Horse feet

Hot iron being bent is a joy to watch

The foot of a horse is so much more than the the hard thing at the end of their leg that often ends up squishing the softer thing at the end of their owner's leg. All happy horse owners know that hoof care is crucial for domesticated horses and as a truly obsessed horse owner, one of my favorite things is to watch the farrier come out and do feet. The whole process fascinates me, from pulling the old shoe, to trimming, to balancing that new shoe on the foot. And if the forge is involved, well that's an extra special bonus.

 Unfortunately, my work attire is a few steps above jeans and sneakers so going to the barn to watch the farrier involved not only time but a complete wardrobe change. Sigh. Basically my shoes prevented seeing my horses get shoes, because high heels and mud are just a bad combination. 

At least until this latest chapter of my life. Part time is kind of a blessing, all things considered.

So Friday afternoon found me enjoying the sun and waiting for my farrier to arrive.

Bar's mismatched front feet--upright left and nice right pre-trim 

Calabar was first and was (surprisingly) well-behaved. This has not always been the case, so this was a nice change.

Calabar's upright foot, the worst of the bunch

His feet are in fairly good shape, but he's got thin, flaky hooves. In a normal winter, with mud and too much moisture, we are constantly playing "keep the shoe on the foot." This winter has been quite a bit drier--which causes Californians to worry about the Big D (drought)--but shoes have been on feet quite consistently, so that at least is the good news.

Lena's dream foot, thick hoof wall and all

Lena on the other hand, has feet that make farriers swoon. Thick hoof walls, big feet that fit her body, good soles, healthy frog--the feet of dreams. Notice the difference in her hoof wall as compared to Bar's. Sigh. That does explain why Bar is so very sensitive to a nail being just the tiniest bit off.

Love a hot forge

Farriers can come and go, but Mike has been there through thick and thin (and I don't just mean hoof walls). The very best part is he is there when he says he will be and will come when you need him. Oh, and my horses' shoes stay on and they are never lame. 

Since that hasn't always been the case with my farriers, here's hoping he isn't in the mood to retire any time soon. 

Lena (??) loses a shoe

Bar losing shoes this time of year is a given--the thin walls of his Thoroughbred feet combined with wet-to-dry and back to wet conditions make keeping iron nailed on his feet a test of my patience and my farrier's skills. Luckily, the latter is in a much higher supply than the former.

But Lena has great feet--big with thick hoof walls. She hasn't lost a shoe in a really long time, and then it was because she stepped on it and pulled it off. So imagine my surprise when Steve walked down to the arena sans Lena as I stood talking to one of the other riders and he told me she had lost a shoe. He had looked for it in her paddock but hadn't found it and said her hoof looked fine, not torn up at all. Hm. Could this be related to her kicking habit? One was surely suspicious having recently witnessed her deliver several jarring bangs on the back wall of her shelter.

I drove Steve home and then went back to the barn because Mr. Bar needed more work after yesterday's antics, plus I was determined to find Lena's shoe and figure out what had happened.

The first thing I saw was a hole at the base of that wall she's kicking all the time, and there at the bottom of the hole was her shoe. It looked a lot like she got her foot stuck under the edge of the wall and ended up pulling that shoe right off her foot.


Then I checked her foot and, yes, there was a big ol' scrape above the coronary band. She didn't seem sore or lame on that leg, but we'll watch her to be sure. Mike, the most awesome farrier, said he would probably swing by tomorrow to tack a shoe back on her dainty foot.


Is it too much to hope for that this might teach her a lesson? She really wanted out, too, and I explained that having a flat in the back made her uneven so she was out of luck on that account. Double lesson? I suppose I'm dreaming.

Bar, on the other hand, has all his shoes and got another good physical AND mental workout today--one that included dealing with the terror of hearing (and not seeing, which is apparently worse than seeing and hearing) the hoof clatters of another horse getting loose and heading down the driveway. Bar was very, very concerned and was actually the one to give those of us in the arena the heads-up that something was amiss (literally in Bar's case, along with his tail). We alternated between letting him approach to get reassurance and going back to work as if nothing was wrong as things got back under control.

He and I also did some work in the middle of the arena with two other riders doing their thing around us and he did fairly well--even with horses trotting up from odd directions behind him, he stayed calm and focused on me. Colleen, the nice woman who has offered several times to work with us, did mention that perhaps my own emotions/anxieties affect Bar. Sigh. I know they do, I just haven't figured out how to mask that from him just yet. Or get over it so I don't have to do any masking. I may have to fake it until I make it for awhile.

At any rate, the day ended with a beautiful moonrise and alfalfa. Not too bad, but it surely would have been better if Steve and Lena had gotten a ride in.

No more duct tape

Mike came and did his usual great work with Bar's feet, and we think we may be past the hard part of the year. You know, the annual wet-to-dry-to-wet-to-dry and back again. Hard enough for horses with great feet, a real challenge for Bar.

It's really a couple of different things. One, he has Thoroughbred feet with thin, flaky hoof walls. Two, in the winter, the hooves don't grow as fast, so in order to have enough hoof to work with, we were trying to go a little longer. If we didn't work him, it also wouldn't be so much of an issue, but not working him is NOT an option for a whole host of reasons--me not hitting the ground chief among them.

I think we're going to invest in a set of boots, too, like Old Macs or something along those lines. Duct tape worked great in a pinch, and we'll always have it in the trailer, but for trail riding, we need back up that's a bit more substantial. I just don't want to worry about being 2 miles out and losing a shoe--on either horse!

Mike was great at talking through options with me, and never once got defensive when I asked questions about treatments, ideas, etc. I've had that experience before with farriers, but Mike just takes it all in stride and gives me clear, honest explanations that help me make the decisions that are right for my horse. Reason #456 I'll keep him as our farrier as long as he wants to shoe my crazy horses.

Bar and his space boots

Bar and his space boots
Originally uploaded by spottyhorse67

Duct tape truly has many uses.

In this case, protecting Bar's hooves until Mike comes on Monday.
Looks like we'll have to go back down to every six weeks for him,
which is fine. Better that than missing out on such awesome trail
riding weather.

Jessica Boyd
Spotty Horse News
spottyhorse.blogspot.com

Bar loses a shoe

Bar has typical Thoroughbred feet -- thin-walled, peel-y, prone to cracks -- so he has to have shoes all the time on all four feet. Mike has done a great job with Bar's feet, keeping them strong and getting them shaped well, and -- up until now -- keeping shoes on those feet of his.

Tuesday afternoon, Steve got to the barn and took Bar out intending to ride him. He brushed Bar, cleaned three feet and got to the left front (the upright hoof) and found the shoe missing. Poor Bar got put back into his pen and Steve rode Lena instead. Steve didn't find the shoe, so I worried a little bit about a shoe with nails sticking out of it laying where he might step on it.

As it turned out, the nails were still in his hoof and the shoe, with no pokey nails, was in the dirt in his pen, minding its own business.

Mike said his foot looked fine, and gave me some things to watch for in the future. If Bar seems sore going uphill, it's in his toe; if he seems sore going downhill, it's in his heel. Bar wasn't acting particularly sore, just still figuring out his way up and down hills, but it was good information.

Mike has had his trials with Bar, and has every reason to assume that Bar won't always behave just for Bar's own funky reasons. But after Mike got the shoe on the upright foot and moved onto the other front foot, Bar actually reared up. Mike put the front foot down and stepped back, his whole body focused on my horse. He walked around Bar and picked the upright foot back up, looking for blood to see if he ran a hot nail. He pulled one particular nail, no blood. He checked the foot again after he got all four shoes on and it all looked fine, but he decided not to put that nail in again, just to be on the safe side.

I like Mike a lot, and love the work he does with both horses' feet. But watching him stop and re-assess what was going on, not assume it was just Bar being bad, solidified my faith in our farrier. (That and the fact that a) Mike shows up on time and b) calls me to remind me of our appointment.)

Bar seems to be sound and his feet look great. And I got to learn good things about hoof care and about how good my farrier is.

New shoes (and shoer) for Lena

It was time for Lena to get shoes and, unfortunately, our regular farrier seems to have disappeared.

I got Mike's name from Phil and Carey (Taffy and Doc's owners, respectively), and he came out today to put new shoes on Lena. Now, even though I took the Farrier Science class at Santa Rosa JC, I hadn't gotten to watch our previous farrier work, so I was looking forward to our appointment today.

It was really neat to watch and I'm glad I got to see it all the way through.

I liked the way Mike handled Lena, who naturally had to test the new guy. He wasn't mean as she tried to dance around on three feet, but he was firm. She did check him out rather thoroughly. Lots of smelling.


He worked quickly and efficiently, but paid enough attention to her that she knew he was paying attention. (Even while he had to listen to our whole horse history, the poor guy.)

He did really nice clean up on her back feet as her toes were a little long back there. Her frog was shedding, so he took a lot off, plus trimmed up the toes really well. You can see the extra stuff flying off in this photo. Pretty cool!


Here is a shot of him clinching down the nails so they don't bite either us or Lena.


Mike impressed me with the way he dealt with Lena, and the way he worked with me. I know I'm not easy and I'm a worrier, but he answered my questions and didn't mind the camera going off while he worked. Best of all, both Steve and I noticed how much easier she was moving when we rode tonight.


I sure do love it when someone likes what they do enough to do a good job.