When Russell Stout went to Oregon State University’s farrier school in 1999, he was no spring chicken. He had just finished 32 years of employment with International Paper Co.  and had two daughters who were in their mid-30s. At school, students in their late teens surrounded him. But that didn’t dissuade him. Right away he knew he’d found a profession he would love. “I could kick myself for not doing this when I was a young man,” he says.

After taking both the basic and advanced farrier classes, he was a certified journeyman and jumped right into establishing his new business. Soon, he had clients he liked and plenty of horses to work on. It just couldn’t get any better. 

Until the pain started, that is.

He recalls he didn’t want to seem like a whiner as he grewolder. But at night, his hip joints throbbed with so much pain that he couldn’t get much sleep. “I tried to sleep with a pillow between my legs,” he remembers. “But whenever I turned over, the pain would wake me up.”

During the day, it didn’t seem to affect his mobility, unless he worked on a horse that jerked him around. But there was still an element of danger because of his failing joints.

“If I were to…