Learning to Shoe a Horse

This weekend I went up to visit Doug and trail ride at Mt. Rogers.  This time we rode a new trail that started at Doug’s house and went over the mountain to his stables. This trail was different from the trails that I’m use to up there because it wasn’t as rocky and a good portion of it was riding on the back mountain roads. There wasn’t any nice views like on top of Pine Mountain but it was still fun to ride.

Besides all the riding I did, I also learned to shoe a horse. Dewey was very overdue for a shoeing and Doug has been so busy he hadn’t had time. So I asked Doug to teach me how to shoe him so I could do it. Doug was a little nervous about me learning on Dewey since Dewey is a bit crazy. He freaks at everything and doesn’t like to be shod according to Doug. Well Sat night we started working on him and he definitely wasn’t wanting to stand still. But despite his moving around we got 2 feet done before it got dark. Sunday morning I got up at 6:45am ready to finish the job. I think Doug was wore out from the night before so he told me to go do it. Now, I’ll admit I was a little nervous to finish it up myself but my instinct told me I could do it and Dewey would be just fine for me. I was right too! I finished it up myself and didn’t even have to tie Dewey up to do it. I dropped the lead rope and he stood still for me. It was pretty funny too. I think Doug was upset happy my boy stood so well for me and won’t do that for him. I guess all those kisses and hugs paid off. Dewey trusted me enough not to hurt him and stood like a gentleman for me. 🙂

Here’s before and after pictures I took. Not too bad for my first time huh?!

Here are previous pictures of trail riding at Mt. Rogers:

• Riding to Rhododendron Gap at Mt. Rogers
• Wild Ponies at Mt. Rogers
• Riding to “the Scales” and around Pine Mountain

Question for You:

Have you ever shod a horse before? Was it as easy as you thought it would be. 

How often do you get your horses hoofs trimmed? I try to stick to every 6 weeks.

 

 

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