It's the shoes

Last fall I went shoe shopping. I had been putting it off for about a year. I had bought my last pair of shoes when my daughter Avery was 3 months old. She was now turning 3 years old. And my toes were showing in my New Balance sneakers that I wore just about every day. I agonized over buying new shoes. $70? "Did I really need them that badly?" I'd ask myself as I looked at The Shoe Dept. store in the mall. I went to the mall several times, never finding anything I thought was worth the money. I finally bought a pair online, knowing I had to have new shoes. Big toes peaking through was ridiculous.

And it occurs to me now, as I get ready to put Juliet on the list for the farrier to put shoes on, that I buy her shoes without really thinking twice. For 4 shoes is $75. And they have to be reset every 6 weeks. But I don't think that much about that. It's just something that has to be done to protect her feet and legs. 

If the footing is good, I'll put it off until I'm going to show. And I usually don't keep her shod in the winter if I'm not riding much. But at her new barn, the outside arenas are a bit rocky and it's become necessary to put shoes on her, showing or not.

I don't do anything fancy. Just plain steel plates. I guess if I had money to burn, I'd pay for aluminum. I'm told it makes them really float over the ground. I guess one day if I'm ever riding a world champion contender, I'll splurge for the equine version of Air Nikes.