We woke up to cloudy, cold rain once again. Terry was exhausted and needed to sleep in. I knew the Farrier was coming to check the horses hooves, so I braved the cold and rain and made my way down to the barn. A truck backed up to the barn door and set up shop. Dick Bickel quickly got to work first trimming and filing the horses hooves then fixing any cracks or imperfections with acrylic resin. In all he worked on the hooves of five or six horses in quick succession. The last horse was the greatest challenge since he needed to rework the horse shoes. In the back of the truck was a furnace and an anvil to pound the shoes into shape. Once in a while he would hold up the red hot shoe to the horses hoof to check it for size. Sometimes he even pressed the shoe up against the hoof causing it to burst into flames in the cold morning air. I was amazed at how calm the horse remained through the whole process. Dick explained that he used to shape all his shoes from a straight bar, but with so many shoe manufacturers, that didn’t make sense anymore. I asked if his was a lost art and he said, “No there are many training opportunities for the next generation.” Debbie the owner of the bed and breakfast, also claims that Dick is something of a horse whisperer. He is able to train horses that are considered to dangerous to ride.
