Remi's Road Trip

Having a huge horse like Remi around presents many challenges. You already know about the extra repairs we're constantly making around here. We're always searching for extra large everything from halters to harness to fit him. And, when it comes to his feet, finding someone to trim them and shoe him has sometimes been the biggest challenge of all.

It's very difficult to find a farrier who will shoe draft horses. And, when you do, the cost is outrageous and understandably so because of the extra time it takes. If we do find someone in the area who agrees to the task, they will usually only work on Remington once and then disappear into the sunset.

He is a good boy and stands well during the process, but the sheer size of his feet takes almost three times as long as a standard size horse hoof to do. That's a lot of back breaking work and we can certainly understand why we may never see the farrier again.

Understandable or not, he still needs his feet trimmed and thank goodness we still have a way to get the big boy shod at a reasonable price that won't break the bank. It does involve quite a road trip for trainer mom and Remi, but at least it's a solution. And that solution is the Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School where Remi, of course, is always the star of the show.

The trailer is well stocked with a very full hay bag and in the wee hours of the morning, trainer mom loads him up and takes him on his road trip to the shoe store. It's a long drive up and back, but as long as there's hay, there's happiness for Remi.

When they arrive at the school, the students all swarm around Remi with cameras in hand, posing for pictures amidst the "oohs" and "ahs" and "holy cow he's huge" comments. It's quite funny and I have to say, the one time I got to go, I was beaming with pride.

It's an all day event shoeing him and several students take their turn working on him. Tag team farrier service at it's finest. The school absolutely loves Remington and for awhile when we had a regular farrier coming to the ranchette, they missed him terribly. They want horses that will stand well and behave and that's exactly what my boy will do for them.

It's actually quite funny to watch him get his feet trimmed. Because of his feathers, he has to wear manny hose, which he doesn't seem to mind, but don't tell him how pretty he looks in them, or you might just upset his manly self. That just wouldn't be cool, ya know :)

So, Remi will embark on his road trip to get his hoofacure and lots of extra attention in the process. I think if he knew he was going, he might actually be excited. Hmmm, maybe not, but you know what I'm saying, don't ya?

Stay tuned, Stay happy and Stay with us!