Hoof Trimming
I finally got PoohBear's hooves trimmed yesterday; the long delay was a result of the weather, my own health, and knives that were so dull they couldn't cut cheese.
Our "barn" is actually an old garage, modified slightly to make it usable as a barn, but while it has electricity for light, there's no heat. When it gets down into the -20's and -30's, it's not the best place to be working in. I know there are farriers out there who work in all kinds of conditions and temperatures, sometimes with no barn in freezing temperatures. But, they're professionals, they have the proper tools and clothing, and they're getting paid for their labour.
My health issues are just aches and pains, but they can be severe enough to keep me from doing this sort of work. When we moved 100 hay-bales last summer, my tennis-elbow flared up again, and the pain in both arms (particularly the left) can be horrible. Trimming hooves is a pain-inducing chore at the best of times, when I'm already in agony there's little I can do. Despite all of the moisture from the warm weather and melting snow, the horses' hooves are often as hard as rocks. Not only does this make it nearly impossible to use the knives, but even the nippers have a hard time breaking through them. Adding to the problems is that they're really designed to be a two-hand tool, with the horse's hoof held between one's legs. Not possible with minis, as one hand has to hold that tiny hoof, leaving only one hand to work the nippers. The strain this creates on the muscles in the arms is incredible, as is the resulting pain. As sore as the job made me, the real pain flared up later in the evening when said muscles suddenly spasmed into an intense Charlie-horse-like cramp that pulled my fingers inward like making a fist. I've had more severe ones in the past, but this was more than bad enough.
The final issue was the lack of sharp knives. I haven't been able to get a good edge on my knives using the honing tool lately, and a dull knife is not only useless, it's dangerous. During my trip to Calgary last week, I bought two new knives, which remedied that problem for the moment. I tried to buy a buffing machine to sharpen the knives, but no one had one in stock. "We'll have some in about two weeks," I was told. That didn't help te current situation, but hopefully they really will have some when I return to Calgary in two weeks for another training course with Kohler Diesel.
In the meantime, PoohBear's hooves look pretty much normal again; he's never been as bad as he was this time, and I've got to make sure that never happens again. He's going to be a bit sore for a few days as he gets used to his new footing again, but I could already see considerable improvement immediately afterwards. I've got the stalls bedded down with a thick layer of shavings, so that should make things easier on him as well.
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