2" wide x 10" long piece of steel. They had to make the shoes (heating to red hot and pounding the steel), prepare the horse's foot (no little task) and fit the shoe (nailing it on -- usually six nails). Took about an hour for the process. The shoes have to fit perfectly for the farrier to score good points. These guys are men(!); most hard as steel and experienced farriers. Fred explained the process to me and Helen all during the competition which made watching that more interesting. Then Helen met two old sheriff's deputies (see photo).
Once back at the RV Resort, the four of us enjoyed a glass of wine outside our Laredo. We discovered that Fred and Karen are Methodists and active believers. She was high school teacher. They took in a young black boy as a foster son when he was in Karen's 8th grade class. He had no winter coat and no ball shoes (he was an outstanding athlete) and was a straight 'A' student. His mother was a prostitute, but his grandmother had tremendous good influence on him. He became a part of Fred and Karen's family and Karen was his advocate when the University of Missouri offered him a scholarship. He graduated with honors, married and now, at 33, has an outstanding family.
Fred and Karen have been very active in the Democratic party and thus, with their foster son, were thrilled with Obama's election. We discussed politics with them, but there was no judgement on their or our parts. They shared with us the predudice their foster son experienced in Idaho(sounded a lot like Mississippi -- years ago, thank God!) which explained, in part, their intolerance with racism and their political leanings. When we talked about our experiences in ministry in Mississippi in the 60s, a bond seem to grow between us. There were some tears all around.
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