Hot Shoeing

The morning started with a phone call from our farrier.

"Say Val said she'd like to see some hots hoeing, well I'm going to be at Linda's and will be hot shoeing Thunder, would you guys like to come over?"

Indeed we did! To watch Dan work is like watching art in motion. He'd probably blush at that description.

We arrived and Linda told her border collies to sit in her 'Mule'. Her cattle dogs are incredible and they were our audience.

The horse to be hot shoed for a Wagon Train was Thunder. He would need shoes to navigate blacktop and gravel roads.
I'm not going to get into the the discussion of shoes vs. no shoes. In our area if you ride often on gravel roads and our rocky trails, shoes are pretty much a must.

First Dan trims the feet.

Here is his portable forge. Hot? Yes it is hot!

Here he puts the hot shoe against Thunder's hoof.
NO, it does not hurt the horse.
Thunder never even had a reaction.
We however were warned that it would be stinky.

The purpose simply for hot shoeing is to create a smooth surface between the hoof and the shoe. It seals the horn tubules and as Dan told me makes the shoe lie nice and flat against the trimmed foot.
[Imagine putting on a pair of shoes that are lumpy and bumpy against the bottom of your foot. You'd get sore feet in a hurry right?]

Dan finishes up the first foot and moves around the horse repeating the process and custom fits his hand made shoes to each foot.

While doing endurance my mule's feet were cold shoed. After watching and understanding the process of hot shoeing, I'd never do cold shoeing again.

Dan makes his own shoes and that would seem to be a lot of extra work. However he takes a lot of pride and care with each shoe.

Dan is also a certified farrier. He understands the anatomy and physiology of the horse. I suppose I could list his credentials if I knew them all.

He does know feet and he does know horses, mules, and donkeys.

Dan can tell exactly how he has to adjust the shoe to fit properly when using hot shoeing method.

Here he determines where he has to make adjustments ...

And then he goes to his anvil and custom fits the shoe.
After a bit more work, the shoe goes on.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert at hooves, horses, and shoes, or trimming. However I do know that taking care of the equine foot is so very important.

I like watching Dan work and I really like how he explains things as he goes along. Sometimes I have to stop him as I don't quite get all of the terminology and jargon that goes along with a farrier/blacksmith job.

I do know that my small herd of animals are much better off in having him take care of their feet now. He helped get Siera back on her 'feet'. So far she has been the only one we've ever had a with an issue.
Since Dan came to our farm as our farrier, things have gone quite smoothly.

Last but not least.
Our entertainment while we were visiting.

Sully, the mini donkey.

15 and the Farrier Visit

The weather was miserable. Cold, wet, rain, cold...wet, wet, cold...well you get the idea.
Dan and Danny Tesar came and we introduced them to our new horse/pony we call 15.
Yes she came from an Amish farm and needs a bit of filling out yet, but we have been so surprised by her super laid back and gentle attitude.  She was supposed to have been 'a good rider'. But as things go at auction, she really isn't what we would call well broke.
That was okay.
Rich and she got along so well. She allows him to do most anything with her. And she will accept a saddle and work with a bridle.

That was pre-stroke. We haven't messed with her except to feed her, clean her area, and brush her a lot. We had a bit of trouble picking up her back feet and I had meant to have her over that before the Tesar's showed up.

The Dan's worked quietly and patiently with 15 and trimmed her feet. She had a bit of an issue with her back feet. But the guys worked with her and concluded that she was not going to kick, she just didn't really understand and was a bit confused and frightened about having her feet worked on.

Rich stood talking to her quietly. She seemed to completely trust him and most of the time stood perfectly still.

As Dan and Danny finished up ... well something occurred that I'd never in my entire time with Rich seen him do.

15 closed her eyes and dropped her head to Rich's chest. Rich leaned forward and planted a kiss on her face.

I poked Dan as Rich turned to take her back to her pen. "Why I never! I have never in my life seen him actually kiss a horse!"

It is obvious that 15 is very important to my husband. She has touched him inside like no other animal I've ever seen. Not even his beloved Fred Mule.

We dragged in wet donkeys from the winter pasture and got their feet trimmed. Some donkeys behaved a bit badly. Normally they are calm and sweet. Dan thought perhaps it was the crappy weather.

I thought a bit and then realized that normally we have all of the donkeys clustered around when trimming. It was probably a herd sour issue. That explained that attitude of our quietest donkey.

Once the weather clears up, the donkeys will get summer haircuts and be bathed. Even Eddie the gelding I raised will be sold. However Bob, ever calm and steadfast Bob will stay. If ever there was a handsome, gentle laid back Jack, it is Bob.

I need to stop here and thank Dan and Danny Tesar of Dan Tesar Horseshoeing Co. for their excellent work and generous gift.
Rich is still pinching himself.

Hey...it isn't raining at the moment! How about some rain? It could get dry!
We only had an inch yesterday!

Busy as a bee ... I think.

The Garden is going crazy!
Of course 4 inches of rain last week probably contributed to that aspect.

It appears that I'll have a good crop of squash again this year...that is Winter Squash.
I have been picking an ice cream bucket full of green beans almost everyother day now.

The sun and heat last week between the rains burned the lettuce and a few other plants in the garden.
The cosmos is growing tall above the Squash plants.  The sweet corn? I don't know, this is my first time at doing that. I am told by a neighbor who fences his in and electrifies his patch that I should expect the ravages of raccoon.

We'll see what happens right?

Yesterday we had the farrier came and worked on the donkeys. We put everyone in a nice shady area so he and his son would not be in the hot sun.

The donkeys were extremely good and that pleased the farriers to no end.

This morning I was up very early. I decided to brave the fog and make a trip to Black Bottom Creek and take a few shots.

And I stopped at an oat field on my way back home.
The oats are ripe!

Catching up.

Sunday morning the farrier, Dan Tesar and Danny Tesar from Tesar Horseshoeing Company, came out to trim 8 head of equine.

Both Dan and Danny work together here they are trimming our Jack Stud, Bob who stands as a statue.

Danny is in the maroon colored sweatshirt, Dan is in the green one.
I really dig their sweatshirts.  I should have one and add the words...."I like my Farriers!"

Thor our other Jack put on quite a show for Dan and Danny.  He is a very odd Jack.

After they left I took Lil' Richard for a ride to see how much he remembered.  He is the first equine I've ever had that did not want to return home.  He was all for the go go go, anywhere but back to the farm.  

However he was polite and stopped for the neighbor kids and let them pet him.  Allie helped Lil' Richard check the mail.

Now Lil' Richard is a small pony so we don't ride hard, we don't ride fast, and I get off and walk with him often.  
However I found him very useful while walking along the roadside to spot interesting plants.

It is so hard to get used to those tiny little ears that are mostly hidden by that incredible bushy pony mane of his.

On our way back down the hill to the farm, I found a Santa Hat that had blown into the woods.
Lil' Richard was more than happy to model it for me.

Apparently my neighbor thinks Lil' Richard should have it as she says, "It suits him."  I think it does.

Monday morning arrived and I walked up the hill to check on Valerie, who is one of our Dexter cows. I thought she was close to calving.  Rich said she was a ways off.

Hah!  

Welcome Buster!
Born on Rich's Birthday!

He still has milk bubbles on his lips from his first feeding.  I was concerned because the temps were only in the 20's and Buster was a bit cold, but in an hour he was running around the pasture driving his mom nuts.

I spent most of the day relocating perennials and dividing them from places that will be effected by the construction.  Our Contractor showed up with the Digger Man and it sounded like they were getting ready to break ground very very soon.

After they left, I grabbed Siera and put on her headstall.  I led her to a stump and she stood stock still while I climbed up the stump and put a leg over her.

Off we went for a quick ride. We went for a cruise in the woods just for fun.

She has either gotten over her 'March Madness' and being herd sour or she thought that bareback was more fun?  

Anyway we went to look at the fence in the Merry Meadow and see where the deer had broken the old electric lines.
Looks like some fencing work for me soon!

We then rode back to the 'farm' and checked on Buster who was sleeping soundly next to his mom, Valerie.

I had left a message with the neighbors to come down and see the new calf since they'd never seen one like this before.
It was time to put Siera back and get ready for company.

Since it was Rich's birthday, I made a family sized pan of brownies and after the calf viewing and playing on the dirt hill, we all went in for a treat.

It was a great couple of days.

What will today bring?

New Farrier, visit two!

Okay he is not a New Farrier.  Let me rephrase that, he is a Certified Journeyman Farrier.
This means he holds the highest certification by the American Farriers Association. I only know that because I looked it up.

I know that titles don't always mean everything, but I've watched a few farriers in my life and know the difference between those who just do the job and those who Do The Job with knowledge.

This fellow Dan, does it with care and knowledge and he doesn't do a rush job. He points out any health issues that he sees concerning the hoof and if he has a concern with an animal's overall health he will mention it also.
Some folks would probably prefer that a farrier not point these things out, but I don't mind.  
We are just getting to know each other.  
He may see something we have overlooked or he may see something that we are already addressing. 

Siera's frogs are recovering very rapidly.  Exercise is her best medicine right now Dan says.  Well that is fine with me!  
I can see it now.  

Me: "Honey, I am going riding."
Hubby: "Jeeze again?"
Me: "Well Dan said Siera needs exercise to recover!"
Hubby: "Darn that Dan!"

Here is Dan in action.  Sorry Dan, I was not trying for a rear end shot, but wanted to get a shot of the two of you guys talking.

Dan trims Sunshine, the older red molly mule.  The lighting for photos was terrible, but I was more interested watching Dan work than taking photos. However one day I'd like to see him make a shoe!

Sunshine and Sundance were in the round pen with two of our donkeys.  The red heads were sort of being naughty so I thought I'd step in and give them something to do.

Sunshine trots past the Mule Monster while Sundance decides to halt and give it the evil mule eye.

Sundance finally decides that she should smell it and then walk on it.  After that, it was something to jump, step on, tromp, and take a bite out of...just in case it decided to turn back into a Mule Monster.

I didn't get a shot of it, but the donkeys were rather unimpressed with the whole thing.  Emma gave it a stare and willed it to lay there and be submissive while she walked by it.  Princess walked over it without a care.

So the day really was a good one for us.  I got to make the red heads work, and the donkeys too.
Plus we had excellent trim jobs.

I am looking forward to doing some more work with the red mules.  And of course...I have to exercise Siera.

Happy Easter.