It was “Mule Shoe Day” at the ranch on Wednesday.  Lori our “Mule Farrier” came to give both Jackson and Susie-Q new shoes.

Jackson was first. Since Lori was Jackson’s owner before he came to Stillwater, she new exactly what to expect.

This is making me S..l..e..e..p..y.

I'm tired from all this shoe stuff...I think I'll just rest my head on Lori

Now Susie-Q on the other hand was the big unknown……no one knew if she had ever had shoes on. But we were getting ready to find out.

The “clean out”..with a “Hoof pick” went well .

The trimming went well. Mules hooves are different than horses. The heels of the hoof need to be higher than a horse in most cases. More like the donkey side of the equation.

Then came the shoes. All the banging on the anvil forming the shoes for a perfect fit to Suisie’s foot…made her a little nervous. With some reasuring “scratching” from Dalton she soon settled down and was a gem for 3 of the 4 shoes.

 The last and final shoe on her hind foot….took Lori more time than normal…..for some reason Susie just didn’t want that last shoe on!  Lori is extremely patient and eventually…the 4th shoe was attached.

Susie-Q has been using her new shoes and doing well in her trail adventures with Dalton.