Throughout this series, I have illustrated the concept of systems anatomy. Veterinary education and that of traditional farriers are based on regional anatomy, which studies regions and the anatomical components of each. The perspective of systems anatomy is that bodies are organized hierarchically, i.e. building up from small functional units (for example, cells or single tissues) to subsystems (for example, organs), which work together to make up a major system such as the nervous, circulatory or musculoskeletal system.

At no other time in the history of horseshoeing have farriers had more hoof-care options than they do right now. What they can’t buy, talented farriers can custom build at the forge and anvil, or create from their own ingenuity using modern materials. As a result, it is tempting to look to shoes as the be-all-end-all answer to hoof-care problems. Blanchardville, Wis., farrier Martin Roche prefers to look to the horse.

Two years ago, the gross annual income for full-time farriers crossed the $100,000 mark for the first time in the American Farriers Journal Farrier Business Practices Survey. For 2019, the full-time farrier yearly income increased by an $14,283 compared with that 2017 figure.