Not much riding has taken place lately for me and my four legged friends. The weather has been cold, windy, and rainy. I’m sure my horse friends in the Mid-west will think I’m a riding wimp now after living in California for so long. That may be true as I no longer ride when the weather is bad and stick to days it’s sunny, safe and enjoyable. Maybe it’s self-preservation at this stage in my riding career, but I do want to live to ride another day!
Whether riding or not horses still need their feet trimmed and for some new shoes. My horses get pedicures and new shoes more often than I do!
In the winter, when not riding as much, I pull the shoes from those who wear them and usually let the time between farrier appointments go a bit longer. The hooves seem to grow a bit more slowly in the colder weather and the horses are wearing them down as they run around the hard packed dirt of the pasture.
One of my horses, Derby, needs pads with his front shoes as his soles are very thin. He gets ouchy and will limp a bit without them. In addition to the hard packed ground, there are a lot of rocks in my area and on most of the trails I ride. My other main riding horse, Dollie, has very hard feet and can go barefoot all year. I do put front shoes on her when riding her a lot as she wears them down quickly and they can get chipped up. I don’t put shoes on their hind hooves as I wouldn’t want the horses to hurt each other in the pasture if they are playing and kicking. They are all pretty lazy and get along, but better to be safe than have an injury.
As we approach February and the weather is beginning to warm up, and it was time for a spa day for the herd. I called my farrier extraordinaire, who despite it being a high wind warning day with cold northeast winds, treated all four horses to a pedicure. My old, retired gelding Timmy, who shuffles around the pasture, got a trim. Lucky, the pregnant mare had her hooves cleaned up and the rough edges smoothed out in anticipation of Lucky baby’s arrival. Dollie, was trimmed up and is now ready for a trail ride and Derby got his front shoes and pads put back on for an up-coming horse show.
We are all ready to get out and on the trails again!
