Windmount Stables - If the Shoe Fits

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on July 9th, 2013, 3:38 am

5th Summer 513 AV

Located in the heart of Syliras, Windmount Stables is one of the original fixtures that used to be part of the internal courtyard of Stormhold Castle. When the stable's business grew too large for the confines of Stormhold, the original owner, Cyrus Windmount - a reknown Syliran Knight - moved it to a new ten acre facility in the heart of Syliras right up against the castle walls. Now sprawling, the facility is a spot of green pasture within the safety of the city. The place itself is made of up three main barns. The first barn holds the stables prize breeding stallions. The second holds breeding mares and their foals, while a third houses horses that are 'finished' or for sale. WIndmount also occasionally has more unique mounts or exotics for sale, and they are housed in separate accommodations (a quarantine barn) off in one far corner of the facility. There is one large arena that is large enough to house jousting events, two smaller workout arenas, a large events pasture, and grazing for the horses. Recently, Conor Windmount (prior to his death) had a large indoor arena constructed as well. On a small rise overlooking the facility, a stone cottage seems to sprout out of the green landscape, the traditional home of the Windmount family.

The facility also has a simple training aspect to it. A person can learn to ride, drive, or even breed horses. Prices fluctuate according to who is available to train and the services desired. Do not hesitate to ask Serena or one of the stablehands.

Last lazy days of summer had finally left, and the cool breeze that herald fall whistled through the barn. Ethan straighten his back, feeling his lower back muscles pull and loosen from the strain of bending all day. A Colorspash draft horse stood next to him, tied to the stall and an impatient farmer holding its head stroke the horses neck. The stallion was old, but still had life enough to pull a cart full of wheat to the mill.

Ethan bent down to the front hoof and gently touched the horse’s leg above the ankle. For a brief moment the horse remained stubborn, while Ethan pulled gently upward. Ethan removed his hand and softly stroked the horses shoulder letting him calm back down. Flies buzzed around the horse and farrier, Ethan took the moment to let his hand rest on the shoulder waiting for the horse’s muscles to lose its tension. The stableboy’s for the Knights mounts were grooming the warhorses down after a day out on patrol. A small framed boy was mucking out a stall with a wooden pitchfork and shovel off to the side. Slowly, the muscles in the horse’s shoulder loosened up and Ethan made the attempt once again. Gently, Ethan lifted the horse’s leg up and check the underside of the hoof briefly. The farmer had cleaned the horses hoofs as when he had arrived, but Ethan took a moment to clean them once again with hoof pick. Grabbing dirt, mud, and a small stone out from the shoe. Once done, he placed the pick back in his pocket and placed the hoof on a stand. The hoof stand was made out of wood, with a metal peg to lift the center post up. It wasn’t fancy and would need to be replaced perhaps in a year as cracks were beginning to form in the legs of the stand.

As the horse’s foot rested on the stand, Ethan took a rasp and been to file the outside of the hoof. Flakes of dried hoof began to pop up in the wind and drift back down to the ground. The rasp also caught the nail points removing the bent metal so that the shoe could come off. Ethan took his time looking for cracks in the wall of the hoof, examining the overall hoof to judge for any sensitive spots. Review of the hoof hadn’t shown any soft spots or cracks, so Ethan turned around and allowed the natural bend of the leg to place the hoof between his thighs. Squeezing his thighs together, the hoof was lightly trapped as he picked up the hoof clippers. The long handles scissor into an almost metal jaw, he placed the teeth of one end on the rim of the metal shoe and the animals foot. Closing the clippers, Ethan pulled upward, the nails began to move outward and the shoe lifted slightly from the hoof. Moving quickly, Ethan performed the same task on the other side of the hoof, and placed the clippers back in his apron pocket. A crowbar came out and wedge its between the hoof and shoe, using the leverage it offered the shoe and nails came off in a few moments.

Ethan pulled out his hoof knife and began trimming the shoe of the hoof. He noticed the asymmetrical shape of the hoof as he trimmed. It seemed that the draft horse he was working on preferred to walk on the inside of his hoofs. So as Ethan cleaned off the shoe with the knife he made sure to trim only a little bit on the inside that way when he shoed the horse it would be level. Picking up the hoof clipper, Ethan began to trim the hoof wall, clipping a large portion of it off and gradually lessen the depth of the clip as he made his way to the inside of the hoof. The clippers went back into the apron and the rasp came back out. Ethan saw some of the imprecise cuts he had made and began to work the hoof level with the rasp.

The raps gave a small hissing sound each time he ran over the hoof with it. The heat of the day was wearing off, yet still Ethan felt sweat roll off his arms and brow with each movement across the hoof. His breath swirled the cloud of white flakes that came. Though it only seemed like a few moments, Ethan cursed in himself for the little notches left in the hoof. Finally the hoof’s wall was smooth and even before Ethan did a quick rasp of the edge, making sure he would cut himself when placing on the new shoe. Ethan placed the hoof back down on the clean stable floor as he took the old shoe up from the floor. He made sure to pick up all the nails from the old shoe to be sure that none would hurt one of the knights horses.

Going over to the stock horseshoes Ethan tried to find one that would match the size of the horse. That way he wouldn’t have to perform a great deal of forge work to fit the horse properly.

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on July 9th, 2013, 6:48 pm

Ethan went over to the stock room to quickly review the shoes. Dozens of different types of shoes and tack lined the walls. Steel shoes for warhorses took up the wall furthest away from the door. The pig iron shoes were closest to the door, since they were best for running and general work. Arranged by size the small shoes were located at the top of the peg board and went down to the draft horses. Ethan found three shoes that were reasonably close in size to the once he held in his hand. However, sadly one would have to be created from starch and it would delay the farmer, as well as, Ethan this evening. Going over to the forge, Ethan set the shoe on the flame with a pair of tongs and then placed some pig iron on the flame as well. Ethan went to the nail box and picked it up going back outside, he placed the box and hammer down next to the front foot.

For a moment he talked to the farmer, allowing the shoe to heat up. “Listen, I am going to have to forge one shoe at least. I have done field clipping on the horse to better protect it in the field against stones. How’s he doing?” The farmer continued to stroke the stallion, “He’s fine. Just fine, I have to admit you doing a fine job, ever since your father started taking care of the knights horses, been worried about the shoe quality. Ethan simply shrugged, “Still learning, but it helps that you trained him to take a shoe.” The farmer nodded and Ethan went back to forge to check the shoe. The iron had started to glow a bright orange and Ethan picked up the shoe with tongs. Quickly he moved over to the horn on the anvil and began hammering the side of the shoe.

The hammer fell upon the shoe and a thin grey layer of oxidation fell off the shoe on the anvil. Ethan saw the dent that he had to put in the shoe and began working the shoe up and down on the anvils horn adding a larger curve to the outside of the hoof. As the general curve came about, Ethan placed the shoe back in the forge allowing it to heat up once more. Now that he had added the overall curve he needed to level the shoe and add a toe clip. Ethan saw the metal once again to heat up to an orange glow, and he pulled the iron from the forge. Placing the shoe down on the face of the anvil, Ethan began to strike it to level the metal out. The buildup of material due to him striking it in the side began to spread back into the shoe.

Flipping the shoe over, Ethan began striking the edge of the shoe seeing a small depression of metal squeeze out. Ethan was adding a toe clip to the shoe so that he wouldn’t have to put to many nails in the hoof reducing the risk of him putting in a nail wrong or punching through the sensitive part of the hoof. The metal began to cool and all the brightness left, the shoe was still hold enough to burn flesh, but cool enough to check the fit prior to nailing it in.

Ethan took the hot horseshoe over to the horse and lifted its leg briefly catching it between his thighs. Lightly hovering the shoe over the horse hoof, he checked the alignment of the shoe against the hoof wall. Small wisps of smoke began to waft up in Ethan’s face as the hoof reacted to the heat from the shoe, but Ethan only needed a few moment to determine that the curve needed to be added to the end of the outside of the shoe. Release the hoof Ethan went back to the forge to add a little more curve to the end of the shoe. As the shoe heated back up, Ethan took out the bar stock and began hammering the replacement shoe. The horn allowed the iron to begin its nature curve in the middle of the bar stock. The bar began to fold as Ethan moved from the horn to the face flattening and leveling the curve. Seeing that a general shape of the horseshoe had started on the bar stock, he placed it back in the forge. Picking up the other shoe he began to add the small curve to the end, before leveling out the shoe.

Once done Ethan quenched the shoe in a bucket of water. Steam rose up to meet him until the quiet heat for the forge was the only thing that Ethan felt. He brought the shoe out of the forge and briefly touched the shoe. It was cool enough to touch, so Ethan grabbed the shoe with his hand. He felt only the smallest amount of warmth still left in the shoe as he headed back to the horse. Ethan picked up the hoof one last time and began touched the finish product to the shoe. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it was level with the hoof and the holes lined up with the hoof wall. Picking up a nail, Ethan made sure to check the way the nail was meant to bend before tacking the shoe into place. The horse felt the impact of the nail going in, but since it didn’t jerk or move, Ethan knew he wasn’t hitting a sensitive spot.

Ethan hammered at the shoe a couple of time to make sure it was in the proper place and finally placed a few more nails into the hoof. He left room to add a nail to either side of the shoe, making sure that if he had accidently put pressure on the internals of the hoof, he could pull the nail and put another one in its place. After the shoe was nailed to the hoof, Ethan hammered in the toe clip, making sure that the horse wouldn’t throw the shoe. The small half disk of iron flatten against the hoof and finally bit in ever so slightly. Checking the hoof to make sure he hadn’t put a crack in it from the stress of the new shoeing, Ethan pulled up the clippers to trim off the nails spears. Ethan cut the tip of the nails off, but left a little bit of the nails body to fold over on the hoof. Watching the nail tips fall to the ground Ethan used his foot to sweep them off to the side.

Ethan released the hoof trapped between his legs and brought it over to the hoof stand. Taking the rasp out Ethan did quick cleaning passes with it making sure that the hoof and shoe would sit well and that a piece of hoof wasn’t trapped in between to hurt or crack the hoof. Once done he allowed the horse to rest its leg as he cleaned up the nail tips from the floor.

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on July 10th, 2013, 2:53 am

For the next two hoof the shoeing was exactly like the first. Routine and nothing to really worry or think about, yet when Ethan picked up the fourth hoof he knew there was going to be a challenge. A small crack had developed in the hoof, it had grown for the shoe at the tip upward. Though the crack had penetrate about only a two fingers width upward, Ethan knew that he would have to repair the crack and all the horse to heal on its own. Ethan began studying the shoe and hoof, the hoof appeared to be trimmed level and the shoe covered the tip. As Ethan straddled the leg and brought the hoof up he looked to see if it was loose or a stone had caught underneath the hoof.

Ethan used his knife to probe the rim of the shoe and found a small opening on the underside of the shoe, where it had been level when facing it. Ethan went to work pulling the shoe off, first he clipped the nails instead of putting pressure on the hoof with the rasp. Pulling the shoe with the clippers, Ethan made sure to work from back to front. As he pried with the crowbar, he saw that the farrier hadn’t smooth out the horse underneath. A hammer mark hadn’t been smoothed out leaving an impression in the shoe. Since the horse tended to walk on the inside of its hoofs, the impression in the shoe acted as a hard edge when the horse walked on paved stone.

If it had been spring and the horse had been working mainly in the fields the shoe wouldn’t have caused as must trouble. The soft soil and grass would have padded the hoof from striking the indent to hard, and the crack could have been trimmed of. Instead, Ethan began to use his trim knife to shave off the edge of the crack, looking for blood and feeling for heat to see if the crack had penetrated the hoofs inner shell. The small cracked widen a little bit, but thankful Ethan could cut the worst of it during his trimming. Additionally, the crack looked to be small and as long as Ethan didn’t do anything to worsen the condition, it could be cut off in the next shoeing.

So Ethan began to level the hoof out and rasping at the back quarters and he applied the clippers to the front. He was delicate with the rasp as he filed away the hoof around the crack. He didn’t want to snag the crack and open it wider. Softly the crack took a triangle shape, to be ready for the glue that was going to be applied to the hoof.

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on July 10th, 2013, 3:45 am

The cracked hoof had been cleaned as Ethan released the hoof. Quickly he went over to the forge. The bar stock he had been working on had taken the general shape of a horseshoe, in fact he was even used a wedge to punch a trend into the shoe for the nails. All that was supposed to be done was to take a hole punch and punch out the nail holes, then add a toe clip. Instead Ethan began to round the front of the hoof. His grandfather had shown him that rounding the edge of the toe would make sure that the horse was walking on hard surfaces it would not put pressure on the front part of the hoof.

Normally, Ethan skipped this step as the toe clip kept the pressure from ripping out nails. However, with the crack, Ethan couldn’t use a toe clip to seal the shoe to the hoof. The rounding of the top of the shoe began upsetting the material thickening the shoe and shortening the band. Ethan worked back and forth, shaping the shoe to keep the same thickness. Finally, Ethan had a decent mix of the two and decided that if nothing else he would file the rest. The shoe went back into the flame as Ethan walked back out to the farmer. “Listen it appears that your horse has developed a crack within the last few days. Have the horse been doing anything unusual or did you change its work load?” Ethan asked the farmer with a gentle voice.

“Well, I have picked up some extra work hauling iron from the Lykolav Mine to the Ironworks. Is Curtis going to be ok?” Ethan nodded to the farmer, thinking about what the man said. The extra loads had put more weight and stress on the horse. Additionally, the paved stones that made the streets of Syliras didn’t help. “He will be fine. So let me guess that you started the extra loads perhaps ten days ago?” Ethan asked.

“That’s right, they normal carter had broken an axle, since I also help transport the loads for several farms they asked me to pick up his loads for the 5 days.” The farmer looked down at the hoof that Ethan had been working on and saw the triangle that had form from his work. The hoof didn’t have a smooth curve anymore, almost as if ah chip had come out of the front of the hoof. The farmer looked up worried at Ethan, “Will Curtis be ready for harvest?”

“Well, I can put some glue on it for the short term. You will have to kept the hoof clean, no mud or trench digging for Curtis. The glue will trap moisture and the hoof will root more, but in two or three days Curtis could do normal runs without a problem. I am afraid that it will cost extra, Serena will know the prices better than me. Normally, when I see this out in the field, I have to send the mount here anyway. Otherwise, if you don’t think that Curtis needs to make the mill runs for 30 days, and he isn’t used heavily, the hoof will heal on its own. Just bring Curtis by and another farrier will trim the hoof and cut down the crack. The overall hoof will probably still have a small chip and the crack might widen a little more, but overall in 60 days the crack will be gone. I just don’t know your work load.” Ethan looked over at the forge and saw that it was time to get back to the shoe. Turning to the farmer he waited for an answer.

“Guess, I need to talk to Serena.” Ethan nodded at the comment and went back to the forge. The trimming of the hoof had left a small hole and Ethan could easily pug it up with a little bit of glue. However, it won’t be hold the hoof stop the hoof from cracking under load. As the farmer tied off Curtis, Ethan continued work on shoe. He took a hole punch and began stamping holes in the trench of the shoe. He made a total of ten hole, five on each side, and held the shoe up to the old one that had been removed. The shoe had a similar shape, but once again he needed to work on the curve. Back and forth between the horn and the face the shoe went. Hammering the shoe shape took time and finally Ethan was satisfied with the match to the previous shoe.

Once done, Ethan set up toe clips for either side of the crack. By hammering the toe clips inward, it would stabilize the crack and force it together. Once down Ethan quenched the hoof and began filing the edges off the cooled shoe.

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on July 10th, 2013, 4:10 am

When the farmer came back, Ethan was ready to shoe the horse. “Go ahead and put the glue on. I can’t risk Curtis being down if harvest comes early this year.” The farmer spoke as he neared Ethan. Once a decision was made, Ethan went ahead and untied the horse so that the farmer could help calm Curtis down. Ethan lifted up the hoof and began to nail the shoe into place. Instead of saving the toe clips for last, he made sure to secure them prior to putting the rest of the nails in.

Once done, Ethan bent the nails and released the hoof and went in search of the medicine chest. The chest was located by the office and Ethan search for the large clay jar. Opening the lid, Ethan smelled linseed oil and mint, but from the look inside the jar, it seemed that it was a grey mud more than a glue with a herbal remedy in it. Still Ethan took a clean trowel and scooped up enough of the glue on a leather cloth to cover the crack and a little more.

Ethan lifted Curtis foot onto the hoof stand and began using the leather cloth to spread the glue on the hoof. First he filled in the crack with the glue and then began to wipe the excess on the hoof surrounding the crack. He felt like a mason putting mortar between two stones. Once the glue was spread evenly, Ethan tied the leather cloth to the hoof with a twine and let Curtis stand on the shoe. While, waiting for the glue to harden, Ethan talked with the farmer about the upcoming harvest.

By the time the glue had harden Ethan was slightly bored with the farmer, but kept a smile on his face. The one thing about being a farrier that Ethan hated was talking to the clients. Still his father had taught him the skills of small talk and though it drive him crazy, it did give Ethan time to think about the future. Ethan waited for a break in the farmers trials with his daughter and wife, when it occurred Ethan jumped in. “Well why don’t we take a look at that hoof, shall we?”

Ethan peeled off the leather and saw that the glue had indeed hardened. Picking up the leg and rasp, Ethan set to work on smoothing out the glue and hoof. Once done, Ethan smiled at the job well done and spoke, “Well friend, remember to give Curtis a few days rest to make sure the glue has cured, but afterwards Curtis should be ready for anything.” Ethan smiled and began packing up the tools and cleaning the area. While the cleanup was going on, Ethan knew that he had a long day and decided it was time to stop. He would stop by Serena’s and tell her what supplies were used and the amount of horses he had replaced shoes on.

~Fin

by **Radiant** on July 26th, 2013, 8:14 am

Ethan :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+3 XP
Socialization	+1 XP
Animal Husbandry	+4 XP
Blacksmithing	+4 XP
Medicine	+1 XP

Completed Windmount Stables - If the Shoe Fits