New shoes!

Kalara, Princess and Gem were visited by the farrier today - finally. They were a bit overdue for a foot trim and reshoe due to the lovely Mike deciding to have a life outside horses, getting himself married and going off on a long honeymoon. He's married a horsey girl, though, so that's alright. I mean she's horsey in that she has horses too, not that she looks like one.

All the horses are good to shoe although they jolly well should be as they're all what would be deemed as "very elderly". Each would have been shod about 250 times so far if they've always been looked after as we look after them. They get at least a trim every 6 weeks and new shoes if necessary. Gem is very laid back and knows how to take advantage of the ungrazed yard at the same time

The big bay doesn't have shoes on now as he liked to tell us we were slow to feed him by pawing at the fences until he got stuck, then hooking off his shoe by trying to pull his foot out. Due to the wire being caught between his foot and the shoe he often did damage - to himself as well as the fence. So he's one of the bare foot brigade now.

Here he is relaxing through the trauma of being filed by standing on just two feet.

Princess, however, just dozed through it all, hardly noticing.

Kalara, the true Grand Dame of being farriered, demonstrates the correct tripod-stance of a long-shoeing-experienced horse: