We've had our mares for almost 2 weeks now. We have been working with them daily. My daughter and I can pick up all their feet and hold them. One of the pregnant mares feet were in really bad shape with some splits all the way into the quick. We found a farrier willing to work with drafts and green horses and had him come out. I expressed that I was willing to pay him to come out multiple times...I wanted a good experience for my horses.

This guy did nothing but stress my horses out and didn't even trim all of them. He almost acted like he was a bit afraid, his equipment would barely trim through their hooves, he was rough and gruff and he HIT one of my horses. At this point, I said to stop and I'd have them finished at another time.

I paid him, but will never use him again.

If anyone knows of a decent trimmer that will LISTEN and work with me in the Dallas, TX area, I'd appreciate it. Although, I have the vet coming out in 1 1/2 week and will ask him for a referal.

We will be working with our horses a lot more with their feet. I am not only going to pick up their feet, but will also be tapping on their feet and what-not to get them fully accostmed to someone touching their feet.

Sorry I just now saw your post. I have my horse near Dallas, Texas, and I found the BEST ferrier!! He has Clydsdales and is very gentle and patient with my Premerin draft, Razza. His first name is Gates, I do not remember the last name, and his phone number is 940-987-3258. He spent one hour with Razza and got all four feet trimmed. This was her first experience with a ferrier, she is going on 3 years old (and pregnant, due in May).
Good luck,
Jeannette

I was curious where you keep your horses in Dallas. I would love to see them, do you have any pictures? It would also be great to chat with a local PMU owner. If you are interested let me know.
Jeannette

That is really awesome! Thank you so much for the Farrier's number. We bought a place near Farmersville and have a little over 7 acres of our own. We bought two pregnant mares and two that aren't pregnant, so we are having a blast with all of them. I don't have recent pics of them, but here is what I have:

I forgot to mention, but I'd love to chat with you anytime. We don't get our new internet connection at home until April 14th, so I am not on very much, just here and there, when I can get a break at work. After we get the new connection, though, I'll be on pretty much every evening after it's dark out.

I wondered where those two paints went! Razzle, Dazzle and Jazz - the three paints that looked similar. Razzle is now Razza, we have her, and you have the others.
Call anytime, 972-345-2718

Razza looks almost identical to Dazzle. Anastasia said that she thought they may be sisters. We didn't get Jazz, but got Zoe. Jazz was already gone when we were looking at the horses. I am not sure who got Jazz.

I am looking into actually purchasing the at home Parelli training kit for my horses. Since we got 4 of them, hiring a trainer for all would be very expensive, though I may hire one for the Bay. She has a lot a fear to work through, but my husband is working with her daily and she is getting much better.

Dazzle is my youngest daughter's horse. She is an amazing horse, indeed. We were able to introduce her to the waterhose and rinse her off this past Sunday. We can pick up all of her feet, but need to do it more. She still needs a lot of work, but is awesome.

Excellent work with Dazzle. All four of your horses are beautiful!

Pat & Linda Parelli will be in Fort Worth, April 22 & 23 for their big Tour. Cost is $25.

I would love to see your horses and if you would like, I could show you some things I've learned from Parelli, Linda Tellington-Jones and recently from Frederic Pignon, the trainer for Cavalia's horses. Fred came and worked with Razza last week and it was amazing. Let me know if you want to meet sometime.

That would be awesome! By the way, my name is Tammy. I will contact you and try to arrange something.

I would really like to attend the Parelli tour, but if I do, I have to go by myself as none of my Family can attend.

My husband gave me the Parelli Level One and Two courses (dvds, cds, booklets) for our wedding anniversary. We are watching and learning, but the course makes the assumption that you have a horse that is at least halter borken and can handled and lead. We are both spending time with them every day and they are getting better. I have a couple of questions, 1) I lost Anastasia Keyser's cell phone number, I've e-mailed and left a voice mail at Hope for Horses and no reply to either 2) our 2yr old Clyde/Perch filly will let us put a lead on her halter but refuses to move and if she is tied won't be still. We have tried to lead her, tried using taps the back of her legs to get her to move forward, patting her rump, talking to her, nothing will make walk forward except food and with food she is quite pushy. She is very sweet and friendly, just very large and doesn't know what to do. Any suggestions???
Thanks

The web site Hope For Horses has Anastasia's cell number as (940) 368-2072. I have reached her on this number before, so if you want to try contacting her, try on this number.

We do not use food to get ours to lead. It seems to cause more problems than it creates. Most of ours didn't lead very well either and ours range from 2 years to 12 years. Our two year old (Dazzle) is also pushy, but she seems to be the one that is learning the fastest.

It is best to work with the horse alone without other horses around if you are trying to actually accomplish a specific task. Other horses are great distractions. Here is what we have been doing for leading.

If you can situate the horse next to a fence with you on the outside, that will be great. It's okay if you can't at first.

Get a long crop/whip that can reach all the way to the horses rump. Hold the crop in the hand opposite to the one that has the lead rope. Begin to walk forward and say get up or come on (or whatever trigger words you chose). If the horse doesn't move, keep some pressure on, but do not go out in front of the horse and pull -- we are clearly not strong enough to pull the horse anywhere. Reach back and rap the horses rump with the long crop -- this is not a hard rap. Do not stop the pressure...the horse must move. If the horse doesn't move, give the command and tap again. It may take a very long time, but horses do not like discomfort and she will eventually move. When you are ready to stop, say whoah and pull back on the lead rope.

Do this on a daily basis. Each day try to get the horse to move a little farther and to stop on command. Just keep in mind, that the leading stops when you stop, not when the horse stops.

You may have problems with her going past you and not stopping. Make sure you are working on the porcupine game. This does teach horses to respond to pressure and respect your space.

We have been doing this in addition to some of the trusting games. We also just go out into the pasture and brush the horses and pet them and ask for nothing in return to build relationships with the horses.

I hope this helps you.

I agree with oteprocks. In addition, the more you apply the Parelli ideas, such as yielding to pressure, driving games, etc. the more your horse will respond to your directions. The carrot stick Parelli people use with the rope on the end works great. It's not harsh, but used correctly demands attention. They show you how in the DVD.

Also if you step to the side of your horse, at a 45 degree angle from it's head and pull it will cause the horse to take a step because they are off balance. After the first step give the rope slack and see if they will follow. If not keep it up, eventually it's just easier for them to follow you. If they start to overtake you, or run you over, flap your arms and the rope in the air like a big chicken, chances are they will keep their distance. Who wants to get close to a crazy, flapping person?

You might see if there are any Parelli instructors in your area. Even if you don't take your horse, they will usually let people audit the class and you can learn more than enough to take home. If you are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Christi Rains is in Glen Rose and she has many classes throughout the year.

With your other horse, use approach and retreat to establish a relationship. Eventually you can build up to the halter, rope and the Parelli friendly games.

Best wishes.

Pictures of Dazzle after her first bath.

WOW! Beautiful picture! She looks so much like Razza. Is she close to foaling? Razza is starting to bag up. I recently bought the book "Blessed Are the Brood Mares."

She hasn't started bagging up yet, but Zoe has. We will be finishing all the preparations this weekend for them each to have a nice comfortable place to foal.