12/14/07 AFA certification

The learning never seems to stop in most professions and this group is no exception. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to tell you who they are. My brother was a successful horseshoer until some sports injuries curtailed most of his shoeing. While he was practicing his trade, he was constantly learning how to handle horses, how the hoof needed to be shaped in relation to a certain horse's unique anatomy and how to combine his skills with veterinarians to repair damaged horse's hooves. Well, the American Farrier's Association has taken this type of learning one step, two steps, three steps farther. In an America's Horse magazine article by Holly Clanahan, I learned a little about these degrees of the farriers' profession. The first stage a horseshoer can attain in continued education is AFA-certified farrier. There are more than 2700 shoers in this group. Nine hundred forty-two farriers are classified as certified journeyman and right now only two qualify to be called tradesman farriers. Shoers wanting to become certified have two years to pass three phases of testing. First is a written test covering all bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments from the knees and hocks down. Forge work includes making several special shoes to help correct or cure injuries. Lastly, the candidate must trim and shoe two hooves in one hour to precise standards. To elevate to certified journeyman farrier, the tests are about twice as extensive. All the candidates interviewed felt horses were the big winners. I'm Jeff Keane. America's Horse December 2007