> What order does the farrier do his feet in?  Does he
 > do the back feet first, then the front feet?
    No ..... usually he does the left front, left rear, right front, right 
rear ....... sometimes the other way around ...... but he always starts with 
one of the front feet.  X is good with either of the back feet -- only acts 
up with one or the other front feet.
 > Maybe he has some small problem somewhere which only
 > manifests itself when he is asked to stand in one
 > place for a certain amount of time.
 >  And when you are cleaning his feet, you don't hit
 > that "too long"
 > amount of time, but the session with the farrier is
 > longer.
    Hummmmmmmmm ........ could be.  What I've started doing is 'messing' with 
his feet every night now .... and I "pound" after cleaning like the 
blacksmith would ..... so far he's been good as gold but I haven't tried 
holding his leg up for a very long time either.
 > His behavior reminds me of two things.  First of all,
 > when I stand in one place for too long (like at the
 > bus stop or at work), my back starts to hurt.  If I am
 > walking around, I'm fine.  And second, X's situation
 > reminds me of going to the dentist.  Usually I can't
 > relax and after a while, I start to get tense just
 > from the effort of holding still for so long.  It's
 > particularly bad when I have to open my jaw real wide
 > for a long time.  If I am given a break every now and
 > again so I can close my mouth and then open it again,
 > I feel much better.
    Well, our blacksmith does do that .... he's very kind and doesn't make 
him stand in one position for a long period of time (only blacksmith we've 
ever had that did that too).
 > So I'm wondering what would happen if you gave X a
 > couple of minutes of a 'rest break' in the middle of
 > the session?  Walk him around and let him stretch out
 > his muscles and maybe get a chance to relax a little.
 > Then go back to get the other two feet done.  And if
 > the farrier is doing the back feet first, maybe try
 > doing the front feet first.
    See above.
 > I'm also wondering how he is loading his weight when
 > the farrier is working on him.  If one of his back
 > legs was getting 'ouchy', you'd expect it to show up
 > when the opposite back leg was getting worked on,
 > wouldn't you?  So if that's not the case, maybe the
 > problem is somewhere else, like in his spine.
    Never thought of that ....... but wouldn't it show up (back pain) when he 
was being ridden??  He dones't flinch when pressure is put along his spine 
.... hummmmmm.
 > He's stil young, so it could be something as simple as
 > muscle fatigue.
    That could be ...... never thought of that.
 >  He's being asked to hold himself up, and there's only
 > so long he
 > can do it without getting tired.
    But why only the front feet ...... and usually it's the left front when 
he REALLY acts up.
 > Let me know if any of this makes sense, or if there
 > are any other clues.
    Made a lot of sense ....... thanks for the reply.  At least it gives me 
something else to think about . Thanks!!
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