It’s a brisk and bright early November day and eagles cavort high in the wind-swept skies above Maryland’s Eastern Shore as Matt Taimuty gets ready to start his day of “Shoeing For A Living.”

The veteran farrier will spend his day at Idylwilde Farm, a 32-acre equine facility located near Federalsburg, Md. Idylwilde Farm has been owned and operated by Lisa May since 1996. May is an experienced rider, trainer and instructor who offers riding instruction, clinics, boarding, summer camp, therapeutic riding and horse-care classes.
Taimuty and May have a long relationship. He boards his own horses at the farm and all of the horses he’ll be working on today are long-standing clients.

Taimuty is a veteran, too. He’s been shoeing for almost 30 years and is also an experienced horseman. His Fair Hill Forge Farrier Service serves horses primarily in three states, Maryland — where he shoes in the Delmarva Peninsula and in the northeast around his shop in Colora — southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware. The Delaware line is just a few miles to the east of Idylwilde Farm.

Taimuty is a certified journeyman farrier and also serves as a tester in the American Farrier’s Association’s certification program. Just two days before this, he had taken part in an AFA certification at Dave Ferguson’s Mint Vale Forge, near Cambridge, Md.

9:12 A.M. Taimuty starts his day…