Am I over reacting?

Okay, as some of you know...my new 4 yr old TB mare arrived a week ago. The farrier came out for the first time last night. Her previous owner told me she was "good for the farrier"...I had no reason to question that from the way she has been the last week...calm for the most part and has given me no trouble (even holds her head down for me to practice my ugly braids!) Well...farrier (who I have never met...justa recommendation from my vet) came out. He is old and set in his ways obviously...well she was fidgeting...but I didn't feel that it was keep him from dong his job...she would barely flinch a muscle and he was holler "EHHH!" and when he wanted her foot he would say it so hateful "Give me your foot!"... I think all of this loud and hateful tones got to her...she started behaving BADLY- and I mean BAD...to the point I thought she was really going to hurt herself or him. He finally got fed up and gave her some type of shot to calm her down. She then calmed down and allowed him to finish. The guy seems really knowledgeable and he was recommended by my vet...I finally told him to talk nicer to her and tell her "good girl" when she was behaving...she likes to hear that...that really helped. Okay- am I being an over protective mama? He never smacked her or anything- I just felt he was rough with her- not the type of person I would ever leave alone with her. But I live in East Texas and its hard to find good care...and he seems to know his stuff. - Really I am just venting and looking for some "its okays...calm downs"...hehe.

No you are not over reacting... if she keeps having a negative time with farrier work it will get worse over time. That is just my opinon though.

I agree with Angel...personally I'd find a better farrier. Go to tack shops. Most workers at tack shops own horses and they will recommend many farriers. I would NEVER stand my farrier growling at my horse. I yelled at my farrier for smacking another person's horse when he was trimming that horse's feet.

Your not over reacting one bit!!!! My barn uses this guy, welll let me tell you a bit about him. If he has a horses leg up and the horse needs to re balance his/herself and gently pulls their leg back to re adjust, johnathan will grab the rasp and pop the crap out of the horse...he is also known for leaving horses lame......there is no way that he will ever touch my girl....i have a guy come out and he was so nice, worked with rayne,,,since this was her first time with a farrier...i have picked up her feet and cleaned them. But never trimmed. So be protective....i would find out what injection he gave too.. I have never herd of a farrier just giving an injection without asking if you(the owner) had something frist, not to mention ask ur permission..mabey I misunderstood the post. Good thing he didnt give too much...ok I am getting protective now.....

I also had a farrier that would BEAT the horses with her rasp if they fidgeted. I found a different farrier obviously. Diesel fidgets by the time they are on the last hoof but he's a really good boy for the farrier. He's the kind of horse though that you have to be quite firm with for him to pay any attention to you. If you look at him mean and give a stern NO he usually listens =P

I don't think you're over reacting at all. I wouldn't want a farrier tranqing my horse just because she was nervous. I would find someone a little bit more understanding.

I woudl have never let a farrier give a shot to my horse to calm then down. Specially if the reason why your horse was so "bad" is because of him! Its not your or your horses fault that he was a jerk. I would be looking around for a different farrier if I were you!

Define Old.
Yes...I think you *are* over reacting.
This is a HORSE...a living, breathing, SMART thinker. He'll decide how and when to behave...
Besides...would YOU want to be the one under him?

I would definitely say that there is no reason for him to give your horse a tranq. My first farrier was a short little man and I had some babys and one of them would rear/kick and he never got upset nor did he ever need to give them a shot. If the babys would get to bratty then he would give them a little smack just to let them know that it wasnt tolerated and then he would continue. Now that baby is 6 years old and is the perfect horse for working with feet. But if the horse is just fidgeting then there is no reason to yell or hit the horse let alone give them a tranq. JMO.

I'm with Painted on this one. I think that the farrier's safty is #1. Even if he was the doo-dah causing the problems. I would have allowed the tranq and then work, work work with those feet. I think it's of the utmost importance to ensure that a horse will allow it's feet to be handled. Even by a stranger. You never know when it will be an emergency situation. That's my take on it anyway.

Same thing happened to me, my old horse Vodka was very touchy with flies and had been treated roughly in the past, the result being that is he got scared he would get aggressive. With us, we treated him gentle and he would do anything for you, but our farrier (that we had sued for about 4 years) was a very agressive person, not hitting but growling if they twitched. Vodka was twitching his belly at flies so the farrier dug him in the ribs, well Vodka shot forward and kicked the farrier in the leg. We switched farriers to a more gentle man, and never had a problem. You need to find farrier who's personality suits the horse, we never had problems with the first farrier for any of our other horses, him and Vodka just didn't match. Personally I don't find it reasonable for a horse to stand stock still without fidgeting while he is trying to balance on three legs! Dumas, I don't think that it was a problem with the horse having it's feet handled, from how I interpret it the horse was simply fidgeting. I do agree that any horse must be able to have it's feet handled.