Keeping up with the times

In order to be the best and perform in a professional capacity, one must acquire the skills and information to succeed. Be it practicing as a Surgeon, Mechanic or a Waitress, one has got to have a mindset of learning and progressing. Especially in the world of the equine Farrier, many of today’s best have taken the time to go to schools offered by either the American Farriers Association or the Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association to gain the expertise needed and that horse owners demand. However, there are those who never have had any formal training at all and either learned from a family member or “trail & error”…on live horses! This is a sham and I cannot think of a more appropriate word than that. One does not gain technical knowledge of the horse’s anatomy from “Daddy” and go around working on horses with outdated and hearsay based information. You got to go to school folks, a working, professional Farrier has school and continuing education in his past and future if he or she is the one you want working on the foundation of your horse, not some backwoods, “I learned it from dad” types who think that cracks in the hoof can be simply “cut out”.

Let’s clear something many of you are probably thinking right now, there isn’t anything wrong with someone learning from their Fathers. I have done this also, but I have also benefited from the advice of a caring Father who told me to go and seek formal education because he couldn’t teach me the “newer things”, as he liked to put it. I’ll put it this way, one cannot and does not, perform therapeutic, corrective or even normal shoeing to any degree of certainty & proficiency without schooling and cannot continue to do it without updating one’s self thru professional training programs. The good ‘ol boy who pulls up in a beat up truck wanting to know if you need any “hosses shod”, should not be viewed by anyone looking for a Farrier as “a blessing in disguise”. Folks are cheap however and those same, self horse loving advocates that talk about the brown hay their neighbor’s horses are munching on are the very same ones who will pay some unknown, uneducated wannabe Farrier to trim their horse’s hoofs for the sake of saving a few dollars over paying the local certified pro. Now compare the cheap trim service with the vet bill they now have from the fact that their horse can’t walk because the “good ‘ol boy” who trimmed them, took way too much off and are now lame, at the wrong angles and bleeding. Think this is a storyline I added for drama? It is not, I know the lady this happened to! Too many wannabes and not enough horse owners who are educated enough to realize who they are talking to.

Some think the manner in which I write is “too rough”. I simply don’t “sugar coat” things for the sake of those who cannot take the truth and really, there are some things we horse owners say in private that need to begin to be said in public! These same folks that say I’m too matter of fact, are the ones who will hire the incompetent to trim their horses, train them with a piece of rubber hose. I have been managing herds of horses for ranches for 28 years now and during my career, I have never wanted anything else other than to take care of these animals, help other humans to get along with them better. Those who train horses, show & trim horses with no more than a desire to place a few ribbons or trophies on their wall regardless of how they treat their horses in order to get there, well I’ll put it this way…It takes no talent to beat a horse into fearing you in order for it to perform. If you think any certain Farrier in your area is too expensive, consider this, he or she has to pay for their gas in their vehicle, the wear and tear on their vehicles, the expertise of their training, the tools they use to care for your horse with, and many horse owners do not understand this aspect. It is worth every dollar to use and continue to use a good, honest and reliable Farrier to care for your horse’s foundation, it is a common misconception that because someone owns a horse then it must have shoes…not true! With today’s technology, there are glue on shoes which flex with the hoof, they are epoxy mixtures that form a shoe once mixed and applied to the hoof. The options are endless limited only by the yesteryears mindset of those who refuse to let go of the past and update themselves! Horse owners should expect the best and use only the best in order to have and ride a sound horse.