To be successful, you have to do the right things.  Education is required to learn the right things.  When you are a teacher, the greatest pay you can receive is to see your students succeed.

Basic farrier skill training is still in great demand.  It appears that many today have gotten away from perfecting basic skills and thus may be deficient when applying new technology. Many are unwilling to apply patience to the learning process.  We live in a society that wants most things instantly!

I remember when Bill Bane, a race track plater from LaCanada, California, patented his famous quarter crack patch in the early 1960’s.  He was interviewed by The Blood Horse magazine and said that it took at least 17 years of experience to know how and where to trim the foot before applying his patch.  (He patched such greats as Northern Dancer and Buckpasser both of which went on to set world records.)

Today there are many ways to patch hoof cracks and a variety of new products available to the modern farrier to solve other foot problems.  Learning what is available and how to use it is a major challenge in the farrier profession.

New technology is wonderful, but we must not neglect basic skills.  Indeed if we add high tech products to a solid foundation of basic skills, we will become more efficient at doing our job.  This will help us give better service more efficiently.

With the advent of the adult amateur ownership trend in the horse business today, farriers are often looked to as a source of education by new horse people.  People enter the horse business for various reasons.  While there are genuine professional horse people, some are simply fulfilling a childhood dream of owning a horse and living a fantasy of riding.  Some horse owners are interested in endurance riding and other competitive horse events.  Some are in it for the healthy exercise horses provide.  They all need education.

Mastery of basic farrier skills builds confidence in problem solving.  As a farrier, you need to know your subject before you can convey correct information to horse owners.  You need to get your information from trusted sources and make it part of your everyday talk and action.  Vernon Law stated, “Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade.”  You need to learn the basics to understand your trade.