The Tucson School of Horseshoeing was listed for sale on Nov. 9, 2018. After 45 years of being an educator, director George Goode will be retiring. With a degree in animal science, Goode founded the school in 1973 to offer 8-week farrier education classes. From there, the classes grew longer to cover more material and experience.

Despite entering retirement, Goode isn’t done teaching. After starting the school in Tucson, Ariz., Goode also started the Native American Horse Education (NAHE) Foundation to teach Navajo tribe members how to properly care for their horses’ feet. The nonprofit aims to teach proper shoeing techniques to the natives who are using handed-down ways of shoeing that aren’t always the best course of action. In some cases, these shoeing practices often cripple the horses. Goode saw the need to educate and created NAHE Foundation.

“We do that in the summer,” Goode told American Farriers Journal. “We go to different reservations and teach the youth about how to trim and shoe their horses because nothing’s taught on the reservation.”

Goode takes mobile farriery units and spends a few weeks on different reservations to educate native horse owners. In Arizona, the number one sport on the reservations is rodeo. Unfortunately, a good-looking barrel horse isn’t going to perform well when its feet are chewed up or improperly shod. Goode started his nonprofit not only to help the horses and keep from them pain but also to help the youth understand how to provide proper footcare so they can continue the sports they love.

“It’s a two-way deal,” Goode says. “You’re helping the horse and helping the youth.”

As for his Tucson school, Goode hopes somebody will take it over. Education has played a leading role in his life, and while the one school is being sold, he can focus on the other education he can provide.