horse hoofs, originally uploaded by Miss-D80.

I love all the old stories about “Napoleon Shoes” (shoes nailed on backwards to fool trackers) and conquests of outlaws because a horse was tracked down because of a lost shoe or a bar shoe…but imagine tracking this horse?

(I don’t know that the horse had five legs; the one of the left is probably from a teammate.)

The right front is probably what we’d call a rotational deviation of the limb from the knee. How the horse has gotten by and grown up to be working for a living is another big question.

Which side of the shoe do you think he wears down most?

Draft horses are amazing. They often endure bad shoeing, no shoeing, lousy confirmation, cracked feet, ringbone, sidebone…and just keep going.

Thanks to Miss D80 for the loan of her photo!