Look To Other Industry As Warning For Farrier Regulation

In response to your editorial (“How Farrier Regulation May Arrive,” November 2017), look at the trucking industry to see what could be in store by regulating farriers. Truckers are told when they can drive, when they must take a break. They are only allowed 11 hours behind the wheel. The rest of the shift has to be spent on duty, not driving. They are required to take 10 hours off, even if they’re 30 minutes from home on Christmas Eve.

In the name of safety, the government is micromanaging an essential industry. This bureaucracy could transfer to farriery, in the name of quality. We could be limited to a determined number of horses per day, despite how they stand or act. If all goes well and we have two full sets left in us, “Too bad, the quality will suffer if you pick up another foot.” And then you get into what to charge. Who determines price gouging?

Bureaucratic regulation would be unending. I enjoy my trucking job as a part-time gig during my slow shoeing season, but this is my last winter as a trucker. This farrier’s back has been broken by an overload of government regulation.

— Dan Puckett, Perryville, Mo.

Experience May Warrant Farrier Regulation

Regarding the editorial on farrier regulation, I think it’s important to consider that over the last 30 odd years, I’ve seen quite a few horses lamed ­— some of them with the…