Who or what decides if a person is a farrier

Hmmm, and here I thought that gravitas was what was causing my stomach to move closer to my knees.......
I have no objections. In fact, you honor me.

So, by extrapolation, because of gravitas, my middle was in the middle of a crowd....Regardless, you should have done a Moses impression and parted the sea of pulchritude and said Hi or something of the sort.

I got a slap across the face and called a ba!*ard one nite years ago in a nite club trying to chat up a girl when she thought i said I shot horses!

i remember when Laura the yougest girl was at school
she was around ten at the time, there was thirty five in
two classes of the same year and the teacher asked
the seventy girls to write what your dad does for a living
to see who had the most interesting job
so the farrier came out on top
so i had to do a demo the next week
in the school yard
just one memory of been a farrier

I DO so there you have it

you are Ray but tell the others , i have to confirm them as farriers before they are invited

Ray the thread asks who decides who is a farrier , i am the self appointed person who decides , i dont need relevant qualifications or peer appointed recognition so i am the first to claim the position , thats the american way i believe

I Stink therefore I am a Farrier

Zouhair you do not stink enough LOL ,

Or is that 'mal odor' bride?

My two cents...

The proof is in the pudding...I have seen some of the worst hoof care done by "papered" farriers, and I have seen some of the most amazing therapeutic hoof care done by farriers that do not have "papers". So IMO it doesn't matter what you have written on a piece of paper if you can't back it up. There are those who are test takers (and get their certification papers), and then there are those that truly learn and know how to apply what they have learned yet never bother with testing for certification.

But what do I know...I have no papers.

Actually, the proof is in the tasting........

Ipso facto, anyone who has said "papers" did, at the time the 'papers' were issued, could and did back it up..........

Have you stood for any of the certifications? Your comments seem to indicate that either you haven't or your were unsuccessful and are suffering from SGS(Sour Grapes Syndrome). Some farriers, credentialed or not have a broken 'give a damn', others, don't.

And that's because????

And, while I see no value in meaningless competitions, I do see the value in standing for certification(s) proffered by certain national farrier organizations, the AAPF being among those excepted. ymmv.

Hi,
I guess I will venture my opinion on the matter. At this moment I consider myself a horseshoer, and not a farrier for one reason. I know some people say the two are synonyms but personally I have drew a line in my mind as to what I, personally, consider a difference between the two terms. Atm I have a nice set of tools, an anvil a hammer, but no forge. I feel this limitation on what I am capable of doing in the field limits my designation to horseshoer. Now know I also think horses should be your primary source of income to call yourself either term. I have been trained as a farrier, as I said I don't have a forge and I need to get back into all the shoe building before I personally could designate myself as farrier.

My business is growing and my goal is to have a forge and everything by 2014. Joining AFA is also something I think I should do. Becoming a journeyman level farrier, and maybe one day, the fellowship, or whatever they call it in Europe. But first I need a forge haha!

Jeez, look what the cat drug in. I mean, Welcome!

haha hello Bill

A horse shoer and not a farrier

I think that if you derive your livelihood from successfully altering the interface between horses' hoofs and the ground, you are a farrier. While I place great value in constantly improving your craft through practice and continuing education, I think that the modalities that you happen to choose, the tools you happen to like, and/or the source of your education is irrelevant to the final product, which should be a happy,sound horse that is better off after your work than before it.
The horse doesn't care if your work came from a $40K shoeing rig or a milk crate bungeed to a moped..

Dave

Were you taking issue with the space between horse and shoer or the idea? smitty88? If it is with the idea, I understand how it sounds . Again it is just a personal thing I apply to myself so I will get back to what I consider a higher level of workmanship and craftsmanship, ie farrier.

I can be a farrier, I can function and have been trained as a farrier, even functioned as a farrier but as it sits, and with what I know about being a farrier, I know without a forge and the proper tools, I cannot address every possible situation that may come up in the horse world effectively. I honestly believe a farrier should be able to address most if not all hoof issues.
I can address all the issues and I do what I can, but I find myself saying stuff like, "I really wish I could build a shoe to, fill in the blank." I think a farrier could and should build it, a horseshoer just needs to save money to acquire a forge. Does that make more sense?