# Best farrier school?



## OkieGal (Dec 14, 2011)

Bump?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I know my sister went to one in Montana and she liked it and is very good.


----------



## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

I assume from your handle you are from Oklahoma. Don't know why you would look around the country - the Oklahoma Horseshoeing School in Purcell is one of the best known and respected schools in the country...


----------



## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

Taffy Clayton said:


> I know my sister went to one in Montana and she liked it and is very good.


I don't know if you're referring to the 6 week course that's very commonly advertised, but it's mostly a joke. Real farrier school is like any other school and you attend for a couple of years before apprenticing if you want people to take you seriously.


----------



## VT Trail Trotters (Jul 21, 2011)

Mereidth Manor?


----------



## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

MacabreMikolaj said:


> I don't know if you're referring to the 6 week course that's very commonly advertised, but it's mostly a joke. Real farrier school is like any other school and you attend for a couple of years before apprenticing if you want people to take you seriously.


You are a crack up!!!

The 6 week course is not where she went to farrier school.


----------



## OkieGal (Dec 14, 2011)

Faceman: 

I simply didn't know. I've heard of it and I personally think it's a good school, but I didn't know if there was something better.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## MangoRoX87 (Oct 19, 2009)

I'd seriously look in to the one in Oklahoma. I'm an Okie too, and had at one point wanted to be a farrier. I read their website over and over and it sounds like a really good course if you have the money and are already skilled with horses. But, I'd still reccomend doing an internship with a farrier after graduating.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

MacabreMikolaj said:


> I don't know if you're referring to the 6 week course that's very commonly advertised, but it's mostly a joke. Real farrier school is like any other school and you attend for a couple of years before apprenticing if you want people to take you seriously.


I've never heard of a two year farrier school. Most farrier go to the 6,8 or sometimes 12 week courses and then apprentice with another farrier for a while or sometimes just go to work. In Europe and Great Britain it's a little different and farriers have to be liscensed and trained just like electricians and plumbers. I wouldn't call the Montana State or Oklahoma State courses a joke by any means. 

Horseman 56 recommended on another thread a school in Missouri that he said had an excellent reputation and was more affordably than the other schools.


----------



## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

We use the Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School in Ardmore a lot. They do all of our trail horses and quite a few of the Cowhorses unless they are 'show ready' and then we use a farrier that shoes a lot of the horses that go to the NRCHA and NRHA National shows. [I have yet to see even a tiny bit of difference in the shoeing jobs my saddle horses and trail horses get for $25.00 and the shoeing jobs that cost $100.00 if I am getting a sound saddle horse or trail horse shod that has no pathological problems.] The school charges $25.00 for student shoeing jobs and puts new shoes on with clips for that. I have one of the instructors do any problem horses (like my club footed trail horse) and I try to get them to shoe colts on their first shoeing as some of the students are less than skilled in horse handling.

Here is their website. Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School, Ardmore, Oklahoma
They start everyone out on the 6 week course and then for no charge (except for the dorm if returning students want to live there), they off free of charge all of the 'post graduate' instruction you want. [Two old graduates were there the last time I took a load of horses.]

We have had terrible experiences with the one at Purcell. Personally, I would never take another horse there. As a matter of fact, the school at Ardmore gets 1 or 2 students every class that tried to go there and did not like it.

I have known the Kesters in Ardmore for over 30 years. Regie (who founded the shcool) died of Cancer a couple of years ago, but his grandson, Ty, is really a good hand. They shoe a lot of drafts and mules and quite a few barrel horses. They also shoe for a a lot of the big ranches around here. They keep 20 - 25 head shod for us year 'round. 

The worst thing that people run into there that just want to learn to trim and shoe their own horses is that it takes a strong work ethic to get through the school. They have a LOT of horses to shoe and each student has to stay 'hooked' up' and work hard or someone else has to finish their horses. I can see that cause friction between the students when only part of them really want to get under that many horses. The office books enough horses to keep all of them busy shoeing from their 3rd day on.

As far as hot vs. cold shoeing -- in my book, there are still a few instances where it is absolutely necessary to make a shoe. The school at Ardmore teaches a lot of forge work, but that is not the direction quite a few students want to go. I do like a hot shoe 'burned in' (which they do at the school), but so many specialty shoes are available now that there are very few shoes that need to be hand-made. I like the sliders you can buy better than the hand-made ones.


----------

