Friday, March 26, 2010

To Shoe Or Not To Shoe

That Was The Question

Scott decided to leave Tucker's shoes off for now. He used the hoof testers and, although Tucker showed some sensitivity, he was not too reactive. So, considering the capricious weather with spring rains and slop intermixed with incredibly good footing, he decided it was worth a shot so see how things go.

When I spoke to him on the phone, he did say if Tucker seemed to be too ouchy when I rode him he would come out right away to put some shoes on.

I just started the magnesium this week, so I don't know yet if it's going to have any effect. Once again, it's a matter of wait and see. The good thing is that Tuck's hoofs seem pretty solid and are not showing signs of any cracks or excessive wear at this point. It's just some sensitive soles.

Meantime, Scott emailed me a picture of my buddy Mic, his border collie, waiting at my back door for me to come out to play. Needless to say, I felt really bad about this and apologized to Mic who was by the phone when I spoke to Scott. I told Scott from now until June when school gets out that we really should schedule Saturday shoeings. That way Mic's toy tosser will be available for fun and games.

Below is the picture of Mic.
However, please excuse the tree branches scattered about. Treeman has not yet been back. I did call him to tell him not to hurry as I am still waiting for my income tax refund so I can pay him. Or, perhaps a paycheck from school which will be coming at the end of the month...although I don't know how many days that will be for yet.

If you think I was exaggerating about the trees down here, the following series of photos may change your mind. If you could count the rings in the cut trunk below, it would be over 60--that tree had been growing since the late 1940's and was probably one of my family's first Christmas trees.

Here's the pile of three pines each around 30-40 feet tall. Scott had to back his truck and trailer in through the other side of the driveway because he couldn't back around his usual way with these logs in the way.

Towards the right in this picture, you can see more pines. One of them was also on the brink of toppling, and the power company trimmed it this week.

Below, the broken stump and uprooted section that was the cause of all the eventual logging operation. The tree was nearly ready to fall over and when they pulled it to make sure it fell in the right direction, the roots pulled right out of the ground.
I paced this fallen tree at nearly 40 feet long. Sad to see it go, but once it started to fall over on its own, there wasn't much choice. We could have used cables to stabilize it, but what kind of mess would that be in the yard--especially if the horses got loose? By the way, the Treeman also took down my fence which normally crosses this part of the lawn to keep the horses from getting out on the road should they get out of the paddocks. He will put the fence back once the debris is cleaned up.
This tree will need to come down too as it is already nearly dead. The branch on the ground is deceptive in the picture. It is a lot heavier than it looks, but I was able to drag it out of the driveway by myself the day of the storm.
Well, that's a tour of Follywoods's logging operation. Hope you enjoyed the trip.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:48 AM

    That's a lot of tree work!

    Dealing with this shoe-sucking mud is hard - both Fred and Fritz just lost a shoe each. So far my mares are keeping theirs on, for now!

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  2. Aww, poor Mic. He will be very glad to see you again! Don't you just love their enthusiasm and loyalty. I do miss having one around.

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  3. that's one heck of a mess of trees! impressed the treeman got to them before they totally did their own thing!

    and poor poor Mic...looks bereft! :-)

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