A Morning at the Farrier's · 2:49am Mar 3rd, 2016
Side Story: A Morning at the Farrier's
This takes place at the same time as Chapter 23.
]From the Wiki
As always, a big thanks to my pre-readers! metallusionsismagic, AShadowOfCygnus, MSPiper
From the Wiki
Apple Leaves
From the Wiki
Peachy Sweet
Source
Lavender Fritter
From the Wiki
Shoeshine
Also appearing in the story, Red Delicious, Apple Crumble, and Apple Mint. Apple Tart is mentioned by name as Apple Leaves' youngest, but has never been seen. We know from canon that Apple Leaves has eight foals, but Apple Tart is the only one who has been specifically named as hers.
Welly is a background pony with a boot as a cutie mark.
Oddly, there isn't all that much specific info for this chapter that hasn't been covered elsewhere. Horseshoes have caulks on the bottom for traction; sometimes they're molded in, and sometimes they're threaded in and can be removed when not needed.
This video gives a pretty good idea of the process of shoeing a horse.
In a nutshell, knock the old shoe off, trim the hoof and frog, file the hoof, test-fit the shoe, adjust the shoe, file the hoof again so that the shoe fits flat, and nail it on. (You'll notice that the shoes in the video has a pair of clips on the side, rather than a single toe-clip.) Repeat for the other three hooves.
Not surprisingly, there are several different types of harnesses. A breastcollar harness has a band across the front of the horse's chest, and they're really only suitable for light loads. Too much weight, and it becomes hard for the horse to breathe.
Source
A D-ring harness and a side-backer harness are similar. The advantage of the D-ring is it puts all the downward load of the wagon on the horse's saddle, rather than on his shoulders. The side-backer has a strap arrangement which keeps the braking straps up and out of the sweat of a hard-working horse, which makes them last longer.
It's worth noting that there is more than one name for each type of harness, and their 'accessories' are often modified, depending on what the horse is doing. Also, in the MLP world, some of the parts of a real harness could be left off, since the ponies don't rely on a drover to tell them what to do.
D-ring harness
Source
Side-backer harness
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Horseshoes do come in a wide variety of shapes and materials. While most real-life equines don't have to deal with magic flow through their bodies, they do have to deal with a wide variety of different working conditions, from racehorses that wear aluminum shoes (lightweight, but they don't last long), to horses that constantly work on pavement who might have rubberized shoes for traction, to the trusty workhorse out in the fields, who's going to have caulks that let him really dig into the soft ground.
On top of that, there are different shapes of shoes for different purposes, including a variety of orthopedic shoes to make up for some hoof defect.
If that wasn't enough, hoof boots really do exist, too (and socks for hoof boots).
Source
Other interesting facts: when I was googling for a good image of hoof boots for horses [if you leave off the 'for horses' part, you'll get some interesting results], the number four result linked back to one of my blog posts.
The working title of the chapter was Caramel gets Nailed.
One place you can buy horseshoes online is called Centaur Forge.
Furries.
*Watches shoeing video*
Welp, one down... three to go.
Plus the other horses.
10 minutes... for one shoe! One basic shoe on a healthy and fully cooperative horse shoed by someone who clearly has a lot of experience doing so!
Horses m8.
3788878 *fetishists. Puppy/pony pet play is a "normal" fetish, not necessarily a unique-to-furry one.
Also; Hipposandals! :D
City/park carriage horses are treated ridiculously poorly...
You know, I can see horseshoes coming about a lot like Jeeps. First created for the earth pony army to make their bucks that much harder, and also helped with long marches. The ponies went home and saw how useful they were on the farm and started using them there as well eventually becoming part of the day to day life.
I had the overwhelming urge to read this fic with a certain song in the background.
It was awesome for the first part of it too.
3788878
There is some bleed-over since that's the Brony/Furry costumer's main source for equine costume footwear that wont break a leg...
)
Pony-play actually...
(And we know where THAT ends with equine types...
Is that supposed to be 'driver' or is it just a term I'm unfamiliar with? A quick google search on the word 'drover' tells me it could be either way.
3788878
Reasonable guess. I'm not gonna judge.
3788900
Yeah, it's not a quick process. This is how Shoeshine would get behind--I doubt she could get faster than a half hour per quartet, and there are a lot of ponies in Ponyville.
3788907
True, although they've probably got a much better gig than they did a century ago.
The one we saw in Banff was dozing while he waited for his next fare.
pre05.deviantart.net/4bbc/th/pre/f/2015/150/4/1/stallion_sleeping_while_waiting_for_a_fare_by_admiral_biscuit-d8veiv2.jpg
3789107
That's a possibility. I'm not sure that it actually makes much difference if you get kicked by a flat(ish) shoe or just a bare hoof, though. Still, shoes could have had other tactical uses, depending on where they were stationed.
Certainly they'd be motivated to invent something that cut down on hoof wear and gave them better traction.
3789421
Although the design of the pony hoof per the show doesn't require that level of anatomical accuracy.
img02.deviantart.net/31a9/i/2013/175/a/2/rough_house_in_crutches_by_strumfreak-d6ae463.png
3789937
Drover is often used to mean someone who drives animals.
3789315
Ah, good old ELO. My personal favorite song of theirs is Livin' Thing. Which I'm listening to right now.
3790166 Nah. They had a much better gig a century ago than they do now.
http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/animals-in-entertainment/nyc-horse-carriages
The paved roads now are much harsher to walk on than what they had 100 years ago, and they're forced to deal with these terrifying loud things all day everyday.
3790212
Yes, that's unarguably true. However, animal cruelty laws back then weren't what they are now. Wasn't that sort of a plot point in Black Beauty (it's been so long since I read that novel)
3790264 That's my point. Even with those laws, we sanction and think what's essentially daily abuse is "romantic".
I'm surprised you don't mention the interesting body language displayed in this chapter.
3792269
I'm still getting up to speed on some horse body language and psychology, which is part of the reason I didn't. I've observed some of those behaviors in semi-feral horses, but I don't yet know the why behind some of them.
Still, I probably should have put down what I did know, shouldn't I have?
3796529
I was hoping for some social insight, but body language works to.
3796921
Alright, here you go. Here's some of what I know, helpfully infodumped in no particular order.
Equine social structure is complicated. If a stallion takes over a herd, some of the mares might not like him, and will sneak off and hook up with a stallion that they do like, often the former leader of their herd.
Position in the herd isn't necessarily important to every horse (they don't all want to be number one), but knowing what their position is is vitally important to them. They need to know who they should follow orders from and who they can order around.
In the herd, horses also form up into bands. Unlike a lot of herd animals, when horses run from a threat, they may go separate directions, usually by band.
However, they will also often follow the lead of a horse who has 'figured it out.' This might not be the dominant horse in their herd/band, either. Depends on the situation.
In a new situation, they'll take cues from each other. They'll watch how some other horse is dealing with the situation, and learn from that.
Horses are less nervous when they know there's a way out--if things don't go well, they've got an option to run. They're more likely to take a risk if they know they can back out if things don't go well.
Okay... now, I'm finally caught up on all your Onto the Pony Planet related material
3797423
I'd better write some more, eh?
Yeah you will. I honestly did not know that was a thing.