[upbeat folk music]
- Inga: My brother Lee is visiting from Virginia.
In Virginia, he is a farrier,
which is also another word for a horse shoer, right?
- Yes.
- So to be a horse shoer, do you need to have
a full mustache and a Southern accent?
- You don't have to, but it sure helps.
[Inga laughing]
- I think it's-- a lot of people I don't think,
are gonna understand that we're brother and sister
because our accents are so completely different.
- Right. - Now, I'm a Midwesterner,
well, no, I'm doing a Southern accent. [laughing]
All right.
Well, so why is it important to be trimming hooves,
and making sure the hooves are healthy on horses?
- Lee: So we try to trim them every six to eight weeks
to help keep the foot where it needs to be
for the health of the tendons and ligaments.
- And because they're just using their hooves so much?
- Right.
- Okay, 'cause with my cows, like,
I don't have to trim their feet nearly as much as a horse,
but I just think 'cause it's out there,
what's the difference between cows and horses and feet?
- Lee: I think it's because we exercise them so much
and use them so much,
they have a lot of blood flow that goes to that foot
and it grows a lot faster. - Inga: Right, right, okay.
So what is the process of trimming feet?
- So we just kinda clean it out
and kinda clean up the frog and the sole,
and establish where we want our balance
and trim the hoof all to that,
and round up the outside real well
to keep it from chipping up during a six-week deal.
[metal scraping]
- Inga: And this is just kind of a part of what the cowboys
used to do in the old days too, right?
- Lee: Right.
- I bet it was a lot more difficult back then
with the-- or is it still the same tools?
- Still pretty much the same tools,
we've had a few advances, but-- - No kidding.
- Kinda the same stuff since they started.
[upbeat country music]
- I'm gonna help my brother finish up with this horse,
and then I'll see you down at J. Henry,
where we're gonna get some bourbon for our cowboy campfire.
[upbeat folk music]