We all understand the importance of providing proper care for our feet. Even if you have Hobbit feet.
Well when you spend as much time on your feet as Claire and Honey, as with all equines, that importance is amplified. As a very wise equine owning local once told me, “you’ll never see a three legged horse.”
An equine’s hooves are made of keratin, cartilage, ligaments, elastic tissue, and bone.
They are way more complicated than you would think.
So you better give them the care that they need.
Well, when I first adopted Claire, I wasn’t about to create any kind of stress to her transitioning to her new home as Casa Claire, so I continued with the man who provided her with her regular foot care, Jason Bastemeyer, her farrier.
https://www.facebook.com/Jbastemeyer
Jason has handled Claire’s feet for a good decade, the last 7 with me. He’s has also handled Mr. Rogers and now Honey.
I have watched Jason do his work many times, and quite honestly, I would never be able to do it. It requires him to position himself up against a quarter of the equine – twice for the front legs and then twice for the back – bent over with the creature leaning its full weight against him, as he first digs out whatever dirt or ice has packed into the bottom of an upturned hoof he is balancing on his knee, while the equine is doing its best to return that hoof to the ground. Once the hoof is cleaned so Jason can see how long it has grown, then with one hand holding a large manual clipper like tool, the other the hoof, he begins to snip away the thick hoof in a circular pattern until it’s all even.
When the clippings dry they shrink and curl. Here’s one from Honey.
Then Jason uses a large file and smooths out the edges of the hoof. He repeats this process four times for each equine. All this while these great beasts are leaning their weight against his back and always trying to return their upturned hoof to the ground.
I feel my sciatica is acting up just thinking about it.
My job is to just try and keep the mules calm during the process. Usually bribing them with treats, like a kid in a barber chair. I also get their brushing done during their brief time in the halter.
And Jason is a great conversationalist. We spend the whole time deeply engaged in discussions about the economy, war, politics, kids, family, you name it. We set the world to rights. First and foremost, Jason is a family guy. I’ve met his son, who sometimes drives him around to his appointments so he can get his driver’s ed hours in. Good kid from a good family.
Jason is a bright guy, an engineer by training, before throwing it all in and changing his career to farrier and blacksmith. That’s right, Jason can and does fabricate and attach metal horseshoes to some of his clients. Right there on the back of his truck. But my mules only walk on the soft earth of Casa Claire so there is no need for shoes. They like to ground, just like me.
The weather, snow and muck, the mule’s general disposition that day, and sometimes how deep our conversations are flowing, determine how long it takes for Jason to get through the process.
But when it’s all said and done and the mules are released to run wild and free on their newly appointed hooves, everyone is happy, for the next five weeks.
Jason moves on to his next appointment, and I move on to shoveling shit and hanging hay bags and filling troughs. We all have our purposes in life.
And speaking of purposes, I better get moving.
You fine, five readers better get on the good foot as well, as you have your weekly errands to take care of so you have everything done and dusted before the Final Four begins this afternoon.
I’m going to head out and cuddle the kitties and make my rounds before the Ozmandians rise.
And whatever else we get up to this fine Saturday, let us make today a great one.
