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 ;)
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