Roland’s nags and nails: has spring come early?
This blog is sponsored by the PRO FEET range of hoof care products from NAF
I hardly dare believe it, but has spring come early, or is there some more Siberian weather still to come? I’ve slightly let my guard down as I worked in a t-shirt this week. It will be one nasty, nasty shock if the old Siberian winds return. Pray not!
I had a small glimpse into the future this week. My heart was pounding when Kris Parsons, my training farrier, asked me to prepare a hoof and then shape a shoe to fit it. I made a complete hash of it, then when Kris subsequently went through some basic elements of fitting a shoe, I could have kicked myself.
Apart from dropping the shoe off the anvil a few times, forgetting to make the shoe balanced, level or wide enough, I also made it the wrong shape. Everything kind of went out of the window and I became a blithering, dithering mal-co-ordinated imbicile.
One day I’ll be able to fit a shoe standing on my head. For my debut shoe fit though, I may as well have been standing on my head! Gosh it’s frustrating and I know that the learning journey is still in its infancy.
Watching Kris, who makes it all look so easy, I wish I could just download a program and be able to do what he does. I know though that I have a long hard road to travel and there’s no easy short-cut.
It’s sometimes quite disheartening thinking of the length of that road. There’s so much to learn and so much skill to master. However, when I think back to my first few weeks as an apprentice farrier, I realise just how far I have come already and how much knowledge and skill I have already gained. So, although I have been reminded this week just how much I don’t know and can’t do, I mustn’t forget that I’m progressing all of the time even though I’m unaware of it.
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Roll-on spring — don’t let me down and it won’t be long until the clocks go forward. Wow, now there’s a thought!
Until next week,
Roland
www.twitter.com/nagsandnails
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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.