Written Feb. 1991

I took Zeus to the blacksmith a week or so ago at the advice of our vet, because he has one weak fetlock in the front which causes his foot to roll over a little. We had it looking pretty normal before his surgery, but through all that, we were unable to work much on the foot so it bdcame a problem again. Anyway, I pulled up to the blacksmith shop and this huge burly fellow with a black beard comes out and with a twinkle in his eye, he tells me that the other two fellows who work with him think (to their consternation) that they are going to have to work on a draft horse that afternoon!

We decided it would be fun for him to lead Zeus into the shop. What a sight that was, this large strapping man leading tiny 21 1/2" Zeus.

Well, I wish you could have seen the looks on the other guys faces when they saw Zeus and then realized that the joke was on them!

It took about ten munutes to get down to work, they were laughing so hard and Zeus just couldn't figure out what all the ruckus was about.

"What's so darn funny anyway, I could be a drafthorse if I wanted to, I can do anything, 'cause I'm BIG!!

Well, they all hunkered down on the ground and then it was my turn to laugh. These three big guys were all huddled down on their knees with Zeus in the middle thoroughly disgusted. He thinks his foot is just fine the way it is.

Anyway, they pondered and discussed this tiny 2" foot and finally put some molding goop they use to repair hoofs on the side of the foot that rolls and took a draft horse nail and bent it to form a small bar to fit across the bottom of Zeus foot. They let it harden and wow!! Zeus is now straight up and very proud of his new "shoe".

He sure lorded it over the other yearlings in the pasture for a couple of days. They say it'll have to be changed every weeks for a while until the hoof grows down normally but he should be fine in a couple of months or so.

One more giant step for Zeus!