The endless hours on international flights in coach and getting laid off three times in 6 years was what finally did it.

Even if you love shoeing for a living, remember that you’re in it for the money, warns farrier Brian Robertson of Owosso, Mich. “When you wake up in the morning, you have got to be a businessman; from the minute you wake up until the minute you are off the clock,” he says.

You don't have to spend much time with Bill Poor and Nick Hannan to figure out that the two Texas Farriers are pretty good friends.