This was supposed to be an excited entry detailing Fergus (my husband, Patrick’s horse) and my visit over the mountains to NV to do our 50 miler together. Instead, by Friday afternoon when we should have been travelling over 7,000′. Donner Pass, I-80 was closed in both directions due to white-out conditions and severe accidents. Fergus and I stayed at home, him watching the snow coming down, me catching up on some much-needed sleep.
We are now definitely in rainy-season shut-down mode. The rain continues to pour down, I watch the slop in the paddocks get deeper and deeper, I admire the attractive waterfall feature that has sprung up on the driveway between house and barn, and I neglect my trimming duties. What? Those horses have feet?
It’s a motorcycle tyre removing iron. Not only does it have a broad, blunt prising tip on it, it also has a slight curve at the end, so you don’t run the risk of chiselling into the side of the hoof wall when tapping it down the inside of the boot.
Broad, blunt prising end
Curved away from the hoof for safety
To begin with, I thought this might be a little heavy-handed for the job but although I still need to use my screwdriver to get under the lip of the boot and start the separation process, once I get that far, this tool works great. Using this to prise seemed to bother Uno less than usual and the long handle meant less levering effort for me.
Into the trimming tool bucket goes my new tool, ready for next time we glue. The current schedule has us aiming to do two days of 50s at Washoe Valley in May, so I may glue again then, or at NASTR 75 in June. We shall see. In the meantime, I’ll continue to use Gloves for our 50 mile rides.
Assuming, of course, the rain ever stops and the mud ever dries up.
Fergus and Uno mowing the lawn shortly after 20MT
and before said lawn turned into a swamp.
