Yesterday the farrier came (an hour late), I longed Starbuck a little first and she was a little lame in the right front leg at the trot-- I'm guessing she's been acting up in her paddock and slipped in the mud but if it's not better by the weekend I'll call the vet. The farrier said he couldn't see any problem and Marina said she was running around like a crazy person this morning, so I'm not too worried. I've also checked her legs and shoulders for any hotspots or sensitivity and can't find anything... hoping it'll just go away.
Anyhow she behaved way worse than the last time (which was also the first time!) she had her hooves trimmed which I was really surprised and disappointed by, since I'd been really pleased lately with how well she gives me her hooves. She snatched her hoof out of his hands and even reared once when he was doing her front hooves and kept kicking out when he tried to do her right rear hoof-- luckily my farrier is the most patient and chilled out guy on the planet (even for a Spaniard he's seriously laid back) so he just took his time, picking it up with a rope so she could struggle without hurting anyone and without being able to get her foot away and then trying again with his hand but she wasn't going for it.
At first she was really nervous and freaked out, but then I could tell it was more of an attitude thing, like what I was talking about the other day. Anyhow after a while he moved on to the left rear foot which she let him trim with no trouble at all, then moved back to the right one but there was just no way. In the end after lots of repetition he was able to lift the hoof with his hand several times but nothing else and we agreed to leave it until Friday, when he's coming back to shoe another horse at my stable. So she's still got one raggedy hoof, but at least she hasn't had a traumatic experience with the farrier. I'm really stepping up my leadership and trying not to let her get away with stuff but I think in this case we did the right thing.
He says by the way that her hooves are super healthy and textbook shaped which I'm really thrilled about, especially because when I got her they were so overgrown I was worried there might be permanent problems. Speaking of which, I found an old photo where you can see how ducky they were in August before I started working with her and they started self-exfoliating. And then the photos from the last hoof-trimming session, tomorrow I'm going to try to remember to take some of those pretty round soles :-)
Before:
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