Esmerelda Has Shoes…

Selwyn put shoes on Esmerelda’s front feet today. Tom had picked up farrier supplies last week when he was in Spanish Lookout, and Selwyn found that he had almost everything he needed. We still need to get a stand to put her foot on to rasp it and clinch nails, and we need a better nail clincher and bigger nippers, but Selwyn made do with what we had and her feet now look much better. When he was done, I gave her a bath and started picking ticks out of her ears. Having to do that is incentive to make sure I keep her tick sprayed, since it’s a very icky job. She’s a very good girl, however, and stands quietly as I reach way down into her ears to pull the ticks out; I’m sure it feels good to have them gone since their bites do hurt, but I was still a little surprised how well behaved she was. She’s not so well behaved about having her belly touched either by a person or by fly spray, but I managed to avoid the cow kicks and we’ll work on that. I had intended to ride her, but by the time I got done grooming her it was 4:00, and I figured it would take me another 45 minutes to make my tack fit her and get her ready to go, so I put that off ‘til Tuesday. I still have more ticks to pull out of her ears, and I’m going to pull her mane so she doesn’t pick up so many burrs, so there’s plenty to do for my horse time. Tom, I think, is relieved that the horse is starting to look better, but is a little worried that my days of doing anything that he considers productive are gone now that I have a horse to play with and ride.

Tom started working on a detailed map of the living area of this property. He’s plotting detailed overviews of the cabin layout, and the layout of the two cabins and the other current and future buildings, and where driveways, parking lots, and walkways will be. He started it on Sunday and ended up working on it until almost midnight, and picked it up again on Monday morning. I’ll post it when it’s in a form that can be understood without a personal narrative.