It was a bright white day, in the 90’s, with humidity so thick it was hard to breathe.  Meet Dave Thompson, Ferrier; a lone driver on a dusty road…

Was that too spaghetti western for you?

He came out in the afternoon to trim Sonny Boy and give Chick a horse sized pedicure. After all, a pretty girl has to look good for a new set of shoes.

Seeing as how I am a first timer with all things horse related, I find the process just as interesting as Sonny does. Ah yes, if you have read some of my previous posts you know just about everything we do is new for Sonny. He’s come a long way and Saturday I was so proud of him. He was such a good boy as Dave trimmed and filed his hooves. Sonny is not shod, so his time with Dave is brief.

Chick takes a little longer. (She can’t decide what shoes she wants – princess!) As Dave works on Chick, Sonny is prancing back and forth, stretching against the fence, and jiggling the chain on the gate. Chick ignores it all.

Dave removed her old shoes, trimmed and filed her hooves. The shoes take a bit longer. After he drags an anvil out of his truck, he proceeds to shape the shoes a bit more to fit. He sizes the shoes, checks them against her hooves, and resizes them again. All this takes a lot of patience, which Dave has.

I know this, because I pepper him with questions about what he is doing every time we see him. He answers them all. Then he proceeds to tell me more. I love it! While I get a lesson in equine pedicures, or is it a hooficure?, he’s filing, smoothing and putting the finishing touch on Chicks hooves.

In the end, Sonny got a treat for being a good boy; Chick pranced around showing off her shoes and Dave was covered in horse sweat and hair. Uh, yeah, about that Dave- sorry. Sonny went for a gallop and stopped, dropped and rolled before we could catch him…..