for want of a nail...
October 25, 2018 2:37 PM Subscribe
"Without a good shoeing, a horse can indeed be lost. Enter the farrier."
Horse farrier interview
Much more at Anvil Magazine.
Horse farrier interview
Much more at Anvil Magazine.
Being kicked clear across a stall is no fun, even as a younger man, says my husband, who is glad those days are past. But he had an excellent experience as a farrier's apprentice, and then in running his own small business. I still run across old nippers and random horseshoes every time I clean the barn...and oh my God, his pained face every time I pick up the wrong hammer for any given job...
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:47 PM on October 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:47 PM on October 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
My grandmother had a pony on her property and neglected him; his hooves weren't trimmed, and as a result they eventually had to put him down.
posted by Peach at 3:03 PM on October 25, 2018
posted by Peach at 3:03 PM on October 25, 2018
Peach, the first thing I look at in a horse is the feet. You really can tell how well they're taken care of that way.
Lovely article. I've got nothing but admiration for a good farrier.
posted by fiercecupcake at 3:26 PM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Lovely article. I've got nothing but admiration for a good farrier.
posted by fiercecupcake at 3:26 PM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm looking forward to the new Bojack Horseman: Enter the Farrier movie!
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:57 PM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:57 PM on October 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
The farriers on Forged in Fire have noticeably -- brisker? more direct? -- approaches than even the older, professional other smiths. At least one of them won her round.
posted by clew at 3:58 PM on October 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by clew at 3:58 PM on October 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Slight derail, but on the "Horse shoe" proverb mentioned in the title. I often teach in front of adults, and the other day I mentioned "You know, for the want of a horse shoe nail..." and there was total blank looks, even when I explained the proverb in a bit more detail. You know you're old if adults give you blank looks like this!
posted by greenhornet at 4:20 PM on October 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by greenhornet at 4:20 PM on October 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
Frank E. Boy's new shoes (3 Mules, FB but public, Oct. 23)
posted by christopherious at 5:05 PM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by christopherious at 5:05 PM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
this is making me want to slide over to the alternate universe where Lincoln Chaffee was the unexpected victor of the 2016 presidential election.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 5:10 PM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 5:10 PM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
My older brother has bought, traded, bred, and showed Belgian draft horses for over 40 years. His son -- naturally -- became a farrier. Joel is a real big man, burly, husky, strong as hell. The kind of guy, when you're standing next to him with arms draped over each others shoulders for pictures, his back and shoulders are huge, and solid, it's like draping your arm around a commercial boiler, or maybe a silo. This has-served him well in the work. Horses are not small, draft horses are even not smaller, and apparently you do need to wrestle them some, though maybe when they see Joel getting out of that pick-up they look at one another like "Fuck it, let's just be citizens." I know that's what I'd say, was I in in their shoes. (Rim shot!)
People want him to work on their horses, he's even traveled some, mostly before their children showed up on the scene; they'd sweep down into Kentucky and even all the way down here into Texas. He apprenticed with a guy who'd been at it forever, which is what I'd want to do also -- experience isn't everything, but it's a lot. And he's a real farrier, Joel is, he's not just some clown who'll just nail on a shoe without knowledge or regard for the animal. Like the guy profiled in Texas Monthly, Joel is the real deal, banging and clanging away on red-hot steel, helping your horse, helping you.
He's carrying around a back injury, which apparently is just part of the show, part of being a farrier. Rare is the working man who hasn't hosed his back, you're young and dumb and by god you can do any goddamn thing that comes your way. I remember to the second my first real back injury, probably Joel remembers his own with the same clarity. Hopefully he's only had one but I'd bet against that.
Like the couple profiled, Joel met his wife when they were young, and met one another around horses. I don't remember the exact story -- move a thousand miles away from your people and you'll miss out on a lot. It's a good marriage, looks like from here, they've a nice house on some nice property and Joel put up a small barn and they all have horses.
That couple profiled drive around what I think is the prettiest piece of Texas, Big Bend, so named because there's a big bend in Rio Grande in that part of the state. They live in Alpine, and Alpine a great town, I always think of Tucson maybe sixty years ago, or seventy. If you've seen the movie "No Country For Old Men" you've seen the part of Texas which they drive in. It's so goddamn raw, ravaged by the heat, ravaged by the wind, everything has thorns, all the plants tough as an old boot. I didn't see any beauty there at all, not the first few times I drove through -- it just looked heat-blasted, sand-blasted, with this lunar kind of emptiness. I've come to love it. It took a little time, is all, not but 25 or 30 years. I'm envious that this couple get to drive around together doing what they love doing, with the exact person they love doing it with.
posted by dancestoblue at 10:02 PM on October 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
People want him to work on their horses, he's even traveled some, mostly before their children showed up on the scene; they'd sweep down into Kentucky and even all the way down here into Texas. He apprenticed with a guy who'd been at it forever, which is what I'd want to do also -- experience isn't everything, but it's a lot. And he's a real farrier, Joel is, he's not just some clown who'll just nail on a shoe without knowledge or regard for the animal. Like the guy profiled in Texas Monthly, Joel is the real deal, banging and clanging away on red-hot steel, helping your horse, helping you.
He's carrying around a back injury, which apparently is just part of the show, part of being a farrier. Rare is the working man who hasn't hosed his back, you're young and dumb and by god you can do any goddamn thing that comes your way. I remember to the second my first real back injury, probably Joel remembers his own with the same clarity. Hopefully he's only had one but I'd bet against that.
Like the couple profiled, Joel met his wife when they were young, and met one another around horses. I don't remember the exact story -- move a thousand miles away from your people and you'll miss out on a lot. It's a good marriage, looks like from here, they've a nice house on some nice property and Joel put up a small barn and they all have horses.
That couple profiled drive around what I think is the prettiest piece of Texas, Big Bend, so named because there's a big bend in Rio Grande in that part of the state. They live in Alpine, and Alpine a great town, I always think of Tucson maybe sixty years ago, or seventy. If you've seen the movie "No Country For Old Men" you've seen the part of Texas which they drive in. It's so goddamn raw, ravaged by the heat, ravaged by the wind, everything has thorns, all the plants tough as an old boot. I didn't see any beauty there at all, not the first few times I drove through -- it just looked heat-blasted, sand-blasted, with this lunar kind of emptiness. I've come to love it. It took a little time, is all, not but 25 or 30 years. I'm envious that this couple get to drive around together doing what they love doing, with the exact person they love doing it with.
posted by dancestoblue at 10:02 PM on October 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
Farrier day was just a couple of days ago here. Our main farrier did 9 horses before we went on to the next place with one of the boarders.
Funny story. Seems like it happens all the time that I wind up being the only one here on farrier day, and this week was no exception. We've had some turnover, and so I don't know every horse as well as I'd like. So I got told, "Just go catch the paint with two different color eyes wearing one shoe."
Well, New Spirit's eyes aren't really different colors and I'm not sure why anybody thinks so. He's basically identical to one of the border horses in color, size, and temperament. Of course they're best buddies and were standing right next to each other when I got out to where they were standing in the pasture.
So I look at their feet, and don't see any shoes. I check one, then the other. I try picking up their feet. No shoes. Then I find the shoe laying on the ground. "Well that's super great," I say to the four horses standing nearby.
Flustered, I called the boss and got told, "Well, see which one has nail holes," which was good advice. Reasonably confident I had the right horse, I put a halter on New Spirit and led him down to the tack room over the objections of his girlfriend, Birch.
Once there, I try to tell my funny story. Producing the missing shoe at the appropriate moment. No chuckle. Nothin'. Don't try to tell horse stories to a farrier is what I'm saying.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:57 PM on October 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Funny story. Seems like it happens all the time that I wind up being the only one here on farrier day, and this week was no exception. We've had some turnover, and so I don't know every horse as well as I'd like. So I got told, "Just go catch the paint with two different color eyes wearing one shoe."
Well, New Spirit's eyes aren't really different colors and I'm not sure why anybody thinks so. He's basically identical to one of the border horses in color, size, and temperament. Of course they're best buddies and were standing right next to each other when I got out to where they were standing in the pasture.
So I look at their feet, and don't see any shoes. I check one, then the other. I try picking up their feet. No shoes. Then I find the shoe laying on the ground. "Well that's super great," I say to the four horses standing nearby.
Flustered, I called the boss and got told, "Well, see which one has nail holes," which was good advice. Reasonably confident I had the right horse, I put a halter on New Spirit and led him down to the tack room over the objections of his girlfriend, Birch.
Once there, I try to tell my funny story. Producing the missing shoe at the appropriate moment. No chuckle. Nothin'. Don't try to tell horse stories to a farrier is what I'm saying.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:57 PM on October 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Crazy hard work and they don't get paid enough, but it's still expensive when you have several horses. So hard to find a good one.
We quit shoeing long ago, but still had a woman for a while to trim that was good and reasonably priced. She didn't live close by, so we ended up learning to trim between visits. So much work just to do that.
posted by bongo_x at 12:12 AM on October 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
We quit shoeing long ago, but still had a woman for a while to trim that was good and reasonably priced. She didn't live close by, so we ended up learning to trim between visits. So much work just to do that.
posted by bongo_x at 12:12 AM on October 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
A friend and her husband have a business trimming hooves for those who want to avoid shoes. Would they be farriers? They work incredibly hard and it is just the two of them, but they love it and love horses, they have three of their own along with many cats and dogs. Yes, they have been kicked. They are in Ventura CA and had to rescue their horses from one of the wildfires.
We spoke to a farrier in Ireland at a horse farm and charming horse museum somewhere in Co Clare. It is an honorable old profession that I admire.
posted by mermayd at 5:43 AM on October 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
We spoke to a farrier in Ireland at a horse farm and charming horse museum somewhere in Co Clare. It is an honorable old profession that I admire.
posted by mermayd at 5:43 AM on October 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yep, mermayd, there are definitely "barefoot farriers" -- a good farrier will know when a horse is better off without shoes, which should always be a second-best option to natural feet, I think. Of course I was lucky to have a horse who could go barefoot! Much quicker and cheaper.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:11 AM on October 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:11 AM on October 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
If horses were people, farrier edition.
posted by drlith at 9:47 AM on October 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by drlith at 9:47 AM on October 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
My farrier training lasted a year, then I apprenticed under a master wizard magical farrier who could convince an overfed psycho thoroughbred to stand still while he popped out his wolf teeth with a hammer and a chisel. Early skills were developed at the forge, learning to build all of my tools out of bar stock, excepting the rasp and nails. We learned the horse, not just the foot. I was taught that shoeing was a more or less necessary evil for many horses, but that not all horses needed have iron nailed to their feet. Many horses have a season that doesn't demand that they be shod. If so, it's better to leave the shoes off, but regular trims are still indicated, both to keep the hooves dressed, and to inspect the hooves for problems.
As time passed I got kicked and or bitten less and less. Mostly that was because I learned to look at the animal I worked on, and tried to understand what he was all about. Most horses and mules don't just haul off and kick you without giving you some sort of notice. As time passed I realized that teaching new animals was about establishing a dialogue of sorts, and that most of them would rather not wrestle if I just worked it out with them. Their owners saw this as training, but I saw it as just being courteous to the critter. Sometimes this dialogue took a few sessions to establish, and many owners didn't want to spend the few bucks per session that I charged, and were content to have me do rope tricks to accomplish a trim or shoeing. I usually dropped these clients after a while, because, in those days a trim cost $10 and shoeing cost $25. On cooperative critters, I could do five or six normal trims, or two or three shoeing jobs, in the time it took me to do one bad actor.
Most horses and mules weren't really mean. They kick and bite one another all the time during "horseplay," and I'm sure they usually don't intend to harm each other. So, when they step on your toes or snap a hind foot into your leg they aren't really trying to put you in the hospital. Equines have rich senses of humor, although being the farrier, their jokes aren't really that funny. I once had a percheron colt, whose huge back foot I had in my lap, decide it would be funny if he picked up his other hind foot, and let me hold up his whole rear end. I wasn't amused, and even today (fifty years later) my back reminds me of that day. Some attacks, say, strikes with the front feet, actually are laced with ill-will, but these are fairly rare. In any case, a few training sessions often can gain a rapport with the critter. Mostly they would rather not hassle, but rather the session be more or less calm and even friendly.
I discovered early on that training session often involved training the owners as much as "teaching" their horses; that is, showing them how they can provide a healthy environment for their horses' feet, and ways to handle their critters without encouraging bad behavior. Many owners don't realize how much they can affect their critters' behavior. It was satisfying to see an owner learn how to pick up his critter's feet and clean the bottom of the hoof. I guess it was a sort of letdown when they realized that I wasn't a magician, and that anybody can learn this stuff, but it made my job a lot easier if they did this simple thing now and then.
Trimming the foot requires you to look a the conformation all the way to the shoulder. A bad trim or shoe job affects the horse the same way bad shoes might affect you. In extreme cases you can cripple a horse by putting the wrong angle on the hoof. In milder cases you can simply throw off the timing or flight of the hoof, causing a variety of issues, for example striking the side of the front hoof with one of the back hooves. Balancing a foot is critical, and most farriers can learn to see what's flat, level, and judge the angle up to about a 10 thousandth of an inch. I used to carry a "hoof gauge" to allow me to more easily see the proper angle of the bottom of the hoof to the coronary band. Another skill involves learning to control the nail. Horseshoe nails are precision items, beveled on the sharp end so that the farrier can control where it exits the hoof wall by the force with which he hits it with his shoeing hammer. The objective is more that cosmetic on some hooves, maybe because of flaws in the hoof wall. In any case neat clinches are one sign of an educated hammer. The soft head of the nail is meant to fill the crease, to contribute to its seat over a month or so of pounding as the horse moves around. Even tension on the clenches mean a shoe is less likely to get caste under rough use. All this is learned behavior, taught under skilled instruction, developed of over time.
Few horses have perfect feet, so a farrier has to be able to figure out the trims for each animal. By the way, in my experience, mustangs and Arabs seem to have the best feet.
Wow. This post opened a floodgate of memories to an old farrier. I'll be checking the numerous scars on my hands, and rubbing my lower back all day in commemoration.
Thanks for the post.
posted by mule98J at 11:40 AM on October 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
As time passed I got kicked and or bitten less and less. Mostly that was because I learned to look at the animal I worked on, and tried to understand what he was all about. Most horses and mules don't just haul off and kick you without giving you some sort of notice. As time passed I realized that teaching new animals was about establishing a dialogue of sorts, and that most of them would rather not wrestle if I just worked it out with them. Their owners saw this as training, but I saw it as just being courteous to the critter. Sometimes this dialogue took a few sessions to establish, and many owners didn't want to spend the few bucks per session that I charged, and were content to have me do rope tricks to accomplish a trim or shoeing. I usually dropped these clients after a while, because, in those days a trim cost $10 and shoeing cost $25. On cooperative critters, I could do five or six normal trims, or two or three shoeing jobs, in the time it took me to do one bad actor.
Most horses and mules weren't really mean. They kick and bite one another all the time during "horseplay," and I'm sure they usually don't intend to harm each other. So, when they step on your toes or snap a hind foot into your leg they aren't really trying to put you in the hospital. Equines have rich senses of humor, although being the farrier, their jokes aren't really that funny. I once had a percheron colt, whose huge back foot I had in my lap, decide it would be funny if he picked up his other hind foot, and let me hold up his whole rear end. I wasn't amused, and even today (fifty years later) my back reminds me of that day. Some attacks, say, strikes with the front feet, actually are laced with ill-will, but these are fairly rare. In any case, a few training sessions often can gain a rapport with the critter. Mostly they would rather not hassle, but rather the session be more or less calm and even friendly.
I discovered early on that training session often involved training the owners as much as "teaching" their horses; that is, showing them how they can provide a healthy environment for their horses' feet, and ways to handle their critters without encouraging bad behavior. Many owners don't realize how much they can affect their critters' behavior. It was satisfying to see an owner learn how to pick up his critter's feet and clean the bottom of the hoof. I guess it was a sort of letdown when they realized that I wasn't a magician, and that anybody can learn this stuff, but it made my job a lot easier if they did this simple thing now and then.
Trimming the foot requires you to look a the conformation all the way to the shoulder. A bad trim or shoe job affects the horse the same way bad shoes might affect you. In extreme cases you can cripple a horse by putting the wrong angle on the hoof. In milder cases you can simply throw off the timing or flight of the hoof, causing a variety of issues, for example striking the side of the front hoof with one of the back hooves. Balancing a foot is critical, and most farriers can learn to see what's flat, level, and judge the angle up to about a 10 thousandth of an inch. I used to carry a "hoof gauge" to allow me to more easily see the proper angle of the bottom of the hoof to the coronary band. Another skill involves learning to control the nail. Horseshoe nails are precision items, beveled on the sharp end so that the farrier can control where it exits the hoof wall by the force with which he hits it with his shoeing hammer. The objective is more that cosmetic on some hooves, maybe because of flaws in the hoof wall. In any case neat clinches are one sign of an educated hammer. The soft head of the nail is meant to fill the crease, to contribute to its seat over a month or so of pounding as the horse moves around. Even tension on the clenches mean a shoe is less likely to get caste under rough use. All this is learned behavior, taught under skilled instruction, developed of over time.
Few horses have perfect feet, so a farrier has to be able to figure out the trims for each animal. By the way, in my experience, mustangs and Arabs seem to have the best feet.
Wow. This post opened a floodgate of memories to an old farrier. I'll be checking the numerous scars on my hands, and rubbing my lower back all day in commemoration.
Thanks for the post.
posted by mule98J at 11:40 AM on October 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
As usual, mule98J, I love reading your stories.
At a young age I took a university farrier's course, thinking I could save big bucks shoeing my own horses. The in-class work was a breeze, but doing six horses a day, trimming, shaping a shoe, and then nailing it on was...interesting.
The main thing I learned from that course was to put on a big smile and say a sincere "Thank you!" when I gave my farrier the check.
One thing that wasn't emphasized is that you have to have an 'eye' for a correct and balanced hoof, both trimming and shoeing, and that you won't develop or maintain that eye unless you're doing a fair number of horses regularly.
I won't shoe mine (unless it's to tack on a lost shoe in the back country) but I do most of my own barefoot trimming. I'm doing the same couple horses all the time, and I do them pretty faithfully every six weeks or so. Because of that, I'm pretty good at maintaining my eye for their balance and angles. Even then, I still have my farrier eyeball the job I do and correct any issues. (He usually just tells me that I'm picking nits, but still.)
I can tell a good job from feet that aren't done correctly, but where I really have problems is with a critter that hasn't had their hooves trimmed in six months or more. Unfortunately, with rescues that's pretty common, and I've had some real messes. I can wack a long foot back to a normal shape without a problem, but when the foot is like this, then I call the farrier to make sure things get done without further damage to the interior of the hoof. After an initial trim or two, I can usually alternate ever other trim with the farrier to get the toe back where it belongs and get rid of cracks and flares or get the cornet band level. I've never had a horse or mule that didn't eventually become rideable, but with years of neglect, there's always damage that can't be fixed. I've had fantastic results shown on x-rays with the coffin bone moving back into a nearly normal position and the horse sound, but there's not a damn thing you can reverse when the poor mule has developed ringbone. All you can do is put the angles where you need to and bute after a ride. Or sell him as a kid's plunker. I miss my Brodie. So sad.
My guys will be barefoot from Nov to Jan-Feb usually, but they need shoes from spring till fall. In this lava rock country, shoes are a necessary evil if you're riding often. I just quit listening to the barefoot fanatics. Or I invite them for a short ride, but then they don't want to be friends anymore, because their horse is sore, and it's all my fault.
I do have boots, but I hate them, and the horses travel like they have buckets on their feet for the first three miles or so. Then there's the issue of rubbing the heel bulbs and cornet band. Flipping one and then having to find it and put it back on is a PITA, and sometimes they're just ... gone. You can loose them in the mud, water, sand, rocks, or badger holes--Pretty much everywhere I want to ride.
I use a grinder wheel to rasp my horses' hooves. Much easier than a rasp, although I will touch up with a rasp on occasion. I now need to either ride my horses enough over rock or pavement to wear down their feet, or be very faithful about trimming, because at 65, I don't have the hand strength to use the nippers anymore unless the weather's been very wet. Hooves in the desert during the summer are like rock!!
I was trimming my big Fox Trotter with the grinder the other day, and a fella came over to talk to my husband. After I got the feet done, I touched up his bridle path with the big, noise ClipMaster livestock clippers. Before I saddled him, I used the portable wet-dry vacuum to take all the nasty moon dust out of his coat. As I then rode out the gate, the fella stopped me and said, "I can't tell if that horse of yours is absolutely dead broke, or if you've just got him completely traumatized!"
posted by BlueHorse at 8:59 PM on October 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
At a young age I took a university farrier's course, thinking I could save big bucks shoeing my own horses. The in-class work was a breeze, but doing six horses a day, trimming, shaping a shoe, and then nailing it on was...interesting.
The main thing I learned from that course was to put on a big smile and say a sincere "Thank you!" when I gave my farrier the check.
One thing that wasn't emphasized is that you have to have an 'eye' for a correct and balanced hoof, both trimming and shoeing, and that you won't develop or maintain that eye unless you're doing a fair number of horses regularly.
I won't shoe mine (unless it's to tack on a lost shoe in the back country) but I do most of my own barefoot trimming. I'm doing the same couple horses all the time, and I do them pretty faithfully every six weeks or so. Because of that, I'm pretty good at maintaining my eye for their balance and angles. Even then, I still have my farrier eyeball the job I do and correct any issues. (He usually just tells me that I'm picking nits, but still.)
I can tell a good job from feet that aren't done correctly, but where I really have problems is with a critter that hasn't had their hooves trimmed in six months or more. Unfortunately, with rescues that's pretty common, and I've had some real messes. I can wack a long foot back to a normal shape without a problem, but when the foot is like this, then I call the farrier to make sure things get done without further damage to the interior of the hoof. After an initial trim or two, I can usually alternate ever other trim with the farrier to get the toe back where it belongs and get rid of cracks and flares or get the cornet band level. I've never had a horse or mule that didn't eventually become rideable, but with years of neglect, there's always damage that can't be fixed. I've had fantastic results shown on x-rays with the coffin bone moving back into a nearly normal position and the horse sound, but there's not a damn thing you can reverse when the poor mule has developed ringbone. All you can do is put the angles where you need to and bute after a ride. Or sell him as a kid's plunker. I miss my Brodie. So sad.
My guys will be barefoot from Nov to Jan-Feb usually, but they need shoes from spring till fall. In this lava rock country, shoes are a necessary evil if you're riding often. I just quit listening to the barefoot fanatics. Or I invite them for a short ride, but then they don't want to be friends anymore, because their horse is sore, and it's all my fault.
I do have boots, but I hate them, and the horses travel like they have buckets on their feet for the first three miles or so. Then there's the issue of rubbing the heel bulbs and cornet band. Flipping one and then having to find it and put it back on is a PITA, and sometimes they're just ... gone. You can loose them in the mud, water, sand, rocks, or badger holes--Pretty much everywhere I want to ride.
I use a grinder wheel to rasp my horses' hooves. Much easier than a rasp, although I will touch up with a rasp on occasion. I now need to either ride my horses enough over rock or pavement to wear down their feet, or be very faithful about trimming, because at 65, I don't have the hand strength to use the nippers anymore unless the weather's been very wet. Hooves in the desert during the summer are like rock!!
I was trimming my big Fox Trotter with the grinder the other day, and a fella came over to talk to my husband. After I got the feet done, I touched up his bridle path with the big, noise ClipMaster livestock clippers. Before I saddled him, I used the portable wet-dry vacuum to take all the nasty moon dust out of his coat. As I then rode out the gate, the fella stopped me and said, "I can't tell if that horse of yours is absolutely dead broke, or if you've just got him completely traumatized!"
posted by BlueHorse at 8:59 PM on October 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
BlueHorse: Bombproof horses reflect back on their owners. It's hard to describe this sort of rapport in just a few words, but most skilled riders understand that their horses will literally die under them while trying to do that one last thing they are asked to do. In the best version, your horse becomes invisible and weightless under you. Once this bond is forged it's a humbling thing to realize.
One of the more valuable lessons I picked up during my course of instruction came about 2/3 of the way through, when I was doing an extremely difficult cart pony. The little bastard had already bitten me a couple of times and kicked me several times, and then the little shit jerked his foot out of my hand before I had a chance to clip off the nail I had just driven--the nail sliced across my palm like a razor. I set about delivering my version of him, his ancestors, and intimated unhealthy relationships he probably had with snakes and rats.
The instructor-magician overseeing my efforts took me aside, and gave me the following advice: You should learn to avoid calling these animals those names, because you only alarm their owners. Just call them "sweetie." The owners won't become upset and the critters will know what you mean.
posted by mule98J at 12:29 AM on October 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
One of the more valuable lessons I picked up during my course of instruction came about 2/3 of the way through, when I was doing an extremely difficult cart pony. The little bastard had already bitten me a couple of times and kicked me several times, and then the little shit jerked his foot out of my hand before I had a chance to clip off the nail I had just driven--the nail sliced across my palm like a razor. I set about delivering my version of him, his ancestors, and intimated unhealthy relationships he probably had with snakes and rats.
The instructor-magician overseeing my efforts took me aside, and gave me the following advice: You should learn to avoid calling these animals those names, because you only alarm their owners. Just call them "sweetie." The owners won't become upset and the critters will know what you mean.
posted by mule98J at 12:29 AM on October 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
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That was hard enough. Watching a real farrier come into the picture, forge roaring, and tame an appendage and a potential beast with hammer and iron and fire, driving nails into living hooves, mending minor medical woes, leather apron and a strong back and knee stance seeming to support 1/4 the weight of a quarter horse was always surreal. It made the normal, day to day work with a good knife/pick seem like paper airplanes to his NASA rockets, truly whole different level of learned skill.
Thanks for the post.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:45 PM on October 25, 2018 [11 favorites]