My 10 year old gelding is horrible when it comes to getting his feet done!!!  I have had him since he was 3 years old & have had him barefoot the entire time until about a year ago I started putting front shoes on him as my vet said he had thin soles & needed them.  Now he has always been funny with his feet since I have had him.  When he got trimmed on his front feet he would always test the farrier and try to pull his front feet away & act like he was going to rear up.  As long as the farrier stayed with him and didnt let go he would stop and be still.  It was like he was testing them to see if he could get away with it.  He would do this everytime.  now that he gets shoes on his front feet he still does this however the last couple of times it has gotton worse where he is actually rearing up trying to get his foot away several times.  My farrier is very patient and I alwasy tip him extra cause he is such a pain in the butt!!  I just dont know what to do to make him stop.....  I pick his feet out every morning & every night & before & after we ride.  So its not like I'm not messing with him.  And sometime he does try to pull it away from me but I get on to him & he quits.  Of course Im not holding it as long as the farrier is when he is getting his feet done.  Any suggestions as what I can do to  make this an easier process???

Thansk in advance!

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but I sedate mine that is hard to shoe. Dorm Gel. It's safer for her and safer for the shoer. I'm not willing to hurt either of them, and she's gradually needed less and less sedation. 

I agree with the sedation. Sometimes it's just the easiest and fastest way to get it done. It's not an issue that I try to battle out, we're talking about something done every 6-8 weeks, not a daily thing.

Meds. Not worth the fight. After a few times of meds, my mare was fine for farrier without any sedation.

I had a 3 year old that a trainer put shoes on...hot nail.  She was a beast to reset for obvious reasons. We sedated her one time to get things taken care of and after that we haven't had to sedate her since. 

Im ok with sedating him.  Do I ask my vet for this?  I had a friend tell me I could just use Ace & put in his mouth.  This is just all new to me I just want the easiest for horse farrier & me LOL!

I would talk to your vet. Never have put ace in my horse's mouth. Have heard that done with banamine but never ace. I have used a seditive on my 5 yr old, not all the time as he can be great, but he has had a couple of days he was not nice & I didn't want my farrier or my horse hurt or me cause I am doing the holding. Just need a little. 

Yes but ask your vet for the Dorm gel. It also just goes in their mouth under their tongue about 1/2 hour or so before you are ready to go. Timing might very from horse to horse. If you explain the issue they should have no probelm giving you a tube.

Sedation! We use the dorm gel. If you know the horse has issue no sense putting your shoer or horse in a bad spot. 

Thanks for all the replies!!!  I have a call into my vet to see about gettign the dorm gel.   He is so good with everything else except when it comes to getting his feet done I dread it every time....

Sounds like a sore footed horse. The last time I saw one do that he had laminitis.

It’s  not so much that he’s protesting the foot being picked up that’s being worked on, it’s because it hurts for him to put all of his weight on the foot that’s not being worked on.

Check his knees, every time I have had a horse have long standing issues  like this that gets worse with time it's been and issues with its knees.

If it's patience/behavioral, dorm works very well.  If it's pain, it really won't make much difference.  Horses with muscle pain can't hold their feet up easily either.