After reassuring myself that Scrappy was ready for an end-of-September 50 with the completion of 2 hilly LDs at Mendo, it’s been a week and a half of everything but riding. Some good has been accomplished and some vehicles have taken a shit. Fortunately my old orange hauling Ford is as throaty and reliable as ever but my husband’s Dodge is currently taking a nap at the mechanics. Still, after a surprise thunderstorm late last week that brought us at least an inch of rain overnight, many hooves were trimmed–and glorious sky photos taken.

But were starving horses given snacks afterward, Blaze wonders..

The rain softened hooves and loosened up a bunch of old sole in everyone’s hooves and I got a great trim put on Desire and cleaned up Scrappy’s hooves but by the time I got to Blaze yesterday his feet had hardened up pretty solidly. Still doable, but I had an idea. The other day Renegade boot expert Ashley over at Go Pony! blog posted about using a Renegade boot as a soaker boot, by lining the shell with duct tape to make it actually hold water. I thought that was a genius idea, couldn’t find my duct tape, got irritated, and just put 3 un-taped Renegades on Blaze’s hooves to trim him. My idea was to “fill” the boots at the start,  and, leaving the hose on low in the dog water bucket next to my trimming area, snag it and re-hose the boots any time I gave/took a break. So, sort of more labor intensive than just lining the boots but still pretty easy. And, believe it or not, it worked! I go pretty slowly on my two 17 year olds, letting them set their foot down periodically and move around, trying to keep it a pleasant experience, and with all the old sole to shed out and some wall height to take down, the trim took a good hour and a half. His hooves got a pretty good “set and soak” in the boots. It was easy as pie to hook the nippers under the loosening sole and just peel off what wanted to go. I really remember why I enjoy trimming when the hooves are a little softer!

Blaze hinds 

 Feeding time with lots of assistants 🙂

 For now we have plenty of lovely hay stacked in. Horses are trimmed and happy and healthy, soon to be more so once Scrap gets his teeth taken care of. September is upon us and while the days still often reach 90 degrees, temperatures are cooling nicely at night. This redhead is much happier greeted by mornings in the high 50s instead of the low 70s! It is 3 weeks until our next AERC ride at Chamberlain Creek, with a dash home to the Mendocino County Fair next weekend on the books if I can fit it in, and hopefully getting out on my horses some point before then too!