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Our Town: Sara Rothery and the life of a farrier

Dr Tom Ferraro
Here is Sara Rothery hard at work tending to an essential body part of a horse. (Photo provided by Tom Ferraro

Fourth in a series on thoroughbred racing
There are a variety of careers in the backstretch of a racetrack, some being more profitable than others.

Hot walking doesn’t pay much but a horse trainer once told me “there are two groups that make all the money in thoroughbred racing, the jockey agents and the farriers.”
So in this final segment on thoroughbred racing let’s explore the ancient craft of farriery. By the way, my name is Ferraro which means farrier in Italian so apparently I come from a long line of blacksmiths.

Farrier’s specialize in equine hoof care including trimming hooves and placing shoes on. And they’ve been employed since the Roman Empire and connected to the military.

They would be employed to shoe horses, to make armor, to build new tools and to craft silver. Their tools included anvils, hammers, forges, tongs, clinchers, hoof knives, nippers and rasps.

I have observed them at their craft since I was a kid and was always amazed how they got behind the horse, picked up a leg and went to work.

They first have to remove the old shoe, trim the hoof, use a knife to dig out the sole and frog, rasp the hoof and nail in a new shoe all without a whimper from the horse.
The farrier must have the ability to diagnose problems like lameness or disease, a working knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics, the ability to work metal and a soft and gentle manner in order to relax the horse.

To find out more about this craft I went to a friend of the family who I think is destined to become one to the nation’s top farriers.
Meet Sara Rothery.

Yes, you heard me right, her name is Sara. Sara was born and raised in Bellmore, graduating from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Animal Science and she’s about to enter the finest farrier school in the country at Cornell.
Sara Rothery is one of the unique human beings who manage to do everything well.

She was a runner-up All American in Rugby at U Conn, owns and rides a world class horse and is virtually fearless when it comes to riding. She could have just as easily become a professional rugby player but liked the world of horses better.
We sat down together the other day so I could find out why she wanted to become a farrier.

Sara is a fresh-faced, blue-eyed, freckle-faced attractive young woman with obvious intelligence and energy. I began by asking her why she chose the career of farriery.

She told me “it’s the one part of the industry where you can help horses every day. You can put in two hours of work and it can make a big difference in the way the horse feels and performs.”

It reminded me of why I am so attached to my podiatrist Dr. Brook.

When you begin to get ingrown toenails you quickly become appreciative of the men and women who know something about feet. And if horses were all like Mr. Ed and could talk they would be saying the same thing.
I asked Sara to explain why farriers are needed and she said “Horses are like humans in that they are connected to the ground by feet. A horse’s hoof must be protected from the ground so they do not get bruised. And proper shoeing helps with confirmation, gait, running, jumping and posture. At this point there are literally hundreds of types of shoes for horses.”
And it got me to thinking of how the sneaker industry is the same.

Long gone are the days of the blacktopped converse sneakers.

Now you walk into Dick’s Sporting Goods and you are faced with a 100-yard long wall displaying sneakers for tennis, basketball, golf, fitness, track, running, etc.
Sara told me a horse must be shoed every four to six weeks because the hoof is like a fingernail and it keeps on growing.

She said that horseshoes are usually metal or aluminum but may also be rubber, plastic, magnesium or titanium.
Sara Rothery reminded me to one of America’s first feminists Miss Annie Oakley whose real name was Phoebe Ann Mosey born back in 1860.

You may know her from the famous Broadway smash hit “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Annie Oakley was also a multi-talented, fearless spitfire of a human who was a pioneer and who knew no limits. Annie Oakley traveled the world with her husband Fred Butler and Buffalo Bill Cody and became America’s first female star.

My guess is the young Sara Rothery will someday be a star in her own right.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she invented a new type of horseshoe that will probably be named “Air Sara’s.”

So the next time you look at a horse take a peek at their hooves and realize that there is a farrier somewhere who, much like a podiatrist, has been trimming and snipping and rasping away in order to let that horse perform at its very best.

 

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