How does gender figure in to who you take on. I have not been able to get an apprenticeship/helper position due to farriers wives/girlfriends saying no female apprentices. At this point I am just treading water. I still do trim/shoe a very small amount of horses but know I am missing out on a whole bunch of learning by not being able to find someone to ride with.



Title on poll should read "How does gender affect who who you hire/train." Unable to edit poll.






Karen Butler

That would be a problem for a married male Farrier??? Its bad enought wives think we are ponking every female client too!!

Some farriers are divorced, some older, some wiser, and some are women. You'll find someone. I doubt it is a factor for everyone, but certainly some guys will have to decline.

When it came time for me to apprentice, I was a little worried that I wouldn't find a (male) farrier that would take me on because of a girlfriend/wife/gossip. But I did, and me being a female and half his age hasn't gotten in the way of anything. (Although, he did say that I can't ever meet his mother-in-law )

I've mentioned this somewhere before and will ask again... Why should a wife or significant other have a problem with her guy having a female apprentice when most of his clientele are female, and he visits their houses on a regular basis? To me, if a farrier was going to have an affair, it would be SO easy with a client because the job site includes a house and bedroom!

If a wife is jealous of an apprentice, she's probably got some pent up jealousy about the female customers as well. Coming from a woman's point of view.

Donna-Ocasio wrote:That would never of occured to me

david a hall wrote:
I bet it occurred to your wife

david a hall wrote:
Me either........that just opens up a whole new can of worms.

Karen B. wrote:
Its just the way I look at it. If a woman trusts her husband to visit other women on a daily basis to work on their horses, then she should have no trouble trusting him with a female helper. :confused:

Donna-Ocasio wrote:
...lol..lol...wheen I was single I had a female ride along ...better worker than most guys..wish I could have one now..I never made a pass or a poke...a wise man once said don't ever get ur pay check and whoopy in the same place......but with that said I got one jealous azz hussy now I call momma... and she has her pick of the females I work with and the rest well they hookers..lol..let one get behind on the bill and quess who is trading it out..yep me....now I have never giving any reason for her to think anything...but I bet I'm not alone ....I had rather keep the peace at home....

Donna-Ocasio wrote:sssssshshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! dangit. Shhh.

Well, being female and having worked around men all my life, i'll throw my 2 cents worth in here.

if it doesn't fly with the wife/girlfriend/SO, then it's not going to happen and still keep peace on the homefront.

And if it does fly with the homefront, then the two of you have to be comfortable together. you'll probably be most likely be spending alot of hours in a truck together.

Kurt, who i help with the Clydes is 25 years my senior but we are always mistaken for husband and wife on the trolley and when i explain we're just good friends, helping each other out, we get alot of raised eyebrows. so i usually ask them if they've seen the fiery redhead at the front desk when they check in for the night because THAT'S his wife.

I don't think my wife would flip out but I would never put her in the position to flip out. Out of respect for her and our marriage I would not take on a female apprentice.

I would take on a female apprentrice as long as she was attractive, I don't wanna be riding around with no ugly chicks.

A local farrier used to go hunting with my in-laws every fall. Every year the farrier would make unkind remarks about me being a farrier to my husband and my father-in-law. Four years into it I started apprenticing with a farrier 30 years my senior so the local farrier says, "So Kari is working with so-and-so. I bet you 10 to 1 she's sleeping with him!" He is sooo lucky my husband didn't go along to hunting camp that year! The man I was apprenticing with got a good laugh about it. Nothing much was said after that year.

dana fenn wrote:
I either get called his daughter, or his wife, by new clients. I am very comfortable with him - he has never made a pass at me. And both he and his wife must be comfortable with me because everything is still going smoothly. I have always preferred guy friends over girl friends so we get along great, and most importantly, he's a great teacher.

I do have to tease my fiance every so often though that I spend a lot of time with another sweaty man that just loves horses