For the women on here.....were you able to apprentice with anyone or did you go it alone after your education? I'm having a heck of a time getting an apprentice position as pretty much all the replies are along the lines of "sorry my wife/girlfriend won't let me ride with a girl. I do understand but where do you start???


~Amy

Come to the UK

That would be illegal and there's a farrier shortage and a recognition that diversity and inclusion is therefore a positive thing in terms of broadening the talent pool

As such women are encouraged into the industry.

Keep trying and calling people. Don't give up.

Plus, you are probably better off not working with someone who says that he is not allowed to work with women. That doesn't sound like a very mature individual...

Dorito22 wrote:
Its not the individual who isn't mature, it's the individuals wife.

I remember some one once saying that his wife objected to a lady apprentice - "maybe she doesn't realize most of my clients are women, and a fair number of the ones that aren't are gay".

Dorito22 wrote:
Aha not feeling like offending your wife that you have lived with for maybe 20+ years over a girl that feels like becoming a shoer just to give it up in a couple of years either because they want kids or can't cope is what you call immature?

Just that I get my facts straight.


Ronald Aalders

p.s. sigh in advance...... Yes, I would think it offends my wife when she does not like the idea of me travelling with a woman shoer and I would go on and do it anyway.

We have worked alot with ladies in the past .
those that really want to prove themselves in a so called Mans world where great ,the worked alot harder and where never late in the mornings..
Regarding the Trust of farriers partners ,well Its good that you don`t go to those who say their wives/girlfriends would not like them working with a woman..because those guys are affraid of themselves more or less.
Anyone really interested in sharing the trade will not care who wants to learn as long as the are a help and are really interested in what is offerd.
Here its the cost of and extra hand that really gets in the way ,as the employment extra costs are very high..
Post a search here and the area you want maybe that will help you!

Well IF that's what's being said I wouldn't believe a word of it.

It seems you've been unlucky enough to run up against a clump of guys who all have jealous bunny boiler wives that think so long as their husband doesn't travel with a woman he won't stray.

Nonsense!!!

If that's what is being said, it's an excuse!

Men work with women all the time. Farriers main customers are women!

Thomas_Ride&Drive wrote:
It sounds as though you might be speaking from personal experience, are you? It is grossly offensive to refer to any woman as a "bunny boiler" and you are perhaps also unaware that referring to men as "guys" is ordinarily confined to labour party conferences and to other than polite society.

If you are serious about finding someone to apprentice with, join the local farriers group and start showing up at clinics. Put yourself out there. If you show some initiative and intelligence, you'll find someone that'll take you on. You'll also have the opportunity to figure out who you might NOT want to apprentice with, even if they offered.

Thomas_Ride&Drive wrote:Indeed our livelihood often depends on out ability to keep many women satisfied.

I've only ever had one client who calls me honey and tells me I'm cute. But I'm not his type.

All kidding aside, in my life I have seen numerous situations where students have fallen in fatuation and mentors have fallen in lust and succumbed to the power trip. Perhaps the most famous of such stories is Bill and Monica.

My wife would have no problem with me having a female apprentice as long as the apprentice was 6' 2", weighed 350lbs, stunk like pig manure and had a unibrow.

farriergodmother wrote:Great idea! I can't imagine you would be turned down if you asked to switch off riding with a different farrier from your local association for one or two days each week. Not enough time to form an attachment. Eventually somebody (or all of them) might figure out that you're all business. Learn to be one of the boys.

PS: Amanda, I just noticed your CF. Please accept my belated congratulations. You go girl!

Just one guys way of saying it.
Yes it is true 99% of my clients are women,
and I only spend between 1/2 hour to 6 hours every 6-8 weeks with any of them.

With an apprentice I would be spending 8hrs every day.

My wife and I have an agreement,
we will not spend enormous blocks of time with anyone of the opposite s.x

It just is not healthy.That is a SUPER thoughtless imature statment.
Choosing to not work with the opposite s.x
actually is a very mature, and a sound choice.
Even B.Clinton couldn't keep it zipped up away from home,
and how many senators as of late have had the same problem ???

My wife enjoys the Fidelity that I display openly,
by not just not looking at other females, but looking away.

I had a female ask me to apprentice, and after I repeatedly said no,
I discussed it with my wife and I suggested that
if we arrived at the barn in separate trucks and it was not full time we could give it a try.
I also said to her you will need to come over for lunch and meet my family.
1. The would be apprentice didn't show, twice.
Entrance into that shoeing school required the student to secure an apprenticeship,
2. So my name was used for that purpose, anyway.
3. When she finished school, she proceeded to call many of my clients,
with a cut rate, and stole a page out of my book.

I quess that would be someone my wife and I should trust blindly. :confused:

After Danny Ward's horseshoeing school in 1990, did I have it extremely hard and lots of difficulty having anyone teach a girl. I was 27 years old at the time.
Only Johnny at Delaware Park would take me on and teach me how to shoe racehorses and other types of horses, and he didn't have a girlfriend at the time; plus his attitude was no one tells him what to do with how he runs his business. He then got a girlfriend 2 months later, who was jealous of me riding with him all the time in the first 8 months; and told her to hit the road by that April of 1991.
We started to see each other as more than just friends by June of 1991; and the rest is history. We had our little girl Lynn Marie in November of 2000; but with sadness he passed away on October 4, 2004.

Johnny taught others including some women, and I never questioned his integrety. It is called trust and faith in someone.
When you have that; you will not have to be jealous or insecure.

Thomas_Ride&Drive wrote:
Remember everyone!!!!!....... that sometimes the farrier guys can have a twist with another guy, that happened here several years ago.....or the other guy gets his teacher in trouble by going to strip clubs on the side, go get a girl on the side.......we had this happen here a few years ago.

some are now divorced!!!!