Author: Elaine

The farrier found a roofing nail in Rags’ foot. We believe these nails are a remnant of our old barn’s (really a shed) former tarpaper roof. This one hadn’t done any apparent damage to Rags, since it seems to have missed any soft areas.

My farrier also pulled Hap’s shoes. We had been debating whether to do so since he won’t get much use for a while. Not only would doing so save me some money, but barefoot horses do better in the snow. She was happy with the way his feet looked, and the ground should be soft from the snow for a few days so he can adjust to his new barefoot status. He had suffered the effects of poor shoeing when I bought him, and it took a long time to get his hooves looking healthy with solid hoof walls and adequate soles. I still think of him as having soft feet, even though he has great feet now, at least for a Thoroughbred. I will probably worry about him for a few days until I see how he is doing.

Smoke was the hardest horse for her to trim. He can’t hold his right front leg up long enough for even a trim, due to apparent stiffness in the knee. My farrier had to lean down a lot further than she would like to be able to trim and file the foot. She thought he looked in good weight. Making sure old horses get enough calories is a challenge since they don’t have any teeth. My farrier only sees him every eight to ten weeks, and she has a better idea of whether he is maintaining his weight than I do, since I see him every day.