Bliss had front shoes put on today. She was brilliant having the shoes put on. It was as if she had been having them fitted since she was born. It is good when Horses can be shod without any trouble, most are, but some Horses can be a pain in the neck, the odd ones even need to be sedated. A good Farrier helps. Our Farrier has worked for some of the top racing yards in the Country, and is by far the best that we have had. I remember that once when we mentioned the name of a Horse that I had purchased, the Farriers ears pricked up, he knew the Horse very well, and told us of things that we wanted to know about her, that we could not get any information about. Bliss after being shod is no longer lame and we will be getting her working as much as Misty. Misty didn’t need doing, her feet must be a little harder.
Some of the Farrier’s that we have had, have been nightmares. Shoes falling off within days of new shoes being fitted, putting the nails through the soles making the Horses lame. One Farrier who came to shoe, started to hit the Arnie when he moved. Arnie is very good being shod. He was sent on his way very quickly, so quick that he didn’t get the chance to even finish shoeing Arnie. Another Farrier that we had use to employ three apprentices, who would do most of the work, that caused a few problems. When we lived in London, the Queens Farrier shod our Horses. He was in full employment as a Farrier at Buckingham Palace. I should think he was moonlighting shoeing our Horses. It didn’t sound a bad job, he had a Flat in the Royal Mews. Twice he gave me a tour of the Royal Carriages, my passion and the Royal Horses. He was a nice man, but not a very good Farrier, probably was when he was younger. Living in the middle of London, you don’t get much of a choice of Farriers.
Its looking less likely the Bliss and Misty will be going to be sold at Auction. Neither look as if their coats and condition will be up to the standard required for them to realise their true value. Misty is not too bad, but Bliss looks like a walking disaster. Her coat is very much like Ladies, her Mother, very fine and marks very easy. The other day we put her in a Stable on her own, whilst we worked with Misty, when we let her out she had taken a very large area of hair off of the front of her face. Every time she gets a mark on her, which is most days, it looks bad, but it is only superficial. For Bliss to turn up at the Auction with these marks would be a turn off for a lot of potential buyers.
We need to make a decision very quickly on what we are going to do with Bliss and Misty. I will go into it further in tomorrows Diary.