Farrier Visit

The Farrier was out last night to give the horses their pedicures! He used to live a few houses down from us and so he'd just walk over. Recently however, he moved, and now has about an hour buggy drive to our place - but god bless him, he still comes out! That is more than I can say for farriers whose horse power is an engine term!!

Farriers are hard to come by anymore it seems; at least good farriers that is. There is an old saying "No Hoof, No Horse" -- though strong, large creatures, they are yet so fragile. And the hoof is a serious issue on the horse. If the hooves are not healthy, the horse is not healthy. My Amish farrier does a pretty good job and he still comes after he moved an hour [buggy drive time] away so I can't complain!

I keep my horses barefoot; their is no need for them to have shoes. While each of them have completely different hooves, they all have healthy enough hooves to be barefoot...and I am sure they appreciate that!

Apollo has hooves of steel! Aside from a small hoof issue we battled when I first adopted him, that resulted in my having to actually purchase boots for him to wear when he was turned out in the spring time {mud}, his hooves seem to withstand ANYTHING! Gypsy is our problem child when it comes to hooves, and I use that term lightly since they really aren't a 'problem'. She has a softer hoof though and they are rather flat too. Hers chip a lot easier and since she insists on standing her back hooves where she poo's we battle thrush a tad more with her. (Thrush is a bacterial 'infection' of sorts that is not uncommon at all, but if left untreated, can become a major problem for the horse)

Romeo is like a mini Apollo; hooves of steel on a smaller scale ;) And Daisy.....well, the farrier came out this time with a special pair of newly purchased "mini nippers" to use on her since her hooves are the size of tic-tacs compares to Apollo & Gypsy's!

I always ask questions about the horses 'Joe' brings. Last time he rode over on his stallion - boy was he BEAUTIFUL and HUGE. This time, he hitched up his 'family mare'; she is a 7 year old Standardbred. Originally to be a track horse, she wasn't fast enough and Joe bought her from her track owners at 2. She was a doll. She was huge and gorgeous with mule-like ears that Standardbreds often seem to have and her eyes pierced my soul; she was kind and gentle. And she stood there, hitched, without having to be tied as well. What an angel. She can retire on my farm if she wants ;)

And this is a picture of Apollo getting his pedicure with the dark Standardbred mare & buggy in the background. You will notice Amish always have dark bay or black colored horses pull their buggy's. (Not their work/draft horses, as those are Belgian's a lot of times, which are lighter colored horses). I don't know why it is with the dark colored buggy horses and I didn't want to ask...well, I did want to ask, but I refrained! Allen thought this picture looked funny and odd with a stark white horse against the backdrop of an Amish buggy & horse :) You probably won't ever see an Amish buggy horse ;)

Farmer's Market Success?

So last nights Farmer's Market in Orrville was not, I assume, as busy as a Farmer's Market could be, but it was a good experience.

On my way there, I stopped to grab an iced coffee and some fast food. At the first drive-thru window where I needed to pay, the young kid at the window proceeded to comment on how man apples I had in my car...as if I hadn't noticed! Then, at the second window, the younger dark haired kid exclaimed, "Whoaaa [imagine this is young, male teen "far out dude" voice!] That is a lot of apples you have in there....ya get a good deal or something at a market or orchard or something?" I thanked him for my order and explained that I WAS the orchard and I was trying to sell them as I pulled away from the window!

I was a little hesitant when I pulled up to see that the only other people with booths set up were Amish. How can I compete with the Amish at a Farmer's Market!! No worries, more local farmers showed up shortly, none of which had apples to sell!

My mom brought beautiful flower bouquets she picked from her gardens as well as fresh basil, thyme, dill and chives. It was a nice touch to help draw attention to our booth.

I found that most of the "older people" who stopped by the booth knew of the apple, a Transparent, and most others had never heard of it and were actually surprised to see someone already selling apples! It was exciting to have some walk up and be excited at the apples at proceed to purchase 2 dozen for sauce making!

Mom had to stroll the lane of vendors to check out everyone's goodies...as well as see who was undercutting her on the price of the herbs ;)

And of course, anytime one of us does something new, it is never not a family party! The only one missing was my brother. My relatives visiting from California were anxious, I am sure, to go home and tell people they vacationed in Orrville, OH!

On a positive note, the apples that sold brought in approx. $20; certainly not a paycheck, but the experience was what mattered! I was lucky enough to have the hubs stay home to look after the dogs and make sure the horses got brought in and fed...and thankfully, he cleaned their stalls too! Now if I can only teach him to do the laundry......