New Shoes, New Teeth, New Recipe

Today must have been a sleepy day for everyone. We only had 16 kids at early practice this morning! Mine were there - I had to do ribbons from yesterday's meet. Then I went to the barn because the farrier and the equine vet were coming.


I didn't get a picture of the old shoe and the hoof before it was cleaned out. Because we live in such a damp climate with very soft ground, the horses hooves need to be trimmed out before the shoes are put on. Thrush and white line disease (both fungal infections) are common down here because of the dampness. Here's Honeybee's cleaned, trimmed hoof. He is fitting the shoe on. The V-shaped dark thing in the middle of the hoof is called the frog.




The frog is an important part of the horse's circulatory system — it pumps blood up the horse's leg each time the horse takes a step, and the frog makes contact with the ground. The frog acts rather like the heart, in that blood flows down the horse's leg into the frog. The horse's weight then compresses the frog on the ground, essentially squeezing the blood out of the frog, pushing it back up the horse's legs.

The farrier is shaping the horse shoe with the hammer to fit Honeybee's hoof - he holds it up to her hoof and feels around the edges to make sure it is all smooth.

Now he nails it on the hoof. He uses six nails per hoof. The nails come out through the top of the hoof where they are bent over, then clipped off and filed smooth.

After Honeybee and Punkin got their full sets of new shoes and my horse, Lady, got her shoes on just the front, trimming only on the back (because she's a bad girl and kicks her stall - shoes would increase the stall damage and would come off frequently), Honeybee and Punkin had to have their teeth floated. They were given some sedation until they were woozy, then fitted with this appliance that holds their jaws open. Then their back teeth were filed smooth with an electric grinding machine.

Here's our wonderful equine vet working on Honeybee. Lady didn't need her teeth floated today. Honeybee and Punkin were quite woozy from the sedation even an hour afterwards. Needless to say, they stayed in their stalls today! But I'm sure they are going to feel much better with their "new" teeth!

This was our supper tonight - Shrimp Roban, baby green peas, and fresh red and yellow tomatoes. The tomatoes were so yummy! The pasta dish was creamy and delicious - yes, and fattening! Shrimp Roban is one of the signature dishes for Semolina Restaurant.

Semolina's Shrimp Roban

1 pound fresh shrimp (I seasoned mine well and sauteed it in a bit of olive oil for about 3 minutes)

2 cups Roban sauce (below)

1 ½ pounds cooked pasta

¼ cup chopped green onion

Heat sauce just to a simmer in a large sauté pan. Add shrimp and cooked pasta and toss to coat in sauce. Cook only long enough to heat the pasta. Garnish with chopped green onion.

ROBAN SAUCE

¼ cup butter

2 tablespoons garlic (I used about 7 large cloves)

1 cup chopped green onions

1 quart heavy cream

1 tablespoon blackened redfish seasoning

Place butter, garlic and green onion in a sauce pot and cook just until the garlic releases it flavor. Add heavy cream and cook until reduced by nearly one-half. When reduced, the sauce should heavily coat the back of the spoon. Add blackened redfish seasoning and adjust with more spice to taste.