I just finished a class at Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School and it wasn’t the most enjoyable class I’ve had in my 33 years of teaching horseshoeing. It appears that a lot of them decided they were going to horseshoeing school based upon video clips and social media, not by exploring the profession and finding out what’s really needed to be a professional, self-employed horseshoer. So, I thought I might let students know what they need to think about prior to enrolling in a horseshoeing school, particularly mine.

Perhaps the number one ingredient is a huge chunk of self-discipline. Many people think that they have self-discipline just because they’ve lived as long as they’ve lived their life. But if you want to be a sole proprietor, self-employed horseshoer, the fact that you made it to 18 is probably not going to be enough. You need a lot more self-discipline than that.

There are going to be some questions that you need to ask yourself before you decide you want to go to a horseshoeing school. Such things as, do you consistently do things that need to be done, even if you don’t want to do them? Even if you have a valid excuse as to why you don’t really have to do it, do you still get that stuff done? Do you regularly do things that you know are hard or difficult? Some things just plain suck, but do you still get that stuff done?

Do you use the weather as an excuse? It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too windy as an excuse not to do what you know needs to get done. Here’s a big one — does how you feel impact your ability to do things that need to get done? Are you a little bit tired or you just feel kind of yucky? Or maybe your arm is sore, so you’re not going to do what needs to get done. If being a little bit sore or being in a little bit of pain prevents you from functioning, horseshoeing is not for you.

When you fall behind on a topic, does it make you throw your hands up and quit? When you make a mistake, do you just sit down and cry and pout or does it motivate you to work harder? You’re not self-employment material if you can’t take those mistakes and it pushes you toward excellence. Do you bring your emotional baggage with you everywhere you go? Do you have the strength and self-discipline to remove all that crap from your life and focus on learning how to shoe a horse? Interesting question — are you constantly in a state of anxiety, turmoil, anger, rage, or are you capable of controlling your own emotions? Because if you can’t control your own emotions, you will not be able to control a horse.

Does everything that happens at home become a major event in your life that has to disrupt your training while you’re in school? I mean, if your girlfriend or boyfriend get mad at you, are you capable of overcoming that horrible life-ending trauma to focus on horseshoeing? Or does your life just completely fall apart and you can’t continue your training? Does every day begin with you feeling that you could be whoever or whatever you want to be, and everybody else has to accommodate you? They have to change to accommodate you? Your clients are not going to do that. Do you make everybody’s life miserable around you? That’s an interesting one.

Here’s another — are you capable of leaving your phone in your room and conduct 4 or 5 hours of training before lunchtime? Think about that. Do you really think that you can get out of bed at 7:45, walk into a classroom for an 8 a.m. lecture and you’re prepared? I can give you an empathetic no, you’re not. If you can’t get up early, have breakfast, groom yourself — brush your teeth, comb your hair, clean clothes before an 8 a.m. appointment for lecture, you don’t have any self-discipline. Think about this. When you enroll in the horseshoeing school, do the people that you know before you come here think that you’re a reliable person? That you’re self-motivated? That you get things done that need to get done? Or does mommy have to nag you to even do simple things like clean your room?

How about your clothing? I mean, do you have any personal pride in how you look, how you groom? I can’t believe that I actually have to tell students that they have to bathe and wear deodorant before they’re allowed to get into the school van to go out shoe horses. I mean, you should have enough self-pride and self-motivation at least to clean yourself daily. Are you capable of resisting temptations when you know things have to be done? Are you going to sit and watch that movie that you’ve seen three times when you know have work to do? Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks for students to master in the program is shaping horseshoes to horse’s feet. That can be keg shoes or handmade shoes, whatever we’re working on. That skill takes a lot of practice, and because of that, I leave my forge area open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. 7 days a week.

I mean, would you really rather send all Saturday in front of the TV when you know you’re having difficulty with clips or forge welding, shaping shoes to feet? If that’s OK with you, you don’t want to be self-employed. You could be an employee where you don’t have to think after 5 p.m.

So, before you decide to come to a school, you need to ask yourself these questions. You need to be able to take control of your emotions. You need to be able to take control of your life, and you have to be able to force yourself to focus on the things that you need to focus on if you want to be the best farrier you can possibly be. And in my school, not everybody gets a trophy. Last class I started with 14, seven graduated. You need to perform to graduate my program.