tranquilizers, and for non horsey people this is what a farrier trimming a horse's foot looks like: trimming feet. Now it's normally not a huge deal, horses stand on 3 feet all the time when they're relaxing. Calvin knows how to pick up all four feet, that was part of his TIP training (read below if you don't know what this is). However, he gets impatient and won't hold them up very long and when he can't put it back down (because I'm holding it) he panics a bit and will either half-lay down or strike out. Part of this is being a baby, he's impatient. Part of it is not being used to having his feet up which is normally taught to horses when they're very little and can't injure you easily.
So needless to say I knew that he wasn't going to be an angel. The farrier was able to do his first front hoof fairly easily. Calvin only panicked a few times and had to set it down. The next hoof was a challenge, he was impatient at this point and not willing to stand still. The farrier worked in small bits and was very patient with him, letting him sniff and petting him to calm him down. The farrier said that he was able to do enough on his front feet to be done for the day, he wanted to leave Calvin on a good note and not afraid of him. Being afraid was not the issue, he would sniff the farrier, his equipment, and didn't mind him petting at all. It's more a matter of not knowing what to do with his feet and likely feeling trapped. The farrier said he'd be back in a few weeks and would try again nice and slow to finish up the remaining feet. I really liked this farrier a lot, he was so patient and kind to him. Working with babies can be frustrating and it's easy to think "if I just put a chain in his mouth or use a twitch then I can finish his feet." But as I'd mentioned before, the fast way isn't the best way. So this is much better just taking things slow and doing them naturally. The farrier even said that he doesn't like using tranquilizers unless absolutely necessary, which he didn't feel was this case. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of his feet other than what you can see below. I'll try to take some when the farrier comes out again in a few weeks to finish.
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