AboutRick Gore (www.thinklikeahorse.org) Expertise Visit Rick Gore's Horse Site: www.thinklikeahorse.org --I am a student of the horse. I can answer questions about sacking out (Desensitizing vs. Sensitizing), dealing with spooky, abused or ex-race horses, rearing, bucking, horses that won’t tie or load into a trailer, working in a round pen/round corral, starting colts, dealing with aggressive or so called "mean" horses, herd behavior, biting, kicking, horses that won’t let you mess with their feet or head, horses that are hard to take a bit and hard to catch. I can also answer questions about using a bosal or hackamore, do's and don'ts, soft hands and direct reining verses neck reining. If you expect me to tell you feel good advice, you will be disappointed. 95% of all my answers will include the problem is you and not your horse. About 90% of most answers that I give out are on my web site, so if you read it you will probably answer your own question and may learn a few other things. I am like Gordon Ramsey (Hell's Kitchen) and Simon Cowell (Idol), you may not like what I say or how I say it, but it will be pretty true and accurate, in my opinion, judging from my experience.
Experience I am an experienced horseman with many years of riding and handling horses. I grew up in Texas around horses and horse people. I have started colts, ridden many horses with behavior issues and worked with problem horses. (I believe that most horse problems are normally people problems) I believe in and practices natural horsemanship. I continue to read and study books by great horsemen. I routinely attends clinics, talks with and discuss horse issues with other clinicians and trainers. I have never met a horse that could not be fixed. I believe it is never the horse's fault and with proper handling, all problems can be worked out.
Education/Credentials Rick has life long experience in being around and working with horses. Over the years he has watched good horsemen do the right thing and seen the wrong things done with bad results. Rick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.
Question QUESTION: Hi my horse is a 4yr thourghbred cross.he is constantly clipping his toes at the walk and on occasion actually goes on his nose.He is shod regularly and ridden on the bit.he is not a lazy horse , any ideas before he hurts himself or me
ANSWER: You did not give enough information. When I read a question and come up with more questions that information, I can't help.
Where does he trip, is it when you are riding or when he is just walking without you, is it uphill or downhill, does he have previous injuries, how much is he ridden, how big are you and how big is the horse, where does he carry his head, what type of bit, what is your experience, does he trip when not shod........... this is just of the questions that come to mind.
If you read where you type the question, I ask for specific information and you did not provide it.
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QUESTION: Hi the horse is 16.3 and i am 5ft 2.He has no injuries although recently threw a splint but suffered no lameness,he is ridden 4-5 times a wk from half to an hr depending on schooling or hacking in a dr bristol.He trips up , down and on the flat,sometimes he is nosy but not all times.He is stabled of grass in the day and out at night at the moment and this is his third set of shoes,he has nt always tripped but cant pin point whether he started when shod,he did start dishing when shod for the first time.i have many years of experience and always worked with youngstock ,he carries his head in the correct position.oh i am 39.i have thought about trying rolled toed shoes as dont want to remove them as his feet are nt brilliant.He trips led but have nt noticed him do it out with others.I am aware he is only a baby and hope he outgrows this.
Answer Before you can try and correct it, you really need to do some isolation of things so you can try and make it happen. Like removing shoes for few weeks and see it if gets better or worse, try only front shoes and not rear, try lighter aluminum shoes, ride more on his rear and see it that changes, learn forward and see if you can make him trip by riding poorly and off balance.
I would remove shoes, if you are not out riding on trails, rocks and hard terrain, most horses do not need shoes. It takes a year for a complete hoof to grow out, so you would have to leave the horse bare foot for a year to really see if he had problems. Most people just take them off and don't give time for the hoof to grow and the horse to adjust. You don't ask a barber if you need a haircut and you don't ask a farrier if your horse needs shoes, the answer will always be yes.
I am a anti-shoe person and think they do long term damage to horses. Try putting a metal plate in your shoes and walk around, in about an hour you will be in severe pain, your shins and joints will hurt since the metal does not give and compounds all impacts of walking and moving and you would be tripping since the additional weight gets heavy.
Dishing tells me the shoes are heavy and he is compensating for the weight by dishing. Since he is four and has only been shod three times, that means he was barefoot for most of his life and did fine.
