Longest day

Summer returned today, spending the morning potting around in the garden and waiting for the call from Farrier Lothar that we could load Rosie and meet up at neaby stables for him to shoe her.

Call came late on in the afternoon. On the way over Angie & I had a discussion about how we could manage Rosie's shoeing in the future. She is a real problem with her feet or rather her feet are the main sufferers from the unknown illness she has. Richard who does the other two is a very good farrier and could without any question also do Rosie but Lothar helped us out in August 2012 when things were very bad (and Richard was not doing our horses at that time) and has done a superb job over the last nearly two years. However he lives 400km away and is not easily available if we simply have a thrown shoe and has a set 7 or 8 week tour when sometimes we need him earlier as was the case today. Her shoes are clattering about and now some of her anyway porous hoof wall has broken away in the process.

We thought we would discuss the problem with him. However Lothar greeted us with the words..."This will be the last time, I'm giving up my farrier work". So the problem sorted itself. He has been doing the Farrier work as a part time job since moving to Austria. Job is almost the wrong word, somewhere closer to a paying hobby. He enjoys his farrier work but has now been given a very demanding and time consuming job in the (human) medical device business, involving lots of travel in Europe and being away from home. With a young family, the additional burden of his regular farrier tour trips to Bavaria as well as to the UK and other parts of Germany would be too much.

Angie tried to closely follow what he did, asking even more questions than usual and taking the odd photo so as to remember what/how he worked. Rosie and the dogs were bored by the whole event.

We made our farewells, Lothar offering his telephone support if we had any problems. Nice to end the business relationship on a friendly basis and hopefully he will pop by if in the area, for a cup of coffee.

Thank you Lothar for all you have done for Rosie the last two years and also in calming down Angie who was at her wits end back then. Good luck with the new job. Till we meet again.

Back home, Angie quickly cooked dinner before settling down to watch the Germany-Ghana World Cup game. Luckily I fell asleep on the sofa after 20 minutes and by the time I woke the game was over and Angie had gone to bed, so I was spared the grief.