Our farrier, Rich Boyle, came out today to trim the horses' hooves ... that would be 128 hooves total! It was a cold, blustery day, with a stiff wind just blowing constantly (notice the all-important ear flaps on my hat). Rich arrived at 9 a.m. and it was 2:30 p.m. before we were done -- with no break in between. That's a lot of work for one farrier. The bill came to $615.
Alayne took this photo of Rich working on blind Nikki, while I was holding her. Blind Destiny came over to check things out and see if she could help.
Nikki is our two-year old filly we began training for riding earlier this year. Like everything else about her, she's always been an easy girl for trimming. Destiny, on the other hand, was a real pistol about having her feet worked on, and Rich used to have to tie her legs up ... and sometimes lay her down on the ground ... to trim her. Destiny, who turned one this past spring, has begun absorbing those early lessons and is now realizing that trimming is actually not the end of the world.
Today was Destiny's best day ever -- Rich simply tapped on her flank and she picked up her rear foot for him! Destiny knows Nikki is the star in the barn -- we sort of have a teenage sister rivalry going on, with Nikki clearly the favored sibling -- and maybe Destiny just wanted to show Nikki up for a change ... who knows? But it was a very impressive feat. (Pun intended.)
(Click on photo for larger image.)
These are good days on the ranch...
Posted by: Karen SA/TX | December 13, 2006 at 05:59 PM
I'm glad Destiny is simmering down re. her feet and how funny--a teenage rivalry! Just like kids.
Posted by: Roz | December 13, 2006 at 09:28 AM
Brrrr! That looks like it was really cold! I don't know how Rich puts his back in that position repeatedly, as it almost hurts mine just to look at him do that. Ouch! I'm glad to hear that Destiny is learning that the hoof "spa day" is a treat instead of something to complain about. I guess Nikki has been giving her lessons on behavior.
Sending warm hugs,
ginger & Tobias
Posted by: ginger & Tobias (the greythound) | December 13, 2006 at 06:21 AM