I thought I would pull out some pictures from my days at farrier's school. I don't have many, as I tend to be the picture taker, not the subject of the pictures, but it will be fun anyway :) I decided after college and a little bit of aimlessness, that yes, I DO want to work with horses, but most horse jobs either pay very little, need lots of start up money, or don't last long/are seasonal. I also always loved hanging out with farriers and watching them work, whenever they'd come to the barns I rode, helped out, or boarded at. So one day I decided that would be a job for me, and I went looking for a school that seemed good and wasn't too far away. I got really lucky and had a great school about 7hrs south of me. For anyone thinking of getting into shoeing (or even just trimming, it is STILL a good base schooling to learn it all and go from there...like a with doctors, you first go to medical school, then you can specialize in orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics, whatever...). This was the Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School by Sacramento, Ca (http://www.farrierschool.com/ for more info...). They have an extensive classroom curriculum , great forge work (you hand build shoes from bar stock, before you ever get to touch keg shoes), and you work on horses that you actually CAN work on (vs a bunch of rank throwaway horses like some "schools" try to push on you, which my kick or stomp on you as much as let you pick up their feet). I had a great time there and learned a TON, feeling ready to go straight to work on my own afterwards (though I did do a small apprenticeship with another farrier first, to expand my practical experience under a watchful eye).
Here are some pictures from that time...
This is our workshop...the door in the back, right corner leads to the classroom, and in the back, upstairs (window above clock) was the communal room with kitchen and pool table, tv, etc...
The dorms were behind the back wall in the right hand picture. 2 students share a forge, each gets their own anvil/tools/etc. The picture below, is an evening shot, after classes are done and everything is cleaned up. Classes were M-F from 8-5, but you could use the workshop from 7am to 8 or 9pm 7 days a week.
We didn't just work on "prefect" feet either. In fact, many of the horses we got in, though decently behaved, often had neglected feet or suffered from injury or disease (laminitis, navicular, whatever), and thus we got to work on lots of "strange" things. This was great, as it made me comfortable with most anything that has come my way in my own business too. I don't run away scared when I see foot curled up like an elf foot, falling apart from white line disease, or abscessing and seperating from laminitis. I may (and do) still have to consult with more experienced ppl (vet and farriers/trimmers) as to the best ways to help that horse (I have a LONG way to go in my experiences, as I have only been doing this job for not quite 5yrs :) ), but I can at least feel like there is something I can do, vs having to send the owner off to another farrier (and the good ones in this area are usually booked solid, so it is not like the owner would necessarily even get accepted). Here are two examples:
A very overgrown set of hooves came in one day...these actually ended up looking pretty good by the time they were done...
And a set of hooves I got to work on...Feet hadn't been done in a while, hooves too long, and if you look closely, the foot on the right side has the shoe loose and starting to twist off (which resulted in the side clip sticking in its white line). After pulling shoes and trimming (pic on the right), I noticed it kept pointing its right toe and not weighting it well at all during trimming. So the instructor came over and we tried different degrees of wedge pads (I think the horse had navicular or something...we did so many horses and I can't remember who was what). When we found the one that had the horse standing more comfortably, we taped that pad on so I could work on the opposite foot, then I used that pad for the shoe on that foot.
The left picture is of the non-wedged foot (and finished), and the right one (and still needs to be put up for a final finish with rasp and such) is the wedged hoof. I think this was only my 2nd or 3rd shoeing as well! So you kinda jump right in to the harder stuff :)
We had a whole variety of animals to work on. From the very big, to the very small. One day, we did a group of 4 or 5 Clydesdales that came in. We had to hand make the shoes (with a little help from da bosses, or we would have been there for a week...they made the blanks, then we shaped them to fit, I think) and boy, those were some BIG FEET...
Pulling the shoes on my charge (two of use at a time worked on them. One got the front end, the other the back...) That shoe is almost the size of my face!
After the trim, and then the shoes applied...Vet wrap or old standing wraps are great for holding the "feathers" out of the way on these very fuzzy legged drafts :)
Finishing off the hoof...these were some big horses, but as the advertising says, very "gentle giants" for sure....they were so cooperative and there was no need for "draft shoeing stocks"As a comparison, I took a shoe that would fit my mare (a size 0) and stuck it on the foot...wouldn't want THAT foot stepping on you...broken toes for sure!
One day we went up into the hills, out to a min-breeder's farm. There were TONS of these little guys running around, and the foals were going to all get their first trims with us as well (along with halter breaking and leading lessons. They basically don't get handled much until we get up there....good thing they are so small! So the routine was to partner up, get the moms, tie them (they get plenty of handling), then we both grab the baby any way we can. Once caught, one of us sits down with it in our laps (that seemed to calm them....only a few would "stand" while done), while the other person trimmed the hooves. Worked like a charm, and usually when done, the baby was fairly calmed down and sometimes didn't want to get up, even after being released. They'd rather sit there and get scratched on :)
All in all, it was a great time (2 months) and I learned a TON of great stuff. Though I really think a natural lifestyle with bare (and booted when needed) feet is a lot healthier for horse's hooves, I also am not such a fanatic, that I think shoeing is "evil" (only bad shoeing, but then, so is bad trimming). With the variety of boot products out there now, and ever expanding, and the ever expanding knowledge we are getting on horse feet and how to keep them healthy, I simply do not think that shoeing is necessary anymore.
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