You will never see pictures of my ponies getting their pedicures. Why? Well because my farier is amish and amish do not appreciate their pictures taken. But regaurdless he is a darn good farier. Every 6 weeks I head over to pick up Jessie and his anvil and bring him back to the farm. One of the first times Jessie cam out to our place about 5 years ago my husband went to pick him up and when they got to the house his wife had come with him. She gets out of the car and well she was barefoot. We headed to the barn to get the horses and all the while the girl had no shoes on. Nontheless they are a very nice family and it has been a cool experience getting to know not just that family but alot of amish families in our area. But really when you go to the barn put on some dang shoes!
My husband loves to badger them with questions like "so you can ride in a car but not drive a car?" or "oh you came from Pennsylvania. how long did it take you to get here in the buggy?". They are really good sports though or at least they put up with him long enough to take his money.
I am having him take Steady's shoes off and see how it goes. He only has front shoes on and they were only put on after our first trail ride and he came up lame because his hooves wore down to the sole within the first 2 hours out. As an OTTB he has probably had shoes on his whole life. I am hoping that we can go barefoot over the next few months and we will see how things go in the spring. Tomorrow at one I pick up Jessie and all the pony boys get their feets cleaned up.
Not your average OTTB given another chance at a new life and a mostly average busy Mom who never gave up on her dream to ride again. An unlikely pair at an unlikely time, learning to event and loving life!
I am intrigued by Amish people... particularly as they relate to Bartville Harness Shop. Someday, I will go there.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, enjoy your sweet setup.
PS I never post pictures of my farrier, either. It's not that he's Amish, just that it seems a little weird, I guess.
Had Jumble's shoes pulled last week. He only had fronts on. Now he's gimping around, so we'll see how it goes. It startled me when I saw that the next schooling show is in Feb at CAF. Maybe I should have left them on!
ReplyDeleteThat is true I think it might be strange to take pics of him amish or not. Though I am tempted to sneak one on my phone :).
ReplyDeletesmck- now you got me worried. I don't know if I will be going in Feb. anyways. I would rather go out for a lesson than a show at this point. I guess if worse comes to worse I can just get him back out here to put them on. I may be getting a job at a stable near by soon and I am hoping they will let me haul in and ride in their indoor over the winter. That way I can at least not loose ground with this awful riding weather. I am soooo excited about event camp though!! Did you ever get your lesson in Dec? How did it go?
Amy-
ReplyDeleteIt has taken my ottb over year to transition to being comfortably barefoot, but it has been well worth it. Winter is a good time to make the change.
Does the Amish farrier trim a lot of barefoot horses, or are his horses ever barefoot?
Apparently one problem with thoroughbreds is thin soles. Val would get sore working on any kind of hard surface or on gravels. Now I paint Venice Turpentine on his soles weekly. It hardens them up nicely and is easy to find and inexpensive.
Amy-I think you know Laz is an OTTB and is barefoot, happily. He was a little sore in the beginning too so I slowly weaned him off shoes, into easy boots and then barefoot. We also have pea gravel in his paddock which helps stimulates the hoof and strengthen it. It's a patient transition, you may have to alter your ride times to get him used to it. It's like when we go from socks/winter boots to flip flops..it hurts for a little while and then mid summer you are good to walk for miles in flips :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I hope you enjoy it and Steady does too-give him time!
Amish people are intriguing to me too. I have gotton to know them alot over the last 6 years. I really enjoy living near them because they add a calm quiet quality to the community. Though there is alot that surprised me about them the more I got to know them.
ReplyDeleteGlad to announce that first ride post shoe removal and no signs of soreness!!
My ferrier does trim plenty of barefoot horses. He is fantastic with feet and after reading about others horror stories about there ferrier I am very grateful. He is all about being barefoot if you can. He also is very wise about when it is good to shoe. I have never had a bad trim on any of my horses.
With a Thoroughbred I would just be sure they don't pare away any sole since they are thin anyways. Also when you go on long trail rides you might want to use easy boots on him so he doesn't grind away too much of his feet. :) The others gave really good advice. Good luck!!
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