Saw something wild at the county fair in Springfield last weekend

I was walking through the livestock barns and stopped to check out the draft horse show. There was a Belgian mare with shoes that looked like they were put on with a hammer from a hardware store, no joke. The clinches were way too high and proud, and one nail was bent over the hoof wall. I watched her walk and she had a slight forge going on the left front, probably from the imbalance. The owner was just standing there, proud as could be, and I heard him tell someone he 'saved a bundle' doing it himself. It took everything in me not to walk over and offer to fix it right there. How do you guys handle seeing bad work in public? Do you say something or just shake your head and move on?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucaslane3mo ago

Man, that's rough to see. I usually just bite my tongue unless the animal is clearly in pain right then.

felix4783mo ago

Yeah I read that ignoring early signs can make things way worse later.

kai77915d ago

Wait, the clinches were actually bent over the hoof wall? That's not just bad work, that's basically asking for a hoof crack or an abscess down the line. I totally get the urge to step in, @felix478 is right that ignoring it can snowball into a much bigger problem for that horse in the long run. Personally, I'd probably just move on too unless the animal was really struggling, since most folks don't take kindly to unsolicited advice at a fair.