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If the Shoe Fits: Celebrating National Farriers Week

We’re smack dab in the middle of National Farriers Week, which this year runs from July 9 through July 15.

I don’t own a horse myself, although when I was about five I had a horse called Saberjolt. (I say he was mine because that’s how my mom and dad referred to him, but really he belonged to our entire family.) I have no idea what kind of horse he was. I just remember he was brown with a diamond-shaped patch of white on his forehead and he was very gentle. We didn’t own him long because apparently he aggravated my allergies and I didn’t sleep well on nights after we’d visited him.

However, for those few golden weekends when he was ours, I enjoyed every second I got to be with Saberjolt.

That’s about the extent of my horse anecdotes, but in honor of this week I did a little research on farriers. They’re very important people. And here’s what I think: Horses and women must have a lot in common. We both know the value of a good pair of shoes.

I doubt horses care as much about the style gracing their hooves as us women do, but comfort is priority one for them. Without a good pair of shoes they’re lost. Unlike people, though, horses just can’t prance into the nearest horseshoe store and pick the latest styles. They rely on farriers to fit them properly.

But farriers do more than just fit shoes on hooves. They also:

• make the shoes, requiring a knowledge of blacksmithing,

• trim and balance the horse’s hooves to ensure a proper fit, and

• care for the health of the hooves, requiring a knowledge of hoof injuries and diseases and how to treat them.

You might recall the case of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. He fractured his leg at the Preakness Stakes, healed from that but then contracted laminitis which is what ultimately ended his life. Farriers were involved in fitting him with special shoes to help with his fracture and then later provided hoof care to try and help him beat the laminitis.

If you happen to own a horse, don’t forget to give your farrier a little extra kudos this week. I can see how it would be easy to take them for granted, but I believe the quote from Benjamin Franklin emphasizes just how important their job is:

For the want of a nail, the shoe was lose; for the want of a shoe the horse was lose; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail. ~Benjamin Franklin

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