[TheForge] The licensing article reprinted here

[codpilot at bellsouth.net]

Sorry about the delay article is at the bottom of the message, my favorite part is the misspelling of definition in a box below the article - makes me wonder these days. Enjoy

Eric


> Eric & Mike,
> 
> If you'd be so kind as to just copy/paste that article and send it to me,
> I'd appreciate it.  I'd started into the registration and they were asking
> all sorts of stuff that I typically respond to at random (lie), but figured
> I'd rather respond to Mike's query.

I just fibbed - why would I give all that valuable information away for free?

> 
> First off, the farrier/blacksmith is an interchangeable moniker in the horse
> world.  Most farrier fabrications have more to do with their/our inflated
> self importance than iron.
> 
> I've been working on the addition/remodeling for a year now and have gotten
> particularly lax about reading my trade publications (Farriers Journal,
> Professional Farrier) when they come in.  Hell, I've gotten lax about
> reading my fun publications, too (Reason Magazine, Gun Week, even the
> Anvil's Ring, etc have been neglected).

Yeah, ditto here - working two jobs, trying to finish a PhD and learn more abouth hitting hot iron 8) all at the same time too!!

> 
> So I'd heard stuff about the licensing drum being beaten again.  About ten
> years ago, some fellow in one of the Carolina's got pissed that he couldn't
> find a competent farrier cheap enough to suit him so he started another
> bandwagon for licensing, as if that somehow offers assurance of competence.
> If he's that cheap he shoulda' left well enough alone as attendant licensing
> fees will surely inflate the price.  But I don't think this round has
> anything to do with him, whoever he was.
> 
> At any rate, I've been getting (bulk mail) solicitations from the farrier's
> organizations asking what I think, so it looks like they are forming into
> camps.  One says it's inevitable, so we might as well orchestrate the
> debacle, or we'll be left out and the buearocrats will bollix the whole
> thing up, the other's say "HELL NO, we won't go", or things to that effect.
> 
> I suppose the pessimist in me agrees with the first camp, and we'd be better
> off on the ground floor of setting standards, the optimist says "F*&K THEM".
> I'll let you know where the fur settles :)
> 
> Kevin Donahoe
> Flying Pig Forge
> Morrow, OH 45152
> flyinpig at go-concepts.com

Feud forms on federal licensing for farriers
By Betsy Gilliland | South Carolina Bureau 
Sunday, July 31, 2005 A movement is afoot to bring changes to a centuries-old profession.

Some farriers, who voluntarily take eight- to 12-week classes and pass a test to become certified, believe they should be licensed to shoe horses. 



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Ron Cockerille/Staff
Ken Crimmins, a farrier from Aiken, works on one of the hooves of Holly Dunn, who is owned by Tom Key. Mr. Crimmins thinks that having to license horseshoers will be detrimental to the centuries-old profession.However, the local equine community has mixed opinions about the merits of licensing versus certification.

Certified farrier Mackie Bryant, of Warrenville, who has practiced his trade for 40 years, said he wants to "keep government out of it." He said the tradesmen are more than capable of policing themselves, just as they have done for hundreds of years.

"I think that certification is the way to go," he said. "If it has to be monitored, it should be by their peers."

Ken Crimmins, a journeyman II farrier who lives in Aiken, also is opposed to licensing.

"You're not going to get rid of bad horseshoers," he said. "All you're going to do is have bad horseshoers that are licensed."

He said the farriers are not the only ones who could weed out the people who do not belong in the business.

"The first time you get kicked by a horse, or bitten by a horse or rolled over by a horse ... "

He did not need to finish his sentence.

Mr. Crimmins held an open house Wednesday for local farriers to discuss the topic with Ralph Casey, of LaFayette, Ga.

Mr. Casey, the president of the Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association, is traveling to 30 states this summer to gather input about the idea from his fellow farriers. He also wants to share his own thoughts.

"We're regulated to death as it is," said Mr. Casey, as he sat around a wooden table with his colleagues at Ridge Trading Post, a Wire Road country gift shop. "I just feel it will bring great cost to the horse industry and bring the industry downhill."

According to an online poll at the Brotherhood of Working Farriers Web site - www.bwfa.net - 91.5 percent of the 192 farriers who had responded to the survey through July 18 oppose licensing and 8.5 percent favor it.

Mr. Casey, whose organization has more than 8,000 members, said some members of the Lexington, Ky.-based American Farrier's Association are pushing for licensing.

Bryan Quinsey, the executive director of the 3,300-member AFA, said a task force recommended licensing to the board of directors.

"Licensing occurs for farriers on racetracks" at the state level, he said.

Licensing also has some support among local craftsmen. Certified journeyman farrier Daniel Carter, of Martinez, would like to see uniform standards established within the trade. 

"I think the horses would be better off. I think the customer would be better off, and I think the industry as a whole would be better off," he said. 

Currently, he said, different farrier organizations have different requirements.

Mr. Carter, an AFA member, also was concerned about who would mandate the regulations. No decision has been made about whether licensing would take place at the state or federal level, the farriers said.

If licenses were issued on the state level, local farriers agreed, then this practice would pose an undue hardship for their peers who travel around the country on the horse-show circuit.

Dr. Jamie Carter, a longtime horseman and an eight-year veterinarian whose Ridge Spring practice is devoted exclusively to horses, said some kind of licensing board should oversee farriers.

"A lot would be grandfathered and based on years of experience," he said.

However, Dr. Carter also is concerned about whether licensing would take place at the state or federal level. 

Although he thought it probably would be "state-oriented," he said, "I don't think we've got the economic power here in the state to even provide another licensing board."

He said licensing would not drive up consumer costs.

However, Sara McCormick, who owns Orchard Hill Farm in Aiken, is not convinced. She said she spends about $600 a month on farrier costs for her 50 horses.

She also said a farrier license would not be a guarantee of proficiency.

"It wouldn't matter to me if they were licensed or not if they do quality work," said Mrs. McCormick.

Ultimately, said Mr. Crimmins, farriers have to answer to their customers.

"The greatest tribute to a farrier is word-of-mouth," he said. "The guy who's not a good farrier won't be in the business very long."


Reach Betsy Gilliland at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or betsy.gilliland at augustachronicle.com.

 BY DEFENITION

Farrier: a person who shoes horses; blacksmith; also, sometimes one who treats the diseases of horses.Source: Webster's New World College Dictionary

>From the Monday, August 1, 2005 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle