The art and craft of horseshoeing used to be passed on from master to apprentice, but today there are schools, books, DVDs and other opportunities and tools available for learning. That hands-on approach of learning from a master can still be the most effective way of learning. If you went to shoeing school or are considering a school, an apprenticeship can be a valuable educational experience.

The benefits of training with an established farrier include:

• Discovering if this career is for you.
• Working on a variety of horses.
• Receiving hands-on training. 
• Obtaining a daily evaluation of your work. 
• Learning a particular aspect of horseshoeing.
• Developing a sense of the overall footcare industry.
• Getting started with methods that work rather than having to learn through trial-and-error.

What Would You Like To Learn Today?

As with many things in life, there are many choices:

• Do you want to be a generalist, or would you rather specialize in a particular type of footcare work?
• Is there one breed or discipline that’s predominant in your area? 
• Do you want to shoe show horses or backyard horses? 
• Are you already established, but seeking to branch out? Getting to those answers can take some time and effort, but it will help you focus on the type of skills you need and whom you should learn them from.

Best Way To Learn Is How You Learn Best

The majority of people are identified as primarily “visual” learners, meaning they learn best by watching something being done. Other learning styles include auditory (hearing) and kinesthetic (doing). Usually farriers are a mix of several, with one learning style typically being somewhat dominant. 

In a proper apprenticeship, you will progress over weeks and months until you become a useful hand for your teacher.

Understanding your own learning style is important in choosing your mentor. If you’re the type who learns best from hands-on experience, you won’t want to apprentice with someone who teaches primarily by lecturing.

“When learning a manual skill, I first have to see how it’s done, then I try it, get critiqued and then do it again and again,” says Chris Richardson of Delaware, Ohio. “I was lucky to have a mentor that could see that I was learning from my mistakes. However, it irritated him if I kept repeating the same mistake.”

Sometimes past experiences can be applied to the topic at hand, or it can provide the research skills needed to dig up resources. 

“I was an industrial design major in college, and it helped me visualize shape and balance,” says Derek Grimwood of Chapel Hill, Tenn. 

“I also sought out information on things I needed to understand. I learned farrier terminology and anatomy from books and videos, and gained a great deal of knowledge from attending clinics and symposiums, especially the International Hoof-Care Summit.”

When It’s Really Up To You

While a mentor may determine when you’re ready to progress and provide you with more challenging situations, ultimately it’s up to each apprentice to manage their own learning experience.

“My boss has always had apprentices and after the first year, he gives out trimming or shoeing clients when he feels you’re ready,” reports Tom Bennett Dalgliesh of Bennett Farrier Service in Mount Albert, Ontario. “I always tried to get right in there and do the work since I learn best through hands-on activities. But if I wasn’t sure about something, I’d tell him what I thought was the right thing. Then he’d either correct me or tell me I was right and to continue.”

For self-starters, managing the learning process can include asking questions and reviewing books, DVDs and online videos. Another option is to test yourself by coming up with possible solutions to problems before asking for answers. If you can think of your brain as a sponge, there’s no end to the information you can soak up, much of it simply by observing what’s going on around you.

“Every time you step into someone else’s rig, there’s something to learn,” advises farrier Leah Clarke of Pleasant Grove, Calif., who has apprenticed with Hall Of Fame farrier Tom Curl. “That could be any number of things, such as horsemanship skills, craftsmanship, forging techniques, time-saving tips, scheduling, billing methods, communication with clients and even when or when not to do something.” 

By The Book 

There are laws that govern the definition of employment statuses. Unfortunately, farriery employment is often an informal arrangement. It makes good sense for both the business owner and the individual to be taught define and agree on the terms to avoid legal and financial consequences. Still, what might be expected of a farrier under an “apprenticeship” may be more accurately defined as an “internship.”

In the United States, an apprenticeship is generally defined as when a person undertakes a system of learning a craft or trade and is paying for that instruction by giving a length of time (days, months, years) for work. The terms of apprenticeship are regulated by many labor agreements, as well as by law.

Because a person is working and learning at the same time, apprentices are considered employees and are subject to the benefits of an employee.

Apprenticeship programs are occupational training programs that combine on-the-job work experience with technical or classroom study. Such programs are designed to help individuals develop useful job skills for working in the chosen profession. In many states, apprenticeship programs are required to obtain occupational licensing or certification in order to offer apprenticeships. This is to ensure that the programs meet standards relating to job duties, instruction, wages, safety and health conditions.

An internship is primarily designed to educate the intern. Sometimes interns are paid a low wage, sometimes they are unpaid, but receive academic or some other form of credit, and sometimes they are strictly volunteers. 

If interns are unpaid, they are usually subject to stringent labor guidelines and in some states — such as California — unpaid interns must receive college credit for their work.

Your teacher should be willing to explain the reasoning behind every footcare decision.

If the employer is providing opportunities that allow an intern to learn certain functions — under the close and constant supervision of the employer or regular employees — but the intern performs no or very minimal work, the activity is more likely to be viewed as a bona fide educational experience. 

The Fair Labor Standards Act defines the term “employ” very broadly as including to “suffer or permit to work.” Individuals who are “suffered or permitted” to work must be compensated under the law for the services they perform.

Internships in the private sector will most often be viewed as employment, unless they meet certain requirements. Interns who qualify as employees must be paid at least the minimum wage and overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

There isn’t one sole legal definition of an intern, in large part because there are many laws, both state and federal, that govern relationships when people perform labor or services for others. 

A short-term ride along is not an apprenticeship. Instead, this is an externship. Think of an externship as job shadowing. Externships vary in length, from 1 or 2 days, to as long as several weeks.

Externships involve following a professional through a normal day. Externships offer no pay or academic credit. 

The goal of an externship is getting an insider’s view of the chosen profession. It is an excellent way for some to learn about the day-to-day work life of a farrier. 

You’ve likely heard of internships. An internship is any official or formal program that provides practical experience for a person in an occupation or profession. Most internships are work-experience internships — essentially on-the-job training in a field the intern wants to learn more about.

Negotiate, Then Deliver

Factors such as workload, scheduling and compensation are also variables worth discussing.

With each of his three mentors, David Hallock says financial arrangements were typically a set fee for the day. Since he had been through school and had started on certification, he was able to be of use under normal shoeing conditions. 

George Walker, of Beldenville, Wis., didn’t discuss payment with his mentor. 

“Jim and I never had an agreement as far as compensation,” he says. “I got an education out of the deal, and at the end of my time there, I was getting under a lot of horses for him.”

Clarke believes there are situations where apprentices should be paid and others where they shouldn’t.

“I’ve grown up in a family of highly qualified farriers,” she says. “I came to my apprenticeships with top horsemanship skills, such as how to catch and hold horses properly and safely and how to ease around with a toolbox. These things all provide value to a mentor.”

In situations where someone is stepping into an apprenticeship where he or she is not qualified, Clarke says it’s only realistic to expect to work without pay. 

“If I’m not truly benefitting anyone except for my own personal knowledge, the knowledge is compensation enough for a period of time,” she says. “I would want this mentor to know that I am worth the effort, and sometimes the mental frustration, that it takes to teach someone new skills.”

Working Together

Even under the best of circumstances, working in close proximity can result in friction or lost tempers. A mentor has not only your learning needs to consider, but the overall needs of his or her business and clients. They’ve set up their business so it works for them, not for you.

“As an apprentice, you’re working in someone’s business that they have built over the years. And, working one-on-one with someone in their own space can take some getting used to,” advises Walker. 

In addition to those qualities and asking your mentor how things should be done, consider how your professionalism — or lack thereof — can affect your mentor’s business and your future business. Is your work and behavior something that will inspire trust and confidence or will it cause clients to run the other way? 

How Do You Know When You’re Done?

Wrapping up an apprenticeship appears to be less clear-cut than, for example, graduating from farrier school. Sometimes the end arrives when a mentor feels you can step up and handle clients and horses on your own — sometimes it’s when problems arise or circumstances change.

“I apprenticed for over a year, taking on my own clients after about 6 months. Then my wife’s job caused a move, so the apprenticeship ended,” says Richardson.

While his apprenticeship is officially over, Marty Maddalena of Bozeman, Mt., says in one way it’s still going on. 

“After 2 years I left the area, but I’m still in contact with my mentor and I spend a week every year with him shoeing horses,” he says. “Being an apprentice has been an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.”