Q: I recently received a package in the mail from a nationally famous trainer that said if a horse doesn’t do seven specific things, he isn’t broke. This list failed to mention anything about training horses to stand still for a farrier. I wrote the trainer, but haven’t heard back from him and probably won’t. 

I still can’t figure out why some horse owners and trainers do not teach their horses any “manners” when it comes to shoeing. This doesn’t apply to all horse owners or trainers, and I realize there are some who work very hard with their horses, but I get calls all the time from customers who say, “I got your name from so and so and they say you like to shoe ill-mannered horses.”  My reply is that I find them too dangerous and no longer work with them. 

If an owner or trainer can train a horse for flying lead changes, standing still for baths, loading into a trailer and standing still while being mounted, then why can’t they teach them the proper behavior for being trimmed or shod?

If a person is going to take their horse to a show and the horse doesn’t load in the trailer, then it’s that person’s problem. So how come when a farrier comes to shoe that horse and he’s difficult to shoe, it suddenly becomes the farrier’s problem (at least this is how some owners and trainers look at it)?

I know you can charge more for…