I’m back, after a few weeks of dealing with an existential crisis.
The International Hoof Care Summit, which was supposed to inspire me, scared me into a brain coma of sorts... Not by any fault of its own doing though - let me explain.
Arriving there, all bright eyed and ready for life learnings with my trusty notepad, I was thrust into a world of cowboy meets advanced medicine meets barefoot enthusiasts meets cocky teenage boys who think they are God’s gift to horseshoeing meets incredible artists meets amazing products meets everything else under the sun.
There were talks on theories opposing ones I’ve learnt at school, there were talks agreeing with what I’m learning. There were talks which seemed to purposefully try to make a simple thing complicated and there were lectures which dealt with topics that, for the meantime, flew over my head with regards to how much I know.
Anyone I talked to first assumed I was a horse enthusiast or a horse owner or maybe even a vet student - numerous times I was greeted with a gasp of surprise or a “good on you!” when I told them I was actually learning to be a farrier.
I was overwhelmed with the amount of things I thought I knew, but really didn’t; the gross underestimation of things I knew I didn’t know; and the amount of things still left to discover.
After arriving back at the school, I read an article on why barefoot trimming is the best thing ever and because of the way the article was written, I began believing everything it said (how horse shoes are the bane of the horse’s existence, they damage every single hoof and they have absolutely no purpose on the feet over horses), and began questioning everything I’ve been doing here over the last 5 months (hence existential crisis).
Slowly, but surely, I’ve been re-screwing my head back on straight and figuring out a few things. My instructor refers to horse shoes as “prosthetics”, which I really like. I believe shoes are fantastic tools to be used when needed (note WHEN NEEDED) - not every horse needs them, and not every horse could manage without them. They have their time and place, just like barefoot trimming does, and that works. And I’m happy with that. And that makes sense in my brain.
One final thing that kicked me back on the right track is the horses we had in the shop on Friday). They were easily 4 months overdue (family illness prevented them from bringing the horses in sooner, I think...), one of the mares had an extreme case of founder and every horse in the group had really long feet, with their shoes still on.
The horse that I shod had fetlock issues, but as I began trimming his feet down to their correct length, and burning and nailing the shoes on, he got more and more comfortable, letting me hold his feet up for longer periods of time. The foundered mare walked out comfortably (where she arrived not being able to walk without hobbling), with heart bar shoes, hoof pads and a more peaceful look about her.
I’m doing a good thing, a thing that is needed in the world and I’m proud that I can soon call myself a farrier.
(TL/DR: I was in a weird space with regards to my chosen path but I’m back on track with what it means to be a farrier and why I want to kick ass at this career. Regularly postings will begin again this week, I’m sorry for my weeks of absence. Forge on!)
