A Shoe In
Sidebar by Kristen Green
Farriery, the art of shoeing horses, has been around for hundreds of years. The trade has changed due to new technology and evolving uses for horses. Farriers, however, still practice the carefully crafted art with skilled hands — learning their trade through ways of old in apprenticeships with the masters.
Shenandoah Valley farriers still work at a level of mastery that were practiced hundreds of years before their time. They perfected a craft that entails understanding all parts of a horse, both inside and out. The ultimate goal of a farrier is to maintain each unique horse’s foot to work at different angles.
Farrier Bill Jackson perfected his craft through study and on-the-job experience. Based in Winchester, Jackson has practiced farriery for almost 14 years, serving four to six clients daily.
When Jackson’s master for his apprenticeship began training “in the late ’60s, early ’70s, you had two or three brands of shoes, maybe one or two brands of nails,” Jackson says. “If you needed anything that was corrective for a horse that had a lameness problem or conformation problem, you pretty much had to make it up yourself — you had to be well-versed in blacksmithing. Nowadays, they make anything and everything. If you need special shoes for a horse, instead of pounding steel you can buy the right size. We have it a lot easier now than they did.”
Roger Robinson based out of Bridgewater/Fort Defiance, has practiced farriery for almost 27 years. “Things are still being done today as they were at the turn of the century when horses were at their peak,” he says.
Robinson realizes he is part of an art much older than himself, and appreciates those who promoted his craft through the years. “I have enjoyed talking to the old-timers about horses in the old days, how they grew up and how they used horses in the olden days ... ,” he says. “I do enjoy that very much.”
To properly shoe a horse, farriers must consider many aspects, including the horse’s environment, discipline, body composition and the way a horse’s body is composed as a result of its breeding and resultant bone structure. As true artisans, farriers learn to show each horse individualized care. “It’s not a cookie-cutter operation,” Jackson says. “You have to take into account conformation, what the horse does for a living.”
Farrier training is usually done in one of two ways — either an apprenticeship or farrier school. Some farriers choose to complete both.
“More than anything, it takes an apprenticeship,” Robinson says. “The best way is to learn under an experienced farrier. There are schools, but they’re only a couple months long — they usually only give an overview of anatomy.”
Jackson says, “I [apprenticed] with a couple of different people because they all have 100 different ways to skin the same cat. If you watch different shoers, you can incorporate something they use and the way they shoe ... into the way you shoe certain horses. The more people you can be around who are doing what you want to do, the more you can learn from them.”
With farmland development across the nation, some in the Shenandoah Valley may question whether farriery is in jeopardy. Jackson hopes this isn’t true. “Nowadays, most of your horses are around for pleasure,” he says. “I’ve got customers who their grandfathers used to use horses to clear fields, haul lumber off mountains — they used them as a tool to make their living. Now, about 90-95 percent of those who have horses are using them for pleasure. Hopefully, about 100 years from now, people will still be using their horses for pleasure, and about 100 years from now, people will still be around to shoe them.”