Knowledge on any subject must be gained a little at a time. Unfortunately, we can’t just dump a lot of research and information into our brains all at once and be expected to retain it for any length of time. The internet has complicated this process a bit as many people have a false sense of intelligence with Google at their fingertips. I once heard a 20-year old proudly admit, “I don’t need to read any more books in my lifetime. I have the answers to everything on my phone right here in my pocket. All I have to do is Google.”

This is somewhat terrifying when you consider that that attitude is prevalent among a whole population. This isn’t to say that looking up information on the internet is bad. There is a lot of good content on the internet that speeds up the education process. However, this by itself is not knowledge. I may be able to look up on the internet how to change an oil filter on my car, but that doesn’t make me a mechanic.

The competent mechanic at the garage knows the car inside and out. The mechanic’s breadth of knowledge and experience is a part of him or her. It would worry me greatly, if when I dropped my car off at the mechanic, he or she started to consult Google on how to open the hood of the car.

Knowledge is familiarity with a subject; or put another way, a person’s range of information and understanding of a subject. Knowledge is a part of a person. Information is part of a book or some other kind of media. In order to successfully turn information into knowledge, people must retain the information and apply it. This is what takes so long! This process is discouraging to some (in my experience, usually younger people), while the process is exciting for others (usually older people).

There is much to learn from those who have spent their lives learning a subject. Sadly, many younger people ignore the wisdom of their older peers. Wisdom is knowledge plus experience with the power of applying them. Experienced practitioners have paid a price over a lifetime to gain knowledge. Finding good mentors and listening to them can help distill the process to learning the farriery craft. I like this poem:

     The old crow is getting slow.

     The young crow is not

     Of what the young crow does not know

     The old crow knows a lot.

     At knowing things the old crow

     Is still the young crow’s master.

     What does the slow old crow not know?

                     —How to go faster.

     The young crow flies above, below,

     And rings around the slow old crow.

     What does the fast young crow not know?

                     —Where to go.

(John Ciardi, “Fast and Slow,” Fast and Slow: Poems for Advanced Children and Beginning Parents (1975), 1. © 1975 by John L. Ciardi.)

We may be fast, but it won’t matter if we’re going in the wrong direction! Being somewhere in the middle now, near 40 years old, this is interesting to me. I’m not old and wise and I’m not young and strong! The famous horse trainer, A.R. Rojas once said, “I’ve never seen a good horse trainer under the age of 40. I believe it’s because before that time, man tries to train a horse using his muscles. After that time, man starts to use his mind to train instead of his muscles.” My dad heard A.R. Rojas say this at a clinic at Cal Poly in 1968. I’ve heard my dad quote this many times. It used to bother me when I was a teenager and in my twenties because I thought I was a good horse trainer! It made me think that because I was young, I was useless. Later, I realized the date of that clinic meant that my dad would have been in his twenties when he heard A.R. Rojas say it! It obviously made an impression on him because he was trying to be a better trainer. Rather than get defensive at those words, he listened to an older and wiser mentor and adjusted his thinking. I began to realize many mistakes I made as a horse trainer and I’ve tried to do a better job of listening rather than getting defensive. I see the wisdom in learning from those who have a lot more knowledge and experience than me.

It is, however, important to make good choices when choosing a mentor. Some have plenty of experience, but it may not be grounded in good information. Some are bursting with knowledge, but have no experience. Age alone does not equal wisdom.

Recently, I interviewed Shayne Carter for the Farrier Focus Podcast. I was impressed by what he said: “[When I was younger, I thought], there wasn’t a horse I couldn’t shoe and a problem I couldn’t fix and I’d like to say that today, there’s a lot of horses I don’t want to shoe and I can’t fix very many problems.” When we constantly strive to learn, the amount of information we don’t know becomes much more apparent and our appreciation for those with more experience than us becomes more profound.

In addition to gaining more knowledge, gaining more experience is just as necessary. Shayne Carter builds some of the most beautiful knives you’ll ever see, but that didn’t happen overnight and his ability to build a beautiful, fully functional knife didn’t all come from a book either. When preparing for his Master Bladesmith test, Shayne said that he built 20 test blades and broke several of those blades trying to perfect his differential heat treating process. He said, “That’s the way I learn. I can’t learn from other peoples’ mistakes.”

The combination of both knowledge and experience is so important. Some have a lot of one and not enough of the other. Dr. Maarten Oosterlinck, DVM of Belgium recently said to me, “It’s important that we don’t close our eyes to new insights…Some people might say, ‘Yeah, I’m old and experienced so I know how to do that…’ Well, if you’re honest experience is just a summation of mistakes we’ve made.” It is so important to couple experience with the ongoing process of studying objective, scientific research and adjusting as you go along. The best practitioners, like Dr. Oosterlinck and Shayne Carter, strive to do this.

Choosing good mentors is critical to learning how to become a better practitioner. The horse benefits when the farrier or vet uses their applied experiences and knowledge. Sometimes, we may be dazzled by an “expert’s” credentials, but experience in successfully treating a horse’s unsoundness may be more important. A recently graduated veterinarian that has no experience in treating horses may be called upon to diagnose lameness because of the DVM behind the name whereas an older farrier who has successfully rehabilitated hundreds of cases may be ignored. Hopefully, in this scenario, the veterinarian will refer the case to the more experienced practitioner. Inexperienced farriers should likewise refer cases that are beyond their scope of knowledge.

Some are determined to gain knowledge and experience simply for the sake of being the smartest one in the room. They want to know more so they can lord it over others. They enjoy the sense of power it gives them. In my experience, these individuals are less concerned for the horse, and more concerned for their egos.

Gaining knowledge is a lifelong, humbling pursuit, but hopefully a joyful one. Learning should be an exciting prospect; not a daunting one. Intent is important. Learning is much more likely to be fun if there is interest in the subject. The best farriers and veterinarians I have ever met have been insatiably curious. Their curiosity also stems from a well-intentioned desire to help horses. Because of their interest and desire to help, they can’t help but excel at what they do. Some of the best farriers and vets in the world usually say, “I learn something new every day” or “I will never learn everything about this subject and that’s what makes it so much fun.”

These are the types of people to choose as mentors. They instill in the student the excitement of learning and the humility that you can’t know it all but you can spend your life in a worthy pursuit of knowing more. In the process, you will help more horses and horse owners.

You can listen to the full interview on the Farrier Focus Podcast with Shayne Carter here.