My kind and fabulous farrier, Fernando, came today. He’s the one who dug a post hole to set a post so he could have cross-ties here. A good guy.
The place is still a bit muddy – but we muddled through and everyone has fresh, lovely trimmed feet…
…except Annie and Mo.
Now that I’m settled, and all the “must-dos” are done, I’ve been working with Annie and Mo about picking up their feet.
Fernando is in love with Annie, and he really wants to do her feet. So he was curious how she was doing.
So, I thought I’d show him…
And in my excitement, I lost my head for a moment.
This was right afterwards. Annie stepped on the top of my foot. My foot was swollen and red, but all is fine. Thank goodness for thick muck boots!
HOW I GOT STEPPED UPON.
It was stupid. I was stupid.
OK, Fernando wanted to see Annie’s improvement in picking up her feet. So, I crawled into her paddock (with Mo, the donkey) and showed how good she was at holding up her front feet (not her backs, yet).
Then, Fernando wanted to come in and meet her.
So, instead of moving Mo out so that Annie and us could be alone… I didn’t. I felt rushed and just ignored my better judgement to move Mo.
Fernando came in, started petting on Annie while I was at her far shoulder… and then Mo spooked at Fernando. Annie stepped to her left… and GUESS WHO WAS ON HER LEFT?
Yup. me.
Annie stepped right on the top of my foot (which was in heavy muck boots, thank goodness) and then she leaned into me. I was pinned by her foot, so I feel backwards, with her still on my foot.
Stupid.
I am fine. My foot is fine – albeit bruised. We will all be OK. But, it was one of those forehead slapping moments. If I had moved Mo, like I had thought I should but didn’t, it would have been a great moment for Annie and Fernando.
But, it ended up being a different kind of teaching moment. Mine.
Mo and Annie. If I had been a horse, I would have moved more quickly.
FARRIER DAY! EVERYONE IS A BIT LIGHTER IN THEIR STEPS!
I always forget about taking photos on farrier day. Usually, I’m chatting or fussing or prepping the next horse, and I forget.
Today was no different. But, I have ‘after’ pics.
Dodger could not be muddier. His other side is caked in mud. I will bathe him today.
Norma was not excited to have her feet done.
Gwen’s beautiful feet.
Missy Miss wouldn’t back away from the camera…
This is Wrigley. Some days he is a dream and other days he is a jerk. Today was a jerk day. Without thinking it through, I did Finn first and let him graze outside of their paddock. Wrigley went crazy and wouldn’t calm down – even after I put Finn away. Stupid. So Wrig was keyed up for his farrier visit.
Finn was very contented. He had his feet done, he was able to graze and then he got to sleep in the shade. He didn’t care that Wrigley was very upset and that we were dancing around in the next paddock. BG was a good girl in spite of Wrigley.
AND THE SWEETEST SHOT OF THE DAY… THE UPS GUY AND SCOUTY.
As I was walking up the hill, I saw the UPS driver coming… and as I looked through the front window of the truck, I saw Scouty looking back at me!
The driver told me that he always gives her a cookie when she greets him at the gate. From there, she started jumping into the truck and riding up the drive with him.
She did this with the Grass Valley UPS driver when we lived there. So, I guess she figures all UPS trucks are a good thing – and that she gets to hop in and ride up with the cookie driver.
