Dave Jones (Centerville, Ohio)
Dave Jones has been my farrier for, well, I don’t know, maybe 25 years. He is an artist and has always been my secret weapon when I ran our training facility.
For example, often horses would come to us with a chronic canter lead problem and many times it was his perceptive trimming that established a horse’s comfort zone so that either lead was not a problem. As the trainer, I patiently waited for a couple “resets” and reaped the benefits of client satisfaction.
Dave has always been my first go-to person on lameness issues. He was right more often than not. I marvel at how holding feet can guide him to such hidden issues. He saved us buckets of money by having me care for a minor irregularity, which I was noticing before it became a full-blown lameness.
Dave’s salty humor can make you wince, which I am sure he takes delight in. He might refer to his own demise in terms of his impact on his clients this way: “Dave died…oh darn, who is going to shoe Dobbin? We have a horse show next weekend.”
I really hate to let the cat out of the bag, but I do feel a little better confessing that my clients’ horses’ performances were “enhanced “ by the art of comfort of Dave Jones.
—Nancy Kelley, former trainer and current horse product distributor (Yellow Springs, Ohio)
