Once upon a time, you could enter a trade only by virtue of an apprenticeship. If you needed to become a farrier, you got yourself apprenticed to some famous farrier nearby. Only a few of the well established farriers would condescend to taking on apprentices, and they would make their apprentices work like inexhaustible machines. Apprenticeships didn't give you the indulgence of saying bye bye in a few months; once you were in, you were in for nothing less than 3 yeas or much more. The delicacies required in the business of working with the feet of horses are mastered neither swiftly nor easily. Being a good farrier takes plenty of application and skill, and demands that the farrier has extensive awareness of the horse's body structure and most especially its feet structure, The farrier needs to be familiar with the physics of equine movement, a horse's musculature and its skeletal system. A farrier must be a walking encyclopedia on all matters relating to the horse's feet. She must be able to identify a problem with any horse's foot in a jiffy and set about pushing through a solution also in a moment. The able farrier knows what can be healed and what cannot, and he'll submit ideas to the horse owner about what to do to salvage the situation.
Sadly, not all farriers are encyclopedia-like, and there is actually no formal education or training course for farriers, at least in the States. The UK system of farriers is rather more structured.
It's not easy to find the perfect farrier. There are farriers by the dozens and the hundreds, but only some of them have a high degree of expertise. Many of them don't, as a fact.
The world of farriers is split into 2 warring groups, which regularly snarl and growl at one another. One bunch of farriers thinks that shoes should get banned, and horses should be permitted to live and function in unshod feet. If god made them that way, who are we homo sapiens to go against god's will?
Because we put shoes on our feet doesn't mean we do so with horses also. We also forget that we buckle or lace or velcro our shoes tightly onto our feet, but we use nails to shod horses. I've heard many a horse shoe opponent ask a pony shoe advocate how he, the advocate, would like it if someone nailed shoes onto his feet. And I have heard the pony shoe supporter retort by asking how the adversary would like to run around gravel and hard surfaces and melting asphalt with no shoes on.
My experience tells me that shoes are good for horses, but they impose on the pony owner the responsibility of taking awfully close care of his horse's feet.
Sadly, not all farriers are encyclopedia-like, and there is actually no formal education or training course for farriers, at least in the States. The UK system of farriers is rather more structured.
It's not easy to find the perfect farrier. There are farriers by the dozens and the hundreds, but only some of them have a high degree of expertise. Many of them don't, as a fact.
The world of farriers is split into 2 warring groups, which regularly snarl and growl at one another. One bunch of farriers thinks that shoes should get banned, and horses should be permitted to live and function in unshod feet. If god made them that way, who are we homo sapiens to go against god's will?
Because we put shoes on our feet doesn't mean we do so with horses also. We also forget that we buckle or lace or velcro our shoes tightly onto our feet, but we use nails to shod horses. I've heard many a horse shoe opponent ask a pony shoe advocate how he, the advocate, would like it if someone nailed shoes onto his feet. And I have heard the pony shoe supporter retort by asking how the adversary would like to run around gravel and hard surfaces and melting asphalt with no shoes on.
My experience tells me that shoes are good for horses, but they impose on the pony owner the responsibility of taking awfully close care of his horse's feet.
About the Author:
Horses are Heather Toms
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses
passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of
articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses
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