[TheForge] Blacksmith -Farrier Yak?

[Dave Brown]

At 16:45 09/07/03 -0400, you wrote:
>I have a presentation to give on Blacksmithing before a local group and I was
>wondering if we could agree on when the "Blacksmith name gave away to Farrier
>being the one that shoes horses etc.

Mike, I think it is a case of which came first the chicken or the egg.

Looking up the history of the word farrier it seems as if it comes from 
Latin  Note:  "A farrier is a blacksmith. The word comes from the Latin 
"ferrum" meaning a horseshoe. The farrier bends iron, puts shoes on 
horses,  but also a horse-doctor. It is rare as a verb - but exists - and 
"to farrier" means to cure, to carry out veterinary work curing sick animals."

It is this "horse-doctor" part that is the most significant distinction, as 
a farrier does more than shoe horses.  They work with what ails a horse, 
prevention, orthopedic shoes, etc....

The "chicken or the egg" part comes into play in that a farrier is a 
blacksmith, but a blacksmith is not necessarily a farrier.  Factories in 
the 1800's did not have a "Maintenance Department", they had a 
"Blacksmith's Shop".  You can be sure that many of these blacksmiths never 
shod a horse in their lives.  Conversely an in the same time period, the 
rural blacksmith's bread and butter was shoeing horses almost as much as it 
was sharpening plowshares and repairing farm equipment.

As I hear/understand it for more modern times ... There were farriers 
(specialized blacksmiths) aplenty in the 1800's.  The age of horse power 
and the implements that folks like Deere, McCormick, Case, etc made for 
plenty of work for farriers.  But then came the car/truck/tractor and the 
horse population, especially the working horses, went into 
decline.  Farriers retired and few entered the dying trade.  Many 
blacksmiths who did minimal shoeing took up the slack.  Then comes 
Hollywood and the movies in an age where leisure time was on the 
increase.  The Oater or Western movies put some glamor on horses and riding 
for pleasure.  The horse population rebounded in time.  During this period 
it seems as though the blacksmith in industry was giving way to machinists 
and fabricators, but the demand for farriers rose at a rapid pace.

"Farrier" vs "blacksmith" seems to ebb and flow with the times as to 
whether they are distinct trades or differing names for almost the same thing.

Or so is how I understand some of it.  Hope this helps some.

Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG