Cinderella's Slippers

Friday, March 6, 2009

Here's a photo of Lilly's foot. That's the front left. I have been discovering that Lilly's feet are fascinating and complicated. When I first got her, I had every intention of not putting shoes at all on her feet. I figured that if wild horses didn't need shoes, why would my brumby? Lilly and her feet however, had something else to say about that.
On soft ground, such as a field or an unpaved road in the spring when everything is wet and spongy, Lilly has no problem going barefoot. But mudseason is short and before you know it, Lilly is walking slower and slower on the road to the trail to avoid any agony felt by her delicate feet.

Well, it might not be agony. Maybe it's just discomfort.

But prolonged discomfort over time doesn't seem fair to me. So I had Bill, who also happens to be an excellent farrier (no surprise), put shoes on her. Then Lilly and her dainty feet feel better and she has no excuses for poking along on the trail. But still I have gone back and forth with her. We've tried the barefoot trim, and even Cavallo boots. Nothing works as well as good old fashioned horseshoes on her feet. Because we've been getting so much snow here in the bay state these last two winters, Lilly's gets to wear turbo shoes with little special treads on them to keep her from slipping on the ice. You can see that in the picture. This year she also has the rim guards on. They prevent the snowballs from packing up within the shoe itself. These work like a charm and I recommend them. Before Lilly had them, she'd be teetering around on such huge balls of snow that she looked like a prostitute in stilettoes. That's fine for a Vegas hooker, but I'd rather have my brumby keep her feet on the ground!

Tomorrow I'll see Lilly and have another update.

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