A Glimpse into Ranching Life or Shoeing a Horse

Yesterday after I finished photographing the fox and some birds I walked down to the barn. Israel and Ignacio Ramirez were shoeing a couple of horses. Here was a photographic opportunity too good to pass up. While I was photographing them I was talking to Israel to find out what he was doing as they went along. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to horses so I learned a lot.


First they clean the hoof of all the dirt and debris.



Next they use a snipping tool and the trim the outside of the hoof all the way around the front and sides.



Following that they use a rasp file and flatten or level the hoof.



After that they try on a horse shoe and bend it to size if needed.



Using horseshoe nails they nail on a shoe.





The nail goes all the way through the edge of the horses hoof. They bend the nail over and break it off.



The last steps are to file the nails and hoof down and then trim any of the hoof that is sticking over the top of the shoe.





Pretty cool to watch and a skill that takes quite a while to learn to do properly.Can you imagine what it would be like to maintain and keep a string of horses on a ranch? It's looks like it's a lot of hard work!

God's love to all,

chris