Would like to get your expert opinions again. My now 16month old stud colt has developed a fear of my farrier, male. He literally attempts to jump out of his own skin when the farrier comes near him. Is it possible for a horse to develop a fear of men? If so what can you do to correct the behavior? My farrier knows to go extremely slow with him, a lot of talking and moving slowly towards him but he is still on such high alert that at any moment he would shoot off like a rocket if he could. I try to talk to him and let him know it is ok but what can I do to improve this situation?
Is you colt showing these signs with other men or is it just men in a farrier situation. If it is the situation, can you pinpoint if it is the situation as a whole or specifically the farrier doing something?
I presume that your colt has been trained to have his feet worked with and has been fine up to a certain point, at which point something may have happened to prompt him to behave in this way - think back to the time before he started to show this behaviour, did anything happen? Did he show any signs of comfort or distress?
Consider all possibilities, could something have happened in a different situation ie you went to pick up his feet and something happened to make him nervous? Is he happy on a day to day basis to stand on three feet for a length of time? Is there any pain going on for him? Have you spoken to your vet? What environment is he being shod in? Is it an area that he is generally happy with? Has your farrier changed? The questions are endless.
It's very hard to say exactly what I would do as every situation is different and there are hundreds of solutions to every single problem, but I would first ask myself as many questions as I can think of to try and find out what it is that seems to be worrying him. If you can work that out, you have something to work with.
I had my husband come out, to see how my colt would react to him. Music was very curious and inquisitive about him. He showed no signs of fear or aggressiveness towards him. Allowing my husband to scratch him on the muzzle, behind the ears and even lead him around.
My farrier tried to handle my colt with a heavy hand one day, which my colt is not used to being handled that way. I handle him with a soft hand and if any heavy discipline needs to happen I allow my mares to do that for me.
So, I have come to the conclsuion that I either am going to have to find another farrier or my farrier is going to have to be willing to re-establish his report with my colt.
Music is normally a very easy going colt but he does get rambuctious some days but he is only 16 months old and is stil intact so I am sure his hormones get the best of him some days!