Saturday, February 13, 2010

Petey's New Shoes

Good hoof care is one of the basic needs for our horses. As the saying goes, "no hoof, no horse".

As I mentioned in the previous post, Petey's feet were in need of some quality care. Said care came in the form a visit from our farrier, Jake, last night.

He found signs of an old abscess in one of his front hooves, and one of the back hooves is rolling under slightly on the inside. Jake feels that this can be corrected over the next few trimmings, and shouldn't present any problems.

Before trimming:


Post trimming, and sporting shiny new shoes:


As I was observing the work last night, it dawned on me how rather amazing it is that these half ton animals stand perched atop four rather spindly legs. Honestly, there legs are smaller around than a human leg.

6 comments:

Buck said...

What makes me wonder is how wild horses survive without farriers. Which is probably the stupidest of stupid questions, but I'll freely admit: I'm an equine idjit.

Dave (aka Buckskins Rule) said...

Buck, it's actually a reasonable question, and one that crossed my mind at some point awhile back.

The difference lies in activity level. Wild horses are constantly on the move, and their hooves tend to wear away evenly. Domestic horse are more sedentary, and are kept on soft footing. Thus their hooves don't wear away naturally.

Gordon Scott said...

They come a running just as fast as they can, cause Every girl's crazy bout a sharp-shoed gelding! Bah wha-wha wha-wha-wha, Bah wha-wha wha-wha-wha....

Dave (aka Buckskins Rule) said...

Gordon, I take it the long Minnesota winter is starting to mess with your mind! :)

Gordon Scott said...

Sometimes you have to go a long way for a bit of humor. Even if it's a very, very small bit, and far, far away.

Dave (aka Buckskins Rule) said...

I'm with ya on that one Gordon. It did make me laugh!