Tuesday, August 29, 2017

First Farrier Appointment!

Ok so technically calling this a "first" farrier appointment is a misnomer because obviously Zoebird is four and well taken care of, so obviously she has had her feet done before. I mean. Her former owner, a farrier, picked her feet up and hammered on them for me to show me that she was fine. 
O HAI ITS U
Buuuuuut.

You know. You take a baby horse from the forested mountains that she grew up in and drop her in the desert with a bunch of strangers and completely change the expectations for her life, and it's a bit stupid to expect everything to stay the same.

So anyways. Zozobird has fabulous Percheron feet. She's four. She's never worn shoes. She was definitely due for a trim.

It's stupidly hot (still) and the flies are TERRIBLE (don't get me started on dumping pig manure on fields right now) and work has been exhausting, so when I showed up at the barn and my friend was having the farrier out, I begged us an appointment so we wouldn't have to roast in the sun-toasted arena.
IT BURNS US PRECIOUS
Anywhoodle. I'm that weird dork that asks a million questions of qualified professionals so I watched him work on a couple other horses and tried not to be too annoying, then we pulled out Zoe. 
#adultammystrong yes those are heels at the barn
I'd told him about the draft cross thing and when I said "momma was a paint" he started on like "paints tend to have trouble with their digital cushion like the one we just looked at" and then I said daddy was a Percheron and he was immediately "PERCHERONS HAVE AMAZING FEET" and then he looked at her and was like "omg yay percheron feet!" (my interpretation after a long hot day. not his actual words). 

I warned him Zoe was a baby with a baby attention span and baby issues. 

I didn't really need to. 
SMOOSHY NOSE
Zoe was all "o hai" and then a total superstar. We talked about transitioning from a mountain environment to the desert a little and we talked about her changing from teenage feet to adult horse feet--he commented that baby feet tend to be more spongy whereas adult hooves are harder. You can actually see the growth line of the grown up feet coming in on Zoe, which is pretty cool. 

He raved about her big, solid feet with excellent concavity. He also said that if at all possible, he likes to leave shoes off of babies so that they can keep growing and developing--apparently if the shoe helps them compensate for structural weakness while they're growing, then the foot kinda stops developing in the younger horses. I've never had a proper baby before so that was a fascinating insight. Good news is that Zoe is doing great barefoot, so we're greenlighted to continue on. 
unrelated photo of farrier and vet consult over a mobile xray for a different horse
I mean. It's probably silly to write up like "my horse got a trim and it was a total non-event", but it's just so weird to me to have the horse that's non-dramatic, well-behaved, and has awesome feet. Like. Awesome.

<3 Ms Zoebird

30 comments:

  1. aw i <3 everything about "poneh's first {insert whatever here} with me" milestones tho!

    it's all about building up that knowledge bank, that history of shared experiences that helps us better know our horses and understand how they'll continue to develop!! :D

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    1. Definitely. She's such a good girl most of the time so it's really enlightening for me when we have wee baby temper tantrums here and there so I can see what I'll get under saddle eventually. (Prognosis: so far, so good.)

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  2. I'm 99% sure that is the same farrier that does Charmer's feet! If so, I love him. He is really good about talking with me and answering all my weird questions.
    How cool to have a horse that makes a farrier appointment a non-event though!

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  3. I'm more impressed with that last picture. Why can't that be my farrier and vet?! But yay, good strong baby feetsies!!

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    1. Yeah that's a pretty great picture. I value that feature in my pros.

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  4. Hooray for good feet and well behaved Ms. ZB!

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  5. Yay!!! So glad she had a successful trim :)

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  6. The "firsts" are always exciting!

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  7. Non-event = HUGE event! So happy to hear she got a gold star with the farrier! And hooray for barefoot (for as long as you can)!!!!

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    1. I've never had a horse with good feet before. Ever. My world is being rocked.

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  8. Good mareface!
    Drogo had a defensive kicking problem when I first got him. The last time he was trimmed was the first time he didn't try to kick the farrier. #progress

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    1. I try so hard to have horses that are good to work on. It's definitely a different process for each one.

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  9. I really wish your farrier had actually said that!

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  10. Cool farrier who shares info. I like to leave em barefoot as long as I can too, seems to work. Yay good feet.

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    1. I've never had good feet before. It's magical. :-)

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  11. That is fascinating insight and totally makes sense to me!

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    1. Yeah definitely. I'd never thought about it but it resonates.

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