I haven’t mentioned yet that we have ‘foster horses’. It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s kind of like we’re boarding them for free because they still belong to someone else but we get to use them… for something. But they’re draft horses & I never learned how to hook up that whole crazy rigging system. I don’t know what I’d do with them if I learned. Go grocery shopping? I kind of wish they were saddle broken because I do sometimes miss riding.
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| Luna & Dixie |
The farrier came out yesterday to trim their hooves. Dixie looked like she needed it pretty bad & Luna’s hooves were in good shape but best to keep it that way.
We used to have these stocks that belonged to my aunt back when she was a farrier. Basically stocks are supposed to help you secure a large and/or cranky horse and make it easier to get their feet trimmed up.They were kind of falling apart and I guess my dad gave them to the guy who owns the horses. He fixed them up and brought them back over here with the horses.
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| Dixie is unphased the whole hoof care and being in the stocks process |
The farrier suggested that we should chain the stocks to a tree. Just in case. Which turned out to be a good plan.
Dixie went in and out, got her hooves trimmed up and was mostly unphased by the whole process.
Apparently Luna is fairly young and isn’t really even used to a regular stall. She’s been in a box stall most of her life. She’s had her hooves taken care of by some Amish people who don’t use crazy contraptions like this. She didn’t like it at all.
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| Some early complaining |
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| The first hoof gets done without much trouble |
But then…
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| Luna has a freakout and manages to thrash herself up and over the front bar with her right foot still tied to the post. I thought she was going to hurt herself. |
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| They extract her from her tangle |
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| And try to end on a positive note so she won’t have traumatic memories of being in the stocks. They’ll finish her feet another day. |
There’s nothing less rational than a panicked horse. They’ll kill themselves trying to get away from a posted sign if the light hits it right.
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