Roland’s nags ‘n’ nails: ‘being an apprentice is a painful journey’
My survival kit at the moment includes a sweat band, sun cream, hay fever tablets, accurate horse fly swatting and gallons of water. Oh, and a trip to the hospital — but that wasn’t weather related. I managed to drive a nail into my knee, which was not very clever.
There was no obvious problem with my knee initially but, by the time I got home in the evening, I couldn’t walk. It turns out that it had become infected (not surprising really as the nail had already been through the hoof and exited into my knee), so I’m now on a course of antibiotics.
I have, in the past, nailed hooves to various bits of me including my hand and I expect I will continue nailing hooves to different parts of my body while my levels of competence improve slowly. Being an apprentice is a painful journey!
I won’t go into the amount of burns I’ve sustained from hot fitting but, suffice to say, I always seem to carry an injury of some kind. It’s par for the course. I’ve yet to patch a cut up with superglue, which is a trick of Kris my training farrier. Next time I cut myself, I might give it a go! I’m sure I won’t have to wait long.
Until next week,
Roland
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Roland owned a computer software business until he realised he didn't want to be stuck behind a desk for the rest of his working life. So in 2011 he started the four-year apprenticeship to become a farrier on the borders of Somerset, Devon and Dorset. He became fully qualified in 2014.