I couldn't help myself.
So, let's talk about the weekend because it wasn't really epic, with a side of bitching about my farrier, also not epic.
On Friday, when I had brief thoughts of power walking in the big, freshly mowed, calling-my-fucking-name field, I found out that Archie had thrown his other shoe. I know some people ride horses who are normally shod even when they are missing shoes, but I am not one of them. Specifically, because my farrier told me not to last summer, stating that his little hoofers would eventually crumble to nothing and he'd have nothing left on which to tack a shoe. Not so many words. Same gist.
So the Kid got cookies and groomed and had his hooves oiled (oiled?! yeah - to help prevent some minute amount of water absorption) and was tossed back out into the field to be a crippled pony. Prior to this discovery, I'd already ordered a cheap hoof wrap from SmartPak and an even cheaper bottle of hoof sealer. I vacillated heavily on the Keratex versus the cheap stuff, because the marketing and the word of mouth, but ultimately settled on Tuff Stuff because money.
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| Money. I eats it. |
Good thing, too. The vet visit for the girls was roughly half a grand for their yearly vaccines, fecals, and heartworm tests. I miss employee discounts. Hard. The perk of all this was that the vet was super impressed the girls' weights and conditions. She said that Scarlette's mobility has improved since being on an OTC joint medication and Savannah had lost a few more pounds. Old dogs do not look or act old.
And then more less-epic stuff. Like the washer that my mom gave me seven years ago deciding that a metal-on-metal grinding noise was the best thing ever. Which we maybe fixed - next load will determine. And then my husband taught me to replace an iPhone screen, only I lost a screw, which didn't impress him, and then the screen we purchased for the phone fell apart almost immediately, so we had to put the old screen back on. Less-epic.
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| Ahem. |
I got to watch other people ride on Sunday, including a Tennessee Walking Horse. I've never tried to photograph a gait and holy shit. Not nailed. Not nailed at all.
This, though? Nailed. Mostly. You can still see a bit of the blue leash above his left ear.
Which kinda-sorta brings us to this morning. BM sent me a text at 7:15 saying that the farrier, who has been on vacation, could be out that day. Awesome. Except I can't get money to the barn just like that, which I think the BM was willing to front me. Then the farrier asks if I want aluminum or steel. We did steel last summer and I'll have to review if they really made a difference, but they're slightly cheaper and cheaper is good right now, so I say steel. To which he replies that he would have to order them. Wait, what? So I say, whatever the man has on his trailer, let's nail to my horse so he can have feet. Oh, but nevermind. The farrier actually doesn't think that alums would be good right now anyways, so let's just wait for the steel to come in and we'll have Archie shod next Monday. Because.............. farriers run out of steel shoes?
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33 comments
Ugh... you cannot catch a break! Not cool
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of weird. Never thought a farrier wouldn't have steel shoes.
ReplyDelete...me neither. >:(
DeleteThat's really weird to me... Also your farrier won't bill you? I'm normally there but when I'm not my farrier has always billed me in the past.
ReplyDeleteYou can't catch a break.
My first-ever farrier, at the big barn, would bill the barn and they would include it on my monthly board bill. I've never had another do that. This guy won't even take checks anymore - cash only.
DeleteI feel like at this point, I'd just quit and go on vacation if I were you. So frustrating.
ReplyDeleteMy farrier just sends an email letter and we send a check.
I can't even send a check! Just cash.
DeleteDoes alcohol count as a vacation?
Yeah, not ideal...always waiting on those farriers, they hold all the power. Maybe a business opportunity though...farrier on demand, like roto-rooter???? Career change?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there are enough horses here to warrant the attempt. I'd love to become a barefoot trimmer, because I hold secret hopes that Archie could one day go barefoot. But man.. that start up cost to be farrier. Ouch.
Deleteoh dear. that is so frustrating. I keep a hoof boot in case my horse throws a shoe. That does make it better.
ReplyDeleteCurrently covering that aspect, hopefully.
DeleteBah, damn shoes and farriers and cracked screens.
ReplyDeleteBut I learned new stuff! That's good, right?!
DeleteI would love to know if anyone actually notices a difference with aluminum versus steel. A friend says it makes a difference but to me.... a minimal difference to a large animal... i just dont know..
ReplyDeleteMy vet at the time of our PPE advised aluminum fronts due to Archie's poor scoring on his front end flex test. He got a 2 on his knees. He's been in them for almost a decade and has no noticeable issues with his knees. Maybe it's the shoes. Maybe it's the glucosamine/chondrotin/msm/bee spit. Either way, my preference is not to change a thing.
DeleteI hate farriers. They are all divas and I hate them.
ReplyDeleteCan't beat them, join them?
DeleteAt least you can show him off in beautiful pictures... It'll get better... Soon, I hope!
ReplyDelete...or I'm experiencing the "better" now and it all gets worse! MUHAHAHHA
DeleteYeah I might fire that farrier... You should definitely escape to a tropical island for about a month or so.
ReplyDeleteOr Europe. For a week or two.
DeleteI literally just went through the same thing with the shoes! Roger wears lightweight steel shoes (because he's a typical TB and not a 17h draft cross) but the farrier only had the regular steel shoes on his truck, so Roger is now wearing a heavier steel shoe...which makes him move a little funny, almost like his feet are too heavy to pick up. Trainer/BO doesn't love him in these shoes, so next cycle we'll switch back to his normal lightweight shoe but I guess the saving grace is that he's less likely to bend and/or throw these heavier shoes?
ReplyDeleteI digress.
Sorry to hear about your farrier troubles, that seriously is a pain in the ass. I second Allison's thoughts on escaping to a tropical island for a while. I hear Tahiti is nice this time of year?
It's weird how such a little thing can make such a difference. I think he uses regular steel when he gets steel, but the only reason we switch off of it is because the farrier swears that they'll stay on better during the summer and he'll lose less hoof to crumbling. I'm not sure I believe him, mostly because I have very little faith left in the man.
DeleteI woke up today with this fucking song stuck in my head and my first thoughts were "fuck that beka burke..."
ReplyDeleteIT WORKED! I actually mostly hate the Smashing Pumpkins. Like, violently.
DeleteBoo to farrier shit...but that last photo of Archie...srsly...drool.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't hurt that he's so handsome.
DeleteWhat the hell is up with your farrier?!
ReplyDeletePerpetual payback for Archie nailing him in the balls.
DeleteOn the farrier money front, I understand that part because while I have a lot of clients that I would trust to send me money, I also do plenty that I would flat out refuse to leave their property without a check in my hand, because I'd never ever get paid otherwise. And some clients that I have allowed to get away with sending me a check have "forgotten" to pay me until like a month later.... or forgotten to pay me at all, and then just go get a new farrier... not that I want to keep those kinds of people as clients anyway, but it's a loss of revenue and it sucks. So, that's probably where he's coming from there.
ReplyDeleteAs for running out of shoes, it happens if you don't plan and order accordingly. Vacation tends to screw the schedule up really bad but you still gotta have your inventory in... that one is just bad planning.
I feel like he's been my farrier long enough that if there were questions about the ability to get paid, we'd have addressed them already. As I talked it over with my husband last night, this man has been doing my horse's shoes for half the time I've owned my horse. That's huge. And we've only really had big problems since moving to this horse-hating place. I realize it's mostly the wet land rather than the skills of my farrier, but I can't help but wonder if someone else could do better. He told my BM that he mostly didn't want to come out and do shoes yesterday "to save me money" because he'd be back out in three weeks to do more shoes. I just... can't say I believe it.
DeleteYeah, super poor planning. >:(
So, I'm not a farrier, definitely not.... but I've never heard of using aluminum vs steel because of pulling shoes? And Miles pulls shoes. Miles is in aluminum up front and regular steel behind because he hunters and the lighter weight of aluminum gives me a slightly more floaty trot. But aluminums can't be hot fitted -- don't know if that matters to you or not.
ReplyDeleteugh that's so annoying.... hopefully he gets his shoes pronto!!! also that rat is adorable haha
ReplyDeleteThanks!