Shoeing for a Living

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Shoeing For A Living

New Hampshire Farriers Learn from Each Other

Working on horses at the University of New Hampshire provided four farriers a chance to compare their approaches to hoof care
An adage shared among farriers is that when you work in isolation, you become the best farrier that you know. It serves as a reminder that farriers learn from each other. Find skillful farriers who you can trust and spend time working with them.
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Shoeing For A Living

Colorado Farrier Embraces Learning Opportunities to Benefit Horses

Steve Foxworth incorporates a mindset of learning and growth in his life and hoof-care practice
Failure is not an option, or so we’ve been told. If you ask Steve Foxworth, though, failure not only is an option, it’s embraced. You see, there are more learning opportunities in failure than there are in success.
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Shoeing for a Living

Waging the Battle Against Distortion

After 30 years as a farrier, Pennsylvania shoer Doug Neilson finds his everyday work has evolved by becoming more straight-forward in his approach
Doug Neilson never set out to be an eventing farrier. He rode show hunters when growing up on Long Island, N.Y. After meeting his wife Ann in college, they married and lived in Delaware, where she came from.
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Shoeing For A Living

Staying Out of the Horse’s Way

Texas farrier Mike Chance finds successfully shoeing the Western Pleasure horse comes from treating it like an individual.
Looking back, Mike Chance believes he didn’t have the typical make-up to be a successful farrier. And maybe he wouldn’t have become a horseshoer had he acknowledged that. “It never occurred to me that I couldn’t be successful in this trade,” he says. “Maybe I was lacking in some areas, but I was determined to be a farrier.”
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Travis Koons
Shoeing for a Living

The Reluctant Remedial Shoer

California farrier Travis Koons finds success relying on a minimalist approach in therapeutic cases
“You don’t want to shoe lames horses, trust me.” Bob Marshall tried to warn the confident young farrier, but the then 18-year-old Travis Koons had made up his mind. The Hemet, Calif., youngster had printed business cards, announcing that his farrier practice specializes in pathological, remedial and corrective horseshoeing.
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Putting Service in Customer Service

East Texas farrier thrives by embracing marketing and good business practices
At his core, Ralph Hampton is a farrier. Not like Jack is in construction or Jill is an administrator. The Rosevine, Texas, shoer is a throwback to the days when a farrier fulfilled an important role in a small rural town. “This is not something you do for a living,” he says. “This is something you do for life.”
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Making His Mark as a Cutting Horse Shoer

Texas farrier Jake Whitman draws from his time as a trainer to keep these athletes going
There’s something satisfying about watching a cutting horse doing its job well. The speed, agility and balance of the horse to mirror a cut cow as it desperately tries to return to the safety of its herd is mesmerizing and thrilling all at once.
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Taking The Time With Each Horse

Decades into his farrier career, Drew Golden still looks for every opportunity to learn from the horse
When he was a young man, being a farrier wasn’t on Drew Golden’s radar. Born on Long Island, N.Y., he didn’t even have much interaction with horses. Instead, his passion rested elsewhere. Golden was an accomplished musician, studying the subject and playing saxophone in bands. He still plays in a band today, making the time between a busy work schedule and family time.
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