Chow, Bella

This is Bella.

This is Bella's foot.  She has 4 of them.  Bella gets a pedicure, and one or two new pairs of shoes every 6 weeks, which, I'm sorry to say, is more often than I do.

Various types of horse shoes for corrective shoeing.

Think of this as an emery board- super-sized.  This is one of Bella's many servants, her patient and skillful farrier, and my dear friend, Kris.

Horse shoeing is science, math and art.  Please note, the positions and contortions that this amazing person must get into in order to do this job- and she does it when it is snowing, raining, when it is 100 degrees, and when it is so cold that we have to take breaks every 15 minutes because we can no longer feel our fingers.

Kris is a graduate of the renowned farrier program at the Cornell University school of Veterinary Medicine.  She can make and fit horseshoes right at the barn from her custom designed truck.

When the vet comes, guys head the other way, but when Kris comes, they come out of the woodwork.  Guys love her truck.

Kris has two important qualities that Bella looks for in a shoe salesman- she is knowledgeable, and she doesn't get mad at you if you chew on her ponytail.

The last time Kris was at the barn, Bella helped herself to a $20 bill from the front seat of Kris's truck.

This is the rinsed version, as it was barely recognizable when I pulled it out of her mouth.  Thankfully, the United States Department of the Treasury has in its employ, a person whose career is devoted to the authentication and replacement of mangled, slobber-covered money partially eaten by farm animals.

Yet another reason it's great to be an American.

A spa day can make you sleepy.  Bella is dusted with hay because while she was having her nails done, dinner was being delivered, and was floating through the floorboards of the loft.

Affectionately known as "The Hay Guy," he lives with his family on a farm in Pennsylvania, and brings us beautiful hay at reasonable prices.  This is 144 bales of first-cutting timothy with a little alfalfa.  You can see that Hay Guy is in great shape.  He can pick up a 50-pound bale in each hand like it's nothing, and throw it into the loft faster than two people can stack it.  And he's at least 90 years old.  Just kidding, but he is about 50.  His father-in-law, who I would guess is about 70, has also delivered hay to us, and he can do the same thing, just as fast.  Living in the country eliminates the need for complicated diet plans and expensive gym memberships.


 Books we love from our library:



 
Moving, life changing.  A prescription for living a harmonious existence, whether it involves horses or not.





        
       The "bible" of buying country property

  

Just have to read it.

   
            One of the funniest books I have ever read.  I was gasping for air from the first pages.