Kathleen Lavey

Lansing State Journal

The chestnut horse called Red knows something is up as Frank Castle backs his truck up to the open barn door.

Tethered to a post just inside, he watches Castle unload the tools of his trade: an anvil, a portable forge, a caddy of pliers and rasps and hammers.

His ears swivel when Castle greets him by name.

Red patiently lifts his foot. Castle goes to work, plucking a tool from the caddy and slicing off layers of overgrown hoof to prepare the quarter horse for a new set of shoes.

“I like the horses,” Castle says, explaining his work as a farrier, or someone who shoes horses. “I have a lot of clients that are friends. We go riding together.”

He pauses for a minute. It turns out that being a farrier can be a way to work out aggressions, too..

“Pounding on metal is good for those bad days,” he said.

Red is one of more than 50 horses at YMCA Storer Camps near Jackson, a 1,250-acre camp that offers horseback-riding experiences for kids, adults and families throughout the year.

Not all of the horses wear shoes, which are made of iron or aluminum and nailed into their hooves. Horses ridden moderately on soft trails like those at Storer don’t always need them. A dozen or so Storer horses that are ridden every day by camp leaders or horses that have foot and leg issues get a visit from Castle every six to eight weeks.

“Horses come in all shapes and sizes and with all kinds of foot issues,” Castle said. “Some horses are just really sensitive on the bottom of their feet.”

Castle, 55, who lives near Bunkerhill, worked nearly 30 years at General Motors, in Lansing plants and at the proving grounds in Milford. He was considering two retirement career options: massage therapy or shoeing horses. His daughter Emily, then 14, claimed massage therapy for herself and encouraged him to go to farrier school.

He figured he could at least save money shoeing his family’s four horses. He started shoeing the horses at Storer as a student. Eventually, equine director Tom Brown said, the camp moved away from using student farriers.

“We went to one farrier we could trust,” Brown said.

Now, shoeing the Storer horses is an ongoing, regular gig for Castle, who has a gray beard, wire-rimmed glasses, a knack for storytelling and an easy demeanor with the animals.

“It’s kind of like painting the Brooklyn Bridge,” Brown said. “Once you get finished at one end, you start again at the other.”

Farriers are particularly busy in the spring, said Jon White, president of the Michigan Horseshoers Association. It has about 60 members statewide, but he estimates there are four times that many farriers.

That’s barely enough to serve Michigan’s horses. The last horse census, in 2008, put the number at about 155,000, said Karen Waite, equine extension specialist at Michigan State University. She says that number could be down by as much as 30 percent, because some people sold their animals during the recession.

Still, she said horse events are well-attended. There’s actually a concern that there won’t be enough farriers to meet demand in the future.

“I would say there is a need for younger people to come into the trade and learn,” White said. He recommends a training program, then an apprenticeship period working with an experienced farrier to learn the finer points of the profession.

“A young person could start off in it and, within 10 years, be doing very well, making more than an engineer,” White said.

The key to success: “You’ve got to like horses,” he said. “If you don’t like horses you’d better not do it.”

At 24 years old – a spry senior in horse years – Red knows the drill. Hooves grow just like human fingernails do, and he lifts up his front foot without complaint for Castle to slice off the excess and carefully pry off the old shoe.

A custom fit is important – Castle wants the surface of Red’s hoof as flat as possible, and the shoe as flat as possible so they’ll meet together without a gap. He also wants the curve of the shoe to conform to the outside of Red’s hoof for a smooth profile. That makes it less likely the shoe will come off before it’s supposed to.

He holds a shoe up to Red’s hoof, eyeballs it, and put the shoe into the forge. A few moments later, he removes the red hot shoe and rests it against the pointed end of his anvil. Heat waves rise from it into the damp air and his hammer makes a ringing sound as he pounds the hot, pliable metal into shape.

He pressing the shoe against Red’s foot while it’s still hot; a cloud of smoke rolls out and Red’s hoof blackens. Red doesn’t flinch, because it doesn’t hurt. The heat helps seal the newly trimmed hoof. After repeating the process a couple of times for a custom fit, Castle nails the shoe on, using six specialty nails.

Although Red’s wearing classic iron shoes, Castle also has a stock of aluminum shoes, favored by people who have show horses that need to display a perfect gait. Some shoes even come with weighted backs, which help a horse lift and swing its foot in a showier way.

There’s even a titanium horse shoe available now.

“They don’t wear out, but boy are they expensive,” Castle said.

Red’s just getting his front feet done today. Shoes on the back last a little longer, because horses bear most of their weight and put most of the wear and tear on their front feet.

As campers dismounted nearby, laughing and running after their horseback ride, Castle prepared to spend an hour or more with the next horse.

Nine years into his second career, his summary is simple: “I’m happy with it,” he said.

Contact Kathleen Lavey at (517) 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com.