Farriery is a never-ending journey of hoof-care education. It doesn’t matter how long one has been tending to horses’ feet, there’s always something to learn. There’s no better way to learn than to sit at the feet of your elders and listen as they share their wisdom.

American Farriers Journalestablished the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame in 1992 to honor farriers around the world who have made significant contributions to the profession and left a permanent, positive impression on their peers and clients. As you begin your journey in hoof care, here is some helpful advice from seven members of the Hall of Fame.

Avoid Isolation

Learning takes a ton of humility. Today, people are particular about the way they are spoken to and they can be indignant. “Well, I didn’t like the way he talked to me.” That’s just tough. When you want to extract something from this individual, if they talk demonstratively, if they talk down, if they do anything — that’s part of getting those little gems of wisdom.

The biggest obstacle to learning for established farriers is isolation. When you put yourself by yourself, you are the greatest, most awesome farrier in the whole world.

The beginning of the truth, though, is when you put a picture up on a wall and you have a group of people who can identify, “Yes, that is a beautiful front foot.” There are so many people who don’t even know what a beautiful healthy foot looks like. A…