Toes & Hooves

Feet.
I like feet.
Most people don't like feet and feel as strongly against them as they do child molesters.
Not me.
Feet take the brunt of our weight every single day.
And you can dress them up or hide them.
They need to be celebrated really.
Is there a National Foot Day?
Probably.
I took photos of my kids' pudgy and sweet feet when they were infants.
I get to gaze at those new toes every time I walk down the main hallway of my home.
To remember the newness of them both, their uniqueness and their softness.

I have new feet to deal with these days.
Not as cute, but equally as fascinating to me.
Dog and cat feet are easy.
Trim the nails so they don't rip your arm apart at any given time.
Willie had an inch long thorn stuck in his paw a while back.
Holy Hurt Bat Dog!
Or Bad Dog as we normally call him.
Then there are the goat and pony feet.
If a horse has bad feet, they are done for.
All it really takes for a pony or horse to go downhill is one bad foot.
We have the farrier come out to see Buttercup Luck.
She was just here last week.
She trims up the hooves, files them down.
Cleans out all of the gunk that gets in there.
I do a gunk clean out myself, but don't trim them.
By the way, do you know how bad it hurts to have a large pony step on your foot when you are working on her?
I can say not as bad as having an elephant step on you, but I think it's a close second.
Trimming hooves, I leave that to a professional.
Buttercup had shoes on her front feet when we got her, but the farrier said she doesn't need them.
We ride her on grass pastures and they aren't necessary for that.
We do go slow over rocks we encounter near the stream, though.

Now the goats, they are a different story.
I trim those myself.
Chad holds onto the goat.
I trim a hoof.
Chad gets scratched by the goat as it flails around.
I trim another hoof.
Chad looses hold of the goat, goat runs away he and chases her around the barn.
I trim another hoof when she is re-caught.
Chad lets out a big moan.
I finish with the final hoof.
And that's just one goat.
Truth be told, that's really just how it is to trim Yogurt's hooves.
Tulip is much easier.
She just tries to eat Chad's sleeve as he's holding her.
We will be performing goat hoof trimming on Sunday.
Wish Chad luck.