Farriers fit shoes on horses and other animals, and are trained in metallurgy and horse anatomy. They specialize in corrective footwear for medical conditions and improving performance. Farriers must be comfortable handling horses and shaping metal to fit each animal uniquely. Finding a qualified farrier is important for a horse’s health.
A farrier is a professional who is trained to fit shoes on horses, and sometimes on other animals as well. Farriers are not as widespread as they once were, due to a decline in the use of horses as work animals, but they are still highly respected because their work requires skill with horses and metals. Many farriers work in rural areas, and people who are interested in blacksmithing as a career can attend courses at schools that train farriers.
Originally, a farrier was simply a horse doctor, or a blacksmith who made horseshoes on the side. As veterinary medicine has become their recognized and unique medical specialty, farriers have stopped providing general medical care to horses, although they are included in treatment plans for conditions that affect horses’ legs and hooves. Farriers can also create practices that specialize in treating foot ailments. This profession has also become a distinct practice, and most blacksmiths no longer offer footwear.
Shoes are an important piece of equipment for domestic horses. People have been shoeing horses since at least Greek and Roman times to protect their hooves and improve their performance. Shoes should also be removed, inspected and replaced regularly if necessary. While a horse’s shoes are off, the hooves are trimmed and the overall health of the foot is also checked. A full-time farrier can often be overworked, especially in an area with many horses.
At a blacksmith school, people learn about horses, metallurgy, and how to recommend and wear shoes. A farrier must be comfortable around horses and able to handle animals in a wide variety of ways, from gentle children’s ponies to keen racehorses. Farriers also learn about anatomy and physiology and the myriad problems that can injure horses’ legs and feet. Many of these conditions are preventable or treatable with corrective footwear.
A basic recreational horse requires a fairly simple set of shoes, but farriers also offer shoes to correct gait, increase traction in sport horses, and correct medical conditions like laminitis, among other things. The use of corrective footwear can be a very profitable branch of blacksmithing, as it can transform an unusable horse into a healthy and reliable mount. Some farriers may choose to specialize in a specific type of shoe, such as racehorses, jumpers or horses, and that farrier may be in high demand.
Horseshoes must be uniquely fitted to each animal. As a result, farriers learn to shape metal, either using cold shoes, where the shoes are beaten while the metal is cold, or hot shoes, where the shoes are worked in a forge. Ill-fitting shoes can seriously injure a horse, and as a result, finding a qualified and qualified farrier to shoe your horses is very important. Some farriers belong to national organizations with basic membership requirements, and you can also ask others in the area about the best choice of farrier for your horse.
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