Heh...
Bay sure doesn’t like him. And Bay can be a little stubborn, I’m finding, when other people are concerned. When he was holding Bay’s rears up, Bay was absolutely rigid and stiff and leaning on him, and then he went up. The farrier actually excused it and thought Bay might have been stiff and fatigued from holding it up so long, but I went and lifted his rear and got it a lot higher, and his hock was loose and easy when I moved it all around. Bay was an angel about it. He’s just really tense around that guy.
When Mark was shoeing, Bay was the one I could drop the line on and step away if I wanted. They’d worn a groove and they were comfortable together.
This guy hasn’t done anything, intentionally, to make Bay not like him.... except for the rolly cart incident.
On the other hand, I will say that Cyn was on her best behavior with both farrier (she was OK) and with the vet. I’d say she was sweet with the vet. And I warned him about her attitude when he went back to look under her tail, no problem. “He said “this horse is a problem?” “She’s an orphan?” “She’s a lot better than other orphans I’ve handled” Heh... he has always had a really good bedside manner with animals... They just like him. That’s valuable in a vet.
Well, hopefully Bay will warm to him the longer he shoes him, given that there are no more incidents of course. I guess Bay’s one of those horses that you really don’t want to get on the wrong side of because he never really forgets it. BladeRider’s old mare, Queen, my Truly’s mother, was that way. When I had her, I was a little rough with her about getting in the trailer and she doesn’t like me to this day, and that was nearly 10 years ago. So hopefully Bay won’t hold it against this guy for QUITE that long.
About the shoes, I think I actually said it backwards about the foot size/shoe size issue. What I meant was that the left front foot may actually be BIGGER than the right, so the shoe that fits the right front is a little too small for the left front, so the heels don’t go back as far, but the foot’s not big enough to go the next shoe size up. Does that make more sense? In any case, I like the set of the right front better than the left.