[QUOTE Can you explain better?
ONE MILE once a month is not a lot of miles. If he doesn’t crack up, has no issues, isn’t overweight, I would keep him barefoot and just don’t trot the whole way. Honestly, ONE MILE!!!
I suppose he is a kicker in the pasture and that is you issues with shoes?
You might be thinking too hard here.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for your responses, and I will try to explain better. I have read some very anti-rubber shoes things on internet group sites for carriage horses and drivers. I am VERY unfamiliar with draft horses and larger carriages. They are not very common down here at all. I now find myself with two (drafts) because of being very soft-hearted. They are both Percherons and their photos are on my site, which is listed in my signature below. One, the mare, came with registration papers – she was an auction save. The other came with his carriage as a “package deal”.
My farrier is not vary familiar with draft horses either because there are not many of them here-- he has told me that he may have had about a dozen draft horses to work on in his whole career. Right now, he says he trims and shoes one Shire or Shire cross in another town and trims a team of Belgians in another parish.
Also, he charges me the same price for trimming each of the two drafts as he does for trimming my other horses, so I know he isn’t that familiar because I understand that most farriers charge more per horse for trimming drafts. He has been a farrier-- and he did attend an accredited school and did an apprenticeship-- since 1983. He is considered one of the best in our area, and is in demand. I like him because he takes his time and is never rough or short with a horse. All of my horses like him, too.
Most of my experience is with Tennessee Walking Horses – liteshod flatshod horses only. I used shoes on my horses when I was showing-- 20 years ago. All I do now is pleasure ride – I think that is what the British call “hacking” in the fields and pastures near my home. Occasionally I have to ride for less than half a mile on the asphalt road to get from one pasture to another. Since most of my pleasure riding is in fields and pastures, I keep my horses barefooted now.
My driving experience is limited to showing TWHs to cart in a few classes about 20 years ago- the class was called pleasure driving TWH to cart, and to driving a mule hitched to a farm wagon, and using a chunky 14 hand Morgan cross, and now the Percheron mare to harrow my pastures using a forecart and chain harrow.
As far as I know, Barney, the Perchie gelding, is not a kicker-- he seems very gentle, and in the time I have had him, I have not seen him kick. When another horse bit him in the rump to move him, he did raise one hind leg, but he did not kick.
As for his way of going-- well, I have not hitched him up since he arrived because he is thin-- though he has been slowly and steadily gaining weight. When loose in the pasture- he can move surprisingly fast for something so big. He trots, and I consider his action pretty animated- he really lifts those big feet. I am not at all used to looking at trotting horses, so I am not qualified to give a good assessment of his way of going or action. When he gallops at liberty, he really pounds the ground. My daughter says it sounds like she thinks an elephant would sound.
I have never allowed any horses to be out together with shoes on for as long as I have owned horses-- maybe I’m a ninny or a worrywart, but I figure why take a chance of having a horse get kicked by a horse wearing metal shoes?
I have also been reading quite a lot on the internet groups about all kinds of “new” options for protecting horses’ feet-- boots of various makes, glue-on shoes and rubber shoes.
When I actually start offering the carriage ride tours, I will be using a Roberts brand vis-a-vis which is metal, wood and fiberglass and weighs about 1,000 lbs empty give-or-take a few pounds. The carriage does have hydraulic brakes on the rear axle. I bought the carrage used, and am working on getting it looking nice and being in proper working condition. Barney came with the carriage as did his harness, that was the “package deal”. (I have a post elsewhere on COTH hoping someone might know him.)
I have been told that these carriages accomodate six passengers and a driver and assistant (footman?) I will be very careful about not over-loading, because my primary concern is my horse, not making money.
Barney will travel a bit more than just one mile, he will travel three with a loaded carriage, and then about 3/4 mile from home and back at the beginning and end of the tour time. I thought I would offer three tours (stretched out between 8am-12pm - market hours) with at least a half hour rest between each tour) each Market Day (first Saturday of the month).
Most of the way, the going is pretty level with gentle grade changes-- nothing like the hills of San Francisco, but not totally flat like New Orleans. There are two pretty high grade changes or “hills” on the route, but he will be going downhill, not uphill for these.
I am just about at retirement age, and I am trying to combine my life-long interest in and love of horses with a “fun” business that will allow me to spend most of my time around my horses. I also do some academic tutoring, and will begin offering some basic riding and horse care lessons. I hope eventually to offer carriage rental for weddings, etc. in town only. All the churches are within about a mile of my home as well. Clinton is a small historic town founded in 1824 with fewer than 2,000 residents. The whole parish (county) only has about 15,000 residents, most of them in one of the six towns here.
I appreciate all and any advice. There are a couple of people around here have used drafts and draft croses for farming, and there is one other woman who pleasure drives-- she has ponies and little metal carts, so the place isn’t exactly crawling with experts.
). I do use hoof boots when riding in rough or unknown terrain. The brand of boots I use are Old Mac’s G2. I don’t know if they make them big enough for your drafty though. I have seen draft horses with the hoofwings (