Shoes and Showers

And A Rehearsal

Florence and I are singing our duet in my church on Sunday, so we had a rehearsal this morning.

Just as I was organizing to leave, the phone rang and it was Scott, my shoer. He wanted to know if my yard was OK for him to come to shoe in the afternoon. While it had rained all night, the grass where he parks was still pretty solid, so we set up the appointment.

That meant I had to go back out to put the horses in their stalls and fill the water buckets. Since they have a trough outside, unles I am keeping them in, I don't routinely fill the buckets in the stalls. Since Scott needed dry horses to shoe, they needed to be in and they needed water.

Well, I managed to get it all done in short order, headed out in the rain for my rehearsal--which went well--and then went to a nice lunch with my fellow musicians.

Came home to find Scott and his assistant Kyle well into shoeing Tucker and getting Toby ready for his shoes. To my neverending joy, Tucker was being a good boy, standing well and not being contrary as he sometimes is.

Apparently, he and Scott had already reached an "understanding" about biting--Tucker, not Scott--and were in truce mode. Scott and I talked about Tucker's arrogance a bit and Scott noted that Tucker really doesn't like to be "told " to do anything if he wants to do something else. That about sums it up. He really doesn't like to be corrected, but over time, he has learned to accept it with a certain gudging tolerance.

I forgot to tell Scott that later on in the shoeing, when he had gone out to the truck, that Tucker was getting a little restless on the crossties. Then, Scott got a phone call, and as soon as Tucker heard his voice, he straightened right up back to proper attention. It was kind of funny because I was right there and my presence had no effect on how he was standing--but Scott's voice???

Toby was, of course, his usualy mannerly self, standing perfectly.

And Chance wasn't too bad either. He does fuss a little now and then when he has to hold up his foot for a while to be trimmed but it's mostly that young horse kind of thing rather than any kind of real disobedience. He really is a good boy about most things. Kyle did his trimming job and handled him really well. He was patient and kind about it, and Chance cooperated nicely. Once he kind of pulled his foot away by stepping forward on the other one--guess he must have used Kyle as the missing leg--but Kyle simply stepped away, quietly repositioned Chance and got right back to work.

It is so nice to have three horses my shoer can handle without assistance. So many people I know have to hold their horses for shoeing.

When all was done, I put the Boys back in their stalls. It was really wet out, raining, cool, and miserable. The rain may keep up off and on for the rest of the week.

My biggest concern is that Kelly, the young rider, has her State Championship show on Friday. However, the big plus is that her ride times are 11:16 and 11:48. That is great. She can get Sax warmed up, ride the first test and almost go into the second test right after. She will have just enough time between rides to kind of polish up again, make a few adjustments and do the second test. It would be perfect times for Tucker. I hope Sax thinks the same way.

Now, if only the weather will cooperate too.