Bud was always great for the farrier and was known for being able to be done right out in the paddock/pasture without a halter or lead. As her hooves pained her more and more, and as she realized the folks handling her hooves were causing her pain, she became nasty and ruthless. Yanking hooves, rearing up, lunging. She was scary ... but she was also scared.
While her hooves haven't hurt for quite some time, she held onto a lot of that anticipation of pain. She has gradually stopped rearing and stopped lunging. But she still wanted to yank and be naughty — though if someone was pounding nails into your sore feet every 6 weeks for a few months, you'd hold onto the fear too! That's like torture.
To hear now that she is "back to normal" is such a relief. One more step towards normal. Maybe we'll actually get there?
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I got a text this morning from Scott: "Her mental change has been her greatest improvement." I think that says a lot about not only how far we've come, but also how far we still have to go on our journey.
