All Trimmed Up

Well, as GunDiva mentioned over at Tales From the Trails, today way pedicure day for our crew.  Time for a nice barefoot trim.  They did indeed come home with some pretty long feet; they were all still balanced nicely (living on a mountain does that) but just L O N G...everywhere.  Anton commented on never having seen Jesse's heels that long, 'cause she likes them really short, and will file them herself on rocks to keep them that way.  We have found the Mustangs take really good care of their own feet, so we have them checked once a year, and they only need a trim every 2nd or 3rd year.  Yep, you heard that right.

We started with Estes, GunDiva's horse, who was a jewel.  She stood like a champ and was trimmed before I could get the camera out.

This is Estes' club foot.  Still gotta work on clearing up the thrush, but she was a happy camper when she could walk level again; no gimpiness at all; rock solid.

Estes' left front foot.  Tell us what all you see Mrs. Mom.  She had a lot of foot growth to take off.  Maybe you can check her again at HCR.

Estes' left hind; he didn't clean much of the sole off this one; again, she was really long.

Estes' right hind, the prettiest of the bunch.

Estes used to have to be drugged to be worked on.  When we took her barefoot six years ago, she became very well behaved.  We decided she just didn't like having the shoes nailed on; telling us something?  She does get a bit tender footed if used for long rides consistently, but she is never ridden that way now, so why put her through it.

On to Jesse, who tried really hard to stand still long enough, but she wanted to see everything Anton did.  Jesse is 10 years old and she has had 3 1/2 trims.  Mrs. Mom tried to do her last summer, but she was too pissy at that time, so only got a couple part way done.  Once she realized what was going on, she was pretty quiet, but her feet are so darn hard, she really dulled up his rasp.  Knowing Ranger's feet were even harder, I went to the lodge and got our new rasp.  Anton was very grateful and wanted to steal the rasp.  Anton says she still has perfect feet...as do most Mustangs in this area.

Getting started on a back hoof.

Look at that hoof wall that is appearing.  He took an even amount off all the way around the hoof, so even though he said her heels were long, she was long all over.

Look at her show off her foot with the two finger hold.  What a show-off.

I have to hand it to Anton for his patience today.  Earlier this week when we scheduled this time, the weather report was for mid-50's and sunny.  Today we actually had 20*,  30 mph wind with 40+mph gusts and snow blowing off and on.  We borrowed the neighbor's hay shed to get a little relief from the wind, however, that meant the metal roofing was banging over our heads and our guys don't like being inside at any time, so they behaved remarkably well under the circumstances.

While Jesse was getting done, GunDiva decided she needed to go for a short ride, so she got a few minutes on her horse.  Bill rode Ranger all over the place while waiting for the farrier, and me....I have to wait another two weeks.  I need to find someone to throw on my two ponies before then or they are going to nuts.

Now for the challenge horse.  Ranger has had some bad experiences with "farriers".  He is 21, was put in a chute and turned on its side for his first trim at age 10.  Not a happy camper, so he didn't have a good view of foot care.  Anton has been great with him and still has to be extremely careful and move really slowly.  Ranger only lets a very few people handle his feet.  The first trimming, six years ago, only got the front two, then the next one, two years later, was a total success.  Today was mostly successful.  The front two came out really nice, but Ranger's patience with the wind made the back feet a hurry up job, plus he was so long, Anton wants to come back in a couple months, rather than make him sore.

Ranger's feet are so hard, poor Anton was grunting every time trying to get the nippers to cut.  Ranger tried really hard to be good, but he did not like the sound of the nippers cutting through - it was pretty loud!

Making progress.  Can you imagine cutting that hoof wall?

Hey, there is some sole in there!

Washoe didn't get any pictures of his feet.  They were in pretty good condition and only took a few minutes to get done.  (Besides, MY hands were cold and my camera battery quit. Sorry, Washoe.)  He stood great and made Anton laugh about having an easy horse to finish up with.  He had to be pretty whooped by this time.  He spent two hours on the guys and left laughing.  Gotta love that kind of farrier.  Thank you, Anton.

Juanita