My love for horses goes back as far as I can remember. Rescuing my first donkey really solidified my purpose in life. Join me on my journey to becoming a farrier!I will be attending the Kentucky Horseshoeing School starting January 2026!
Farriers are the people that take care of your horses hooves! They trim, shoe, and provide general care to your animals hooves!
Heyo! My name is Alex! I will be turning 28 on January 17th, but on January 5th, I start my 9 month long schooling on becoming a farrier!I have always wanted to work with horses! I started by working at a boarding barn in my hometown. I met many amazing people there, including a very good friend who helped me in a major project that put me on the farrier path for good.
Let me tell you the tale about a little misfortunate donkey that put me on my career path as a whole.A few years ago, a friend of mine who I met at the barn we both worked at, sent me a text about a neighbor of his parents regarding a donkey that looked like she needed some attention. This text, followed by the pictures he sent of her condition, pulled at the right heart strings to trigger a rescue. After discussing it amongst ourselves, he broached the subject to his parents and then the neighbor.To our surprise, the neighbor was rather understanding of the situation. After he heard my friends reasonings, he agreed to sign over ownership of the donkey. Within days, she was at the barn where we worked. When I say it was like seeing a ghost, I'm not kidding. Doesn't help she's a white donkey haha!She wasn't in horrible condition. Weight was a concern but our biggest hurdle was her hooves. She had severely overgrown feet. One of her front feet was actually growing straight down. She needed a farriers attention.
We worked with picking up her feet as best as we could before her farrier visit. While the visit wasn't perfect, the end result was far better than her previous condition. With her hooves corrected, she could walk, trot, and run with no pain.The last she needed from us was to handle her and work with her more before finding her new forever home. As much as I wanted to keep her (and many of the folks at the barn thought she was perfect for me) I couldn't afford the boarding fees. So we agreed she would be rehomed.
Luna was rehomed to a wonderful woman about an hour or so from where we had her during her rehab.Luna now lives in a herd that consists of a few horses, a little miniature donkey named Waffles, and a zebra!!Before I moved to go to school, I reached out to her new owner and asked if there was a chance I could see her before moving. She agreed and I was able to see Luna one last time! Needless to say, she is doing fabulous!Had I not made the impulsive decision to rescue this donkey, I don't think I would have made the decision to be a farrier. Not for a long time. But having that experience and seeing what a farrier can do for a horse (or a donkey) is what helped me make that choice. And now, that starts for me on January 5th of 2026.
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