Favorite Big (Big!) Horse Photo: Bart's Turn on the Cross-Ties

New Shoe, originally uploaded by Mountain Mike.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that one of my favorite photographers is "Mountain Mike" Edminster. The Sun Valley pro has an eye for farriers, horses, and the great outdoors, and his camera just seems to like leather, rust, dust and cobwebs--which are, of course, some of my favorite things (in photographs).

To date, Mike has entertained the blog with photos of Idaho horseshoers in the dead of winter and the heat of summer, he's shown beautiful tools, and he's played with color and black and white in the same photo. But we haven't see many of the horses from Sun Valley, other than a hoof here or there.

Well, now we know that Mike's been holding out on us. Meet Bart. Where's he been all my life? Notice that the horseshoer, Jesse, and his dog, Sage, both look a little hesitant about working on Bart, who's just had an operation of his right front (hence the duct tape).

Does it appear to anyone else that Bart's head is longer than his legs? I'm just saying...

Thanks, Mike! I hope Bart gets well soon!

Friends at Work: Farrier Jamie Peterson and the Hottest Thing in Idaho

This photo was kindly loaned by photographer Mountain Mike, aka Michael Edminster of Edminster Photography in Bellevue, Idaho. He likes to take photos of farriers while they work, and does a great job of it. I like to check out the weather conditions in Idaho this winter; it seems like they brew weather out there and it just slides across the USA and hits us in New England. The Idaho winter obviously doesn't stop Jamie Peterson from bundling up and going to work.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.