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Master Du – A donkey gets a manicure

An evening pause: This guy, Master Du, specializes in trimming the hoofs of donkeys that have become deformed and need specialized work. (Make sure the closed captions are on to get some translation of the narration.) This is how it is done in China. I wonder how that compares to the techniques used in the U.S., and other nations.

Hat tip Diane Zimmerman, who found this work so interesting she ended up watching Master Du videos for more than an hour.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

10 comments

  • wayne

    serendipitously, I went down the suggested-video list on this type-o-stuff, a few months ago

    check out…..

    Idaho Horseshoeing School
    “Long Hoof Restoration” (Aug, 2022)
    https://youtu.be/kDCdzWOzPKs
    11:17

  • Col Beausabre

    From what I have seen, Vets and Farriers in the West use basically the same procedure. The animal feels no pain, no more than you do when you clip your nails

  • wayne

    Col Beausabre–

    Brittle Hoof Shoeing in the UK
    https://youtu.be/r2kR4CTO4oo
    9:58

  • wayne

    In honor of Johnny Depp

    Alpaca Shearing & Wool Processing ?
    Noel Farm, New Zealand
    https://youtu.be/JVWflB3VQQ4
    15:26

  • Andrew_W

    The wife is always getting her horses done on the front lawn, you know how annoying it is when people leave their nail clippings lying on the carpet? Mind you, the dogs love chewing them.

  • Gene

    I’m not a farrier and by no means an expert at shoeing horses but I have shod about a dozen horses in my youth. I’d try using this knife approach. But I think the hooves of our horses are too hard and brittle for it. I grew up in Crockett county TX. Very hot, dry weather and rocky ground makes hard hooves with thicker hoof walls than what’s in that video. Looked like he took too much off the heel on some of those.

    We only ever used nippers like the kind found at this link. https://www.statelinetack.com/farrier-supplies/nippers-clinchers-pullers-and-cutters/2377/

    Ponies (think shetland) can have extremely hard hooves. Extremely cantankerous horses or ponies can be given a shot of wampum (makes them sleepy, docile) and lay them down. Of course, we couldn’t pay for wampum so we had to lay them down and keep the pony from getting up or kicking us. We had to use a big angle grinder on the pony’s feet. NOT quick or easy, grinding makes heat so you have to do a little at a time. If your opinion about how we got the job done is to think that we were hurting animals and then spout your arrogant unwelcome opinion online then GROW UP and consider the fact that you weren’t there doing the hard work to maintain the health of that animal. You didn’t sweat in the hot sun and work for hours that day for that pony’s benefit. You didn’t pay the feed bills and vet bills for my animals. Why should I care what you think. Armchair quarterbacking from a computer somewhere doesn’t cost you anything.

  • Andrew_W

    “If your opinion about how we got the job done is to think that we were hurting animals and then spout your arrogant unwelcome opinion online then GROW UP and consider the fact that you weren’t there doing the hard work to maintain the health of that animal. You didn’t sweat in the hot sun and work for hours that day for that pony’s benefit. You didn’t pay the feed bills and vet bills for my animals. Why should I care what you think. Armchair quarterbacking from a computer somewhere doesn’t cost you anything.”

    Yikes! That’s an impressive preemptively strike.

  • Dingo

    As mentioned above Shetlands have tough hooves, and they frequently get overgrown. My father had been a farrier, long retired, when our Shetland’s hooves needed trimming. The pony was very short, and Dad couldn’t work so close to the ground. We ended up rolling the Shetland over onto his back with his feet up in the air. Most undignified, but we got his feet in proper shape.

  • Gene, I think you’re looking for the forums next door on the Left.

  • wayne

    Andrew_W
    at 9:56 am.
    –>hilarious!

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