Page 45 - Rev. Charlie MacDonald Shoes Bad Horses

ISSUE : Issue 22

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1979/6/1

'' r-si • ? . . r' I I Al r-% I I I CONTIWUED FROM Rev. Charlie MacDonald Shoes Bad Horses inside front cover brought the horse, 'The devil can't shoe him." "Well," I said, "what would you say if a Presbyterian minister would shoe him?* I got in that barn. And that horse showed no signs of being vicious until you'd go to catch his foot. And then he'd give you a kick and wouldn't let you touch his feet. That horse broke plank on the barn floor and. the boy's mother came down horrified and she started hollering, "Leave the horse alone, Mr. MacDonald, leave the horse alone'. He's going to kill you." "No," I said, "your son is strong and we'll do it if he does everything the way I want it." I said to the boy, "I'm supposed to know. I took the course and I have my di? ploma • will you do what I tell you?" He was strong and I was strong then too. The horse fought and fought and fought. But I could tell the minute he started giving in. We put a new plank in the floor. And we had quite an audi-ence, saying "Give it up, give it up." To do the forefeet we put the surcingle on him. (The surcingle is a kind of belly band with two rings underneath.) We took a rope and pulled his foot up and tied it with a short strap to the belly band. That horse was so bad we had to make a lasso and make him walk into it. We got it on his ankle and we threw the rope over his back and pulled and the foot came up. Then we put a strap with a ring on. Then the hame strap went between that ring and the ring on the belly band • and that held his foot up. Then we took the rope off and walked him around on 3 legs until he got tired. Tied him to a post • the rope around his neck because a bad horse will break the halter every time. Take a hammer and start hitting his hoof. Till he feels it. Or use the rasp. The horse in Lake Ainslie was terrible. He'd jump and come down and that's when he broke the plank. But when they'll give in you'll open the rope and walk him around some more and bring him back. Hit his hoof with the ham? mer. You may have to do this two or three times until he relaxes and gets used to it. And before very long you can just catch his foot. You get him subdued so you can use your rasp on the hoof. If they are really bad to jump, you put a big rope with a slip noose around his middle just in front of his hind legs and run that to a post • and you hit him on the nose with a little switch. And he jumps back. And when this tightens right around his middle that hurts and he jumps ahead • and that'll stop him from backing. And when you've got these two things done the rest is simple. He'll stand there and you'll rasp the hoof and put the shoe on a nail at a time. That's the front feet. But when the hind ones came the mother said, "Leave the hind ones, leave the hind ones!" But we took the big rope from the hayfork and took his foot up and held it. (Rev. MacDonald took the foot up in the same way as shown in the photographs. It .should be pointed out that the horse shown here is not a bad horse at all. Charlie: "She had a stiff foot and didn't want to give it, and I couldn't hold it up • she was so heavy. But I used the same method as I would for a bad horse.") First, you have to braid the horse's tail. Then you put a knot on the horse's tail and then you tie a rope to the tail. You put a strap with a ring on the fetlock. You have one end of the rope fastened on the horse's tail and you run the other end down through the ring on t the fetlock and up through a pulley or over a brace in the barn • something high enough so that when you take the horse a- head and your assistant holds the rope you'll take the.horse's foot up. You mustn't be too severe. Just make it con? venient for yourself. "A Quality Shop Purchases mailed anywhere in the world. LOCATED IN BADDECK. NOVA SCOTIA Arxierican Express. Charoex. Bank America. Master Charge Credit Cards Honoured OPEN DAILY Phone 295-2786 Cape Breton hooked rugs Eskimo soapstone carvinas Shetland sweaters 100% wool campers jackets Tartan materials, kilt skirts and suits VtiLnaowSy Doors t AttmingSt Railings?? Siding Modern Aluminum Products lifelton Street, Sydner 562-1104 / 562*1105 ICE FOODS CLEANLINESS POP George has all you need to cope: A laundromat and lots of soap George, the clerks, his wife and daughter Try to treat you as they oughter. GEORGE'S ENTERPRISES & LAUNDROMAT, Baddeck Harbour Restaurant Open 8:00 a.m, to Midnight 1:00 a.m. Saturday Jake Out Telephone (902) 224-2042 and Diet Dishes Cheticamp, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on request Children's Portions Try Our Butterscotch Pie S.A.JFr''matt iCtd. PRESCRIPTIONS COSMETICS-TOiLETRIES. ETC. INViRNiSS • PHONI 2SS-2400 • NOVA SCOTIA • *rum left at the Causeway-- Route 19 • It's a lovely way to go." Cape Breton's Magazine/46

Cape Breton's Magazine