[TheForge] Blacksmith YAK about "do you shoe horses?"

[Reynolds]

You  are right on Scott, people just don't know. I demo a bunch (25 days + so far this year)and by far the most frequent question I get is just that, "Do you shoe horses?" Generally I respond like this:

"Nope. Those are farriers. They know what they are doing and I wouldn't pretend to act like I could do what they do. They've been to school for that and they are in a way a veterinarian. Just by putting on a corrective shoe they can save a horse. So I'll leave that work to them. 

Likewise, what blacksmiths do is somewhat alien to most farriers. Most don't ever do projects that a smith does, like make handrails, knives, tools or hardware. Those guys do a great job at what they do, they just don't do what we smiths do. We get to be creative. They just get to make horseshoes."

Go easy on the public -- each of us was that dumb at one time, it just may have been a few years and we forget!

Reynolds


<br>>It's a pretty common question from folk who don't know me, the local smiths<br>>or farriers. When asked if I shoe horses my standard reply is. "Only if they<br>>get too close when I'm working."<br><br>         And two many blacksmiths have a crook in their craw about the <br>whole deal.  It's not an insult people.  Just explain the difference and <br>people will know.<br><br

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