I’m not an artist, but I know a few painters — and not the house variety. When looking at a work of art, I can appreciate the ability that goes into creating a piece, but artists have a deeper appreciation of it. They have the different knowledge of what goes into a work and have a deeper understanding of the skills necessary to create it. They see what I don’t. It is a perception developed from sight and experience.

I suppose in some way, thoughts on how sight and experience guide a farrier’s perception is in each AFJ. Take this issue’s “Shoeing For A Living” (Page 18). The purpose of the day was not so much about the horses shod, but more so about Vandergrift, Pa., farrier Todd Allen wanting to borrow perceptions from others to evaluate and recalibrate his own. In other words, how well is Allen processing what he sees with the horse and appropriately applying that information to how he trims and shoes its hooves.

Looking At The Same Picture, But Seeing Different Elements

Perhaps the loudest statement on sight and perception is made with this issue’s cover. The interesting thing to me is that the photograph demonstrates what some people see and others miss when looking at the same thing.

Mollie Bailey, a photographer and writer for Chronicle of the Horse, gave me this image months ago. She shot the image in 2011, but it was never published in that magazine or on its website. Why…