hoof cleaning a problem horse

Question
Hello, I have had my horse about 6 months, she is an 8 year old thoroughbred/quarterhorse mare, she is not new to hoof cleaning, but is not cooperating and refusing to have especially her back right hoof to be cleaned, even becoming violent with the farrier. We have slowing started working her by rubbing down her legs and making attempts to pick up her hoofs, sometime successful with the front but kicks out with the back again especially the back right. Please help with more advice. Also a big problem standing still. Thanks

Answer
Hello Dani,
thanks much for your question! It sounds like your girl may have had some bad experiences in the past that have led to trust issues. For a horse to give you a foot and keep it up means it can't run away and therefore some horses feel trapped. Combine this with the farrier insiting on keeping the hoof up and pinning it between his knees, and you have a situation where she possibly feels like she has to run but is trapped and then she gets violent. Unfortunately, horses sometimes have very bad experiences with farriers who are not always patient with them.
What has to happen before ANY horse is seen by a farrier is for the horse owners to work with the horse and give it confidence that having its legs handled is not a scary thing. You are doing absolutely the right thing by working with her now. I suspect that in her past, this did not happen and she had very bad experiences with the farrier.
There are excellent resources on the web that give you suggestions about how to get horses comfortable to have their feet handled.
This is one of my favourite:
http://www.horsekeeping.com/hoof_care_and_lameness/behavior_for_shoeing.htm

For a horse to stand for the farrier is a much more complex issue than just having its feet handled. Its about trust and respect as well and therefore a lot can be done through gentle horsemanship and training.

Hope this was helpful!
Christine