This message is from: "briar hill farm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: shoeing of fjord We ride our fjords in the woods, in the ring and down country dirt/gravel roads. When we are training horses in the ring, we generally do not shoe them. When we start taking them into the woods we also leave them unshod. As we start going down the dirt / gravel road and longer distance with them, we often will shoe the front hooves. When we were conditioning for 25 mile ride/drives, we would mostly be down these roads and would have the horses shod all the way around. We would be putting so many miles on them a week (40-50) that it only seemed fair to protect their feet. This year has been extremely wet in VT and the horses have been standing in soft pastures all summer long. We found that their feet were more sensitive on the roads when we took them out. As with feeding, we find that what you do with shoeing has a lot to do with what the condition of the horse is and what you are asking the horse to do. If your horse is doing fine on your terrain for what you are asking him to do without shoes, why put shoes on? Of all 14 horses we have at Briar Hill Farm right now, only 4 have shoes on, and those for only front shoes. Hope that I have been some help. Susan Cook ---------- > From: fjordhorse-digest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: fjordhorse-digest V98 #127 > Date: Sunday, July 26, 1998 6:00 AM > > > fjordhorse-digest Sunday, July 26 1998 Volume 98 : Number 127 > > > > In this issue: > > more pony talk > Fwd: Shoeing Fjords > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 07:48:18 -0400 > From: "Dave McWethy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: more pony talk > > This message is from: "Dave McWethy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Hey, Susan Cook, nice to know you're on here. > I wasn't suggesting anyone call their Fjord a horse or pony, Phil. My point > is more that you are absolutely correct to call them either. > What I came to think was that there need to be no anxiety about not being a > horse, except in the artificial world of competition (where a horse breed > like arab or morgan can be called "pony", if pony height), since all ponies > are horses. > The problem in the case of Fjords is that the general horse world doesn't > know what to think of them. Much of the country, believe me, doesn't know > what to think of anything that isn't a quarterhorse or a Belgian. > So here we come with something which might be a pony, but is a bigger horse > than a 750 pound 15 hand arab, can do as much work in a day as a 2,000 pound > Belgian (a bold claim, I know, but I have been told a Fjord can pull 80% of > the load of a Belgian, and they have to be 20% faster.), and have all the > health and durability of a pony breed. Why should we expect this makes > sense to people who don't have them? Why should we care! > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:25:49 -0500 > From: Tim Page <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Fwd: Shoeing Fjords > > This message is from: Tim Page <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Hello list, > I've just read the most recent digest and am curious about the shoeing > of Fjords. Over the last 10+ years we have never shod any of ours, and > didn't think anyone else did either. We ride/drive in parades, trail > ride, ride on asphalt, etc. and never have had any problems. The > farrier comes out every so often to trim, but that's it. We thought > that the durability fo the Fjord hooves were just one more reason to > own one! Tim, Ellen, and Alphild in sunny Placerville, California. > > > > > _________________________________________________________ > DO YOU YAHOO!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > ------------------------------ > > End of fjordhorse-digest V98 #127 > ********************************* >
