Saturday, January 16, 2010

Who Knew Being My Boy's Farrier Could Be a High Risk Job?



I'm going to interrupt my Q&A session to give you an update on My Boy.



This morning was My Boy's farrier appointment. After a week of nearly constant rain, I was afraid I might have to postpone. My farrier won't work in a downpour. I don't blame him. Not just because rain running down your neck is annoying, but because he doesn't want the nails to get wet before they go in the hoof.


The morning dawned foggy, frosty, and not a cloud in the sky. I could not believe it. After two years of horseshoeing appointments, I have only had to cancel one because of the weather. And that was due to a pretty definite snow forecast, for which it did. I have gotten extremely lucky in the weather and farrier day department. Which is nice since my farrier accommodates me with Saturday appointments and rescheduling would have to be a week out.




When I arrived at the Painted Creek my pony was eating his breakfast in the far back of his pasture. Since he was engrossed in his feed he wasn't coming to the gate, I stomped through frozen ice puddles en route to fetching him. As I led him out of the pasture, he snorted and pranced and kept stopping, head up, looking into the woods alongside his pasture. He often imagines all kinds of monsters in those woods.

Little did we know, today there could have been.


I groomed him up. I like to towel all the wet mud off his lower legs and pick out his hooves out before the farrier arrives. As I was cleaning him up, I heard Paint Girl's other half warming up his car to run some errands. I looked out at the road they live on and noticed a police car driving by slowly with his lights on.



I hand-walked My Boy up and down the driveway a bit as we waited for the farrier to arrive. I noticed the police car had stopped near the end of Paint Girl's driveway, and I saw more flashing lights further down the road. Well, this was kind of interesting. Paint Girl's OH went to ask the officer what was going on. Turned out there was a felon on the run in the woods in the neighborhood. What?! Okay PG's OH, you can not leave for your errands now! At least not until my farrier gets here!


My farrier arrived around twenty minutes later. He was stopped on the way into the neighborhood. He was told to stay inside and that they'd be searching the area with police dogs trying to track this person down. I half-jokingly asked him whether he wanted to keep the appointment, since moving into the house with my horse was just not an option. He said well heck, if we hear gunfire, just hit the ground. He also suggested I could saddle up My Boy, hit the woods, and test out his ability at being a mounted police horse.

I told him not to expect any extra payment for working in such a hazardous situation.



The OH hung around and we all were enjoying the warm dose of vitamin D and chatting as My Boy got his hooves done. Steam was floating off everything the sun was hitting. It was a beautiful winter morning and hard to imagine that something really scary was going on close by.

I was happy to see that the farrier noticed the hole where MB's abscess blew out of his sole. I was proud of myself for diagnosing and noticing it. Despite hardly getting a start on his breakfast prior to the appointment, MB was really good for the farrier.


All ended well and we made it through the appointment without any additional excitement.

Oh, the things we go through for our horses!

26 comments:

  1. Soooo.... did they get the alleged felon? Like, I'm real glad that your Boy's feet got sorted, but I am needing the finish of the parallel story here. Pur-lease?

    I'll sick my spider onto ya!!
    :-)
    BB

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  2. Yikes! A felon??? Hope he was caught...

    Although, kinda nice to see police officers in uniform... ;-p

    Glad Your Boy was good for the farrier. Never nice to have to reschedule those important appointments...

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  3. Yikes!That kind of excitment you could live without!

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  4. Did they catch him or is he still running wild in the woods?

    My Boy alwyas sticks his tongue out! Lol. I thought you posted the same picture twice and then I noticed it.

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  5. We don't have any excitement like that around here, thank goodness!!! That's pretty scary actually! Hope they caught the guy. At least you got your hoof appointment done. Gilly and Pokey get their feet trimmed tomorrow and it's raining here today. May have to move the tractor out of the shed and have them in there.

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  6. Yikes! See, I tell people this. It's a dangerous job!! You never know WHAT you'll run into in your travels. Besides just being under some goofball horses. There's more to it than just farrier work :)
    Glad it all turned out ok! Hope they caught the guy!!

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  7. Yeah, I'd be wanting to know if they caught the guy.

    Good tongue shot of MB.

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  8. i guarantee you my boy saw something in those woods...you are lucky! yesterday i rode blue and he stopped dead looking up the hill in the woods...i chastise him thinking it was the bright yellow no trespassing sign. then i hand walked jess near the same place. she shied a bit and jessie is very calm... then i heard the turkeys gobbling loudly. i bet it was a fox or predator. horses are smart! glad my boy's hoof is healing!

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  9. Forget about guard dogs. We should all have a horse to alert us to the evil that lurks in the woods.

    I hope they caught the criminal. I'd be worried about Paint Girl going out there at night to feed the horses with that person still loose.


    ~Lisa

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  10. Wow! That had to have been scary. Usually when I hear the word "felon" I think murderer, and then my imagination REALLY takes over! Glad all is well.... :)

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  11. OH my word! Did they catch him?
    Yikes.
    Hazzard pay for sure.
    :)
    ~Amy

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  12. Wow, how scary is that!? What if MB saw him in the woods?! :O I'm glad you guys are all okay though.

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  13. WOW!! Yikes! Glad everything went ok...isn't it weird to think that something dangerous could be lurking on such a beautiful day like that? I always have a hard time grasping that concept. Seems like nothing could ever be wrong in the world on such a nice morning.

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  14. What happened with the felon? I'm glad everything went well despite all the excitement. Your Boy was most likely thinking of getting back to his breakfast!

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  15. {Lisa}~ I actually don't know what happened.... Paint Girl needs to fill me in on any details she's heard. My guess is they did not find him, but I'm sure he's long gone by now. Probably hid out until dark and he could make his escape.

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  16. I hope the got the felon! Otherwise your boy would have had to trample him underneath his hooves! He is probably too modest for such accolades that would follow. Better let the police take care of it, he was thinking! Maybe the felon came by your boy and was frightened of him and ran off in the oppsoite direction. It might make a good short story: The Felon and the Horse. Your farrier sounds like a nice guy! It is hard to find good, trustworthy farriers.

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  17. Yes that is what I wondered if they caught the felon! Kinda scary isn't it? Once I was in a similar situation with my horse, but there was a story. I was at my barn about 6am to take care of the horses and then the police came (it was dark when I got to the barn) and across the fence there had been a murder on the driveway of the house just outside the pasture in the night....I was 16 or 17 years old when that happened!

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  18. I love to watch my horses alert me to whatever may be coming out of our woods. Usually just turkeys, skunks, deer, or fox...never any felons.

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  19. What a crazy story! Love the shot with the steam coming out his nose. Awesome!

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  20. Creepy! Isn't it funny how things are never as scary when there is more than one of you? I can really freak myself out when alone. Hope he moved on or got caught!

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  21. Sounds like a mystery story in the making...My Boy catches a felon while Pony Girl and Farrier Man look on!

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  22. WOW! How scarey. My Boy is one smart boy! I think he knew something or someone was out there. This is the 2nd time danger has been in the neighborhood. Be careful! Hugs.

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  23. I know the point of this story is the felon on the loose, but I love love LOVE those pics of "My Boy's" breath! That's one of my favorite things, seeing steam rise off horses' backs and even the ground when its cold out.

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  24. Ok. I wanna know if they caught the felon! I love the pictures of the breath in the air.

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  25. When you said high risk, that wasn't the first thing that popped into my head! Scary stuff! Good thing you didn't get caught up in any Wild West drama!

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  26. {South Dakota Cowgirl}~ I never heard, neither did my sister. Strange! Maybe something will turn up in the next issue of her community newsletter.

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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