Are you ready to meditate with Kori?
Get all comfortable in your bed,
Make sure everything feels just right so that you can relax your body,
Settle down and let go of your busy day,
Eventually falling fast to sleep.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya were on a very special outing.
They were with Uncle Lee.
Uncle Lee was a farrier and he was shooing a horse.
Cherry had got so many questions.
So many questions?
I have so many questions Uncle Lee.
I have like first question,
First question.
This is what she was doing.
She was watching very closely as Uncle Lee was pulling off the horse's old shoe that needed to be replaced.
He was banging and using like a crowbar to get the shoe off and it looked very complex and also as if it was painful.
Heidi and Veya were also watching Uncle Lee.
Heidi could tell that Cherry looked a little bit concerned about what was going on,
The whole procedure as they had never watched anyone changing horse's shoes before and putting new shoes on a horse.
It was as if Heidi knew exactly what Cherry was thinking and Heidi said,
Don't worry Cherry,
It's not hurting the horse.
Cherry said,
That was my first question.
My first question was,
OMG Uncle Lee,
Are you being nice to that horse?
Are you hurting the horse?
Does it hurt?
Because I mean you are using nails and you are using a hammer and you are using like that thingamajiggy to poke it and pull it off and everything and it looks very scary and I don't think I'd want you messing around with my feet like that.
Uncle Lee started laughing and said,
Nope it doesn't hurt Cherry,
Don't you worry.
Cherry said,
Yeah but how do you know it doesn't hurt?
Can you do like horse language?
Can you talk to the horsey?
Horsey,
Hello horsey,
Can you tell me please,
Does it hurt when you get new shoes or when you get your old shoes taken off?
Does it hurt because there's nails involved?
And I think personally,
Myself,
If Uncle Lee was putting a shoe on me and he was using a hammer and nails I'd be like,
Ow!
They said,
Me just thinks that they can't feel it because it's like a big giant toenail said Cherry.
Uncle Lee said,
That's right,
That's it,
Exactly Veya,
You've got it,
You've got the nail on the head.
Yeah,
Exactly,
Well it doesn't hurt because I'm only hammering into the hoof and the hoof is like a big giant rough thick nail.
Ah!
Said Cherry,
Okay,
So then if it doesn't hurt let me ask you this,
Let me ask you this Uncle Lee because I've been thinking about this since we arrived on this farm and I know that like you do horses all day but I want to know what 14,
No,
No not that,
Oops,
Sorry,
Not that,
Um,
Farrierin,
Farrierin means exactly,
I mean what does that mean?
Does it mean like,
I don't know,
I have absolutely no clue what that means,
Um,
Yeah.
Heidi said,
Well it just so happens that last week I was reading an old English book about old country houses and farms and different things that they have in England that date way back and apparently the word farrierin is actually old French and it means blacksmith.
Right!
Said Cherry,
Yeah that makes total sense,
I get it now.
No I don't because I don't even know what you've just said,
What did you just say?
I don't understand what you mean,
What is a blacksmith?
What's that?
What does it mean?
Heidi said a blacksmith is someone that works with metal and the horse's shoes are made out of iron and they have to be made over a hot fire and shaped and then all this different fancy stuff happens and that's what blacksmiths do,
They work with metal,
They forge it into different shapes so you can make metal shoes for horses,
Metal gates,
Metal knives,
Metal hinges for doors,
Whatever you can make out of metal that's what blacksmiths make and a farrier actually puts those shoes onto horses,
They're trained to do it a very specific way,
Very carefully and very safely so it doesn't hurt the animals.
Oh I get it now,
OMG that makes me feel so much better but Uncle Lee aren't you hurting your back because you seem to be bent over in a very percurious way?
Uncle Lee said,
Sometimes it hurts my back yes but sometimes it doesn't,
Some horses actually are very very happy to have their feet messed with,
Some horses don't like it at all Cherry,
This particular horse,
Velvet,
Doesn't like it at all,
That's why I've got a towel wrapped around her leg because she doesn't like to be touched,
She doesn't like me to touch her feet and if I touch her feet she gets really angry and she can kick sometimes or sometimes even horses can bite.
Horses bite?
Said Cherry,
I was just riding on a horse not too long ago we went horse riding,
If I'd have known that a horse could bite me I don't think I'd have done it.
Horses can definitely bite said Uncle Lee but if you stay confident and you put out a good energy in your body the horses can read you and feel you and they know who's boss and I'm boss Cherry and no horses mess around with me so they don't bite me but sometimes I've had horses years and years ago that have tried but this particular horse I wrap a towel around its leg and then I use the towel to lift its leg up and for whatever reason Cherry that horse is happy with me doing that,
It just doesn't like me touching its feet with my hands so I don't,
I'm smart,
I use my brain,
I use my upstairs for thinking and my downstairs for dancing.
Cherry started laughing,
Errrr Uncle Lee I don't know what you're saying,
I've absolutely no clue what you just meant.
What are you doing?
Are you talking English or are you talking in some kind of slang or something?
Heidi said,
That's slang Cherry,
Very good.
Right said Uncle Lee,
Well upstairs for thinking means I use my brain for thinking,
Downstairs for dancing means I use my feet for dancing,
Upstairs for thinking Cherry,
Downstairs for dancing.
Yeah still don't make any sense at all Uncle Lee.
Right so then my next question is,
This is a very important question,
Do you have any questions by the way Veya,
You're very quiet.
Veya was holding her nose,
She didn't like the smell.
Uncle Lee had got to a point where he was burning the new horseshoe onto the horse's hoof and he was making it so that it fit perfectly but when you do that it lets off a smoke and a steam and it smells really bad like burning feet and burning toenails and burning horse poop and burning everything that's on that horse's feet so it's not a very pleasant smell.
Heidi was okay with it,
Cherry had not even noticed she had so many questions.
Veya being a princess and all did not like the smell at all and she kept gipping a little bit and every time she moved a paw off her nose and she smelled again she would go as if it was so bad that she was going to be sick.
Cherry just noticed this and said Veya OMG what's wrong are you alright?
Veya said not really it's just the smell,
It's not very pleasant at all and I didn't think it was going to smell,
I think I'm going to go over here and maybe talk to this other horse while it waits to have its feet done.
Cherry said to Veya,
Okay obviously you don't have any questions,
Good because I have so many uncle Lee.
Right uncle Lee this is my next question,
Why do horses need shoes?
Because I don't wear shoes,
Pigs don't wear shoes,
Sheep don't wear shoes,
Cats don't wear shoes right all cats don't wear shoes,
Dogs don't wear shoes,
Guinea pigs don't wear shoes,
What else?
Goats,
Goats don't wear shoes uncle Lee interrupted.
Yes Cherry horses wear shoes because they're walked on gravel and people get on the bags and put extra weight on them and the extra weight as they walk on the gravel and the stones and the roads and everything else makes the nails get very very very short and if they got really short to the point where they were all the way down to the skin it would hurt the horse to walk on the roads and people need horses to walk on the roads because they make them work especially on a farm they're working horses so they have them doing lots of different jobs and all of those jobs mean that they're working hard on their toes and that means they need to get them fixed.
OMG said Cherry that makes total sense,
Actually uncle Lee that answers my next question because my next question is why do horses need shoes if they work on a farm but horses in the wild don't wear shoes do they uncle Lee because I have never seen a horse running in a field or running out like you know in a pasture or something that doesn't belong to anyone like a wild horse like a wild boar or a wild tiger or a wild elephant they don't wear shoes do they uncle Lee said no very very good upstairs for thinking downstairs for dancing Cherry that's correct they don't wear shoes in the wild because they don't work on the roads and the gravel and the streets like horses do that are used for working or that are pets and are used for riding they need shoes wild horses don't need shoes very well spotted.
Oh thanks uncle Lee I know I'm so smart you know and I don't know whether you know this but I am I'm so smart I'm so smart I'm so wise I'm so I'm so clever I'm just like an encyclopedia of knowledge when and then well not like not like Heidi.
Heidi's like really really books more like you know she remembers everything she knows like for example she knew what a farrier was had no idea what a farrier was I got you mixed up with something else that wasn't very good that was like a toot yeah leave it to me but yeah so yeah Heidi is so book smart and I'm not so much book smart I'm more like er street smart is that how you say it Heidi?
Heidi said yeah you can say that you've got lots of common sense yeah that's me common sense but I don't like the word common I'd like to say I've got lots of like hmm you know er fancy sense common sense so uncle Lee said common?
Cherry said yeah uncle Lee and I'm not common I mean not that there's anything wrong with common but yeah no I don't think I'm common I think I'm more of like a luxury you know more of like a specialty more like I don't know just definitely not common there's not that many cherries out there you know definitely not like me I'm so good I'm so confident I'm so smart I'm so amazing I'm so attractive I'm so brave I'm so funny I'm so talented I'm just like a gem like a one and only uncle Lee said that's kind of like a horseshoe because most horseshoes only fit individual horses like a fingerprint you have to make them so they fit just right Cherry so you're like a horseshoe Cherry said er I don't know about that uncle Lee I don't think I like that description I think I'd rather be like er like a diamond or like erm you know like a perfect shell that you would find in the ocean that no other shell is like it if you put it under a microscope you'd be like you'd be like oh they're so complexed so like diverse look at me with all my fancy words you know you know what I've been doing uncle Lee I've been reading more books I've been doing what what er Heidi does because when Heidi reads at night now instead of me just like playing a non-sicken non-sicken non oh I forgot that word I had that word but I forgot it rather than me just playing like some silly game and like just not stimulating me mind I'll be on like social media or like just looking at silly things like cartoons that are fun but they don't really make sense I don't do that as much what I'm doing now is I'm using my brain uncle Lee said you're upstairs for thinking that's it uncle Lee I'm using me upstairs for thinking and I'm using me downstairs for dancing Cherry started dancing on the spot and uncle Lee laughed when he laughed he had a big jolly laugh and that big jolly laugh shook the horse a little bit and the horse that was a little bit timid about having its horseshoes done flinched and kind of neighed and made a noise as if to say hey uncle Lee watch what you're doing with my feet make sure you don't touch my feet and uncle Lee as if he was like a horse whisperer heard what the horse was saying and said stop distracting me Cherry I need to focus on this horseshoe uncle Lee put his head back down and started to bang nails into the little holes that were in the horseshoe that were perfectly aligned with the hoof of the horse so that they didn't go into the horse's flesh or the skin and not hurt it that shoe was finished Cherry was very impressed it's quite shiny isn't it it's like like a shiny like a shiny new bottle on your shoes but it's a shoe not a buckle but yeah I like it Lee I like it so do you think this is my final question uncle Lee do you think I could be a farrier because I'm so strong and yeah I think I'd be good with horses I could be a very good horse whisperer and horses love me don't you don't you love me velvet velvet didn't pay any attention to Cherry at all and Cherry just carried on talking yes so do you think I could be a farrier uncle Lee said oh of course but but maybe not because you need to be tall and you need to be able to pick the horse's foot up and hold the horse's foot which is very heavy and you kind of bent over all day and you get this horrible smell on your hands and your skin and your clothes and it never washes off in the shower you just always smell like burning half hooves and it's a really nice job but it's not a very pleasant job Cherry said stop right there uncle Lee I've already changed my mind I think I'd rather just rely on being famous yes I think being famous is better for me all round and it's better for you because if I was a farrier I'd probably like take over all your horses because they'd like me better right Heidi started laughing and said okay I think we'll leave uncle Lee alone to finish this horse let's go over to where Veier is and we'll go talk to the other horse and we'll have a very nice time Heidi and Cherry walked over to where Veier was Veier was very happy she was standing on a flowered field the wind was blowing through a white fluffy hair it was much more picturesque the horse was just there standing by her nibbling on the grass there was no horse poop around no burning hooves no banging and clanking or anything like that it was like you imagine standing next to a wonderful horse on an English country farm and it being the perfect day the cats drove home with uncle Lee after it finished all the horses and then they had a shower they brushed their teeth they hopped into bed and they slept and slept and slept the end
