The Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School: Where Farriers Find Their Calling

The trade of horseshoeing hasn’t appreciably changed since the Industrial Revolution. Most farriers are drawn to the job for its independence and flexibility—and the prospect of good pay. Farriers aren’t required to get a license1 anywhere in the United States. A typical modern farrier works as a sole proprietor, for as many or as few hours as he or she wants to. A good farrier can charge upwards of $120 per horse.2

Bob Smith has been professionally shoeing horses since 1974. He founded Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School (PCHS) in Plymouth, California to pass his skills on to another generation of farriers. Students, who pay $5,500 for the eight-week course, divide their time between classroom sessions and hands-on work forging and applying horseshoes.3 PCHS, which accepts no state or federal student loans, has over 2,000 graduates, including hundreds who are now working as professional farriers. For his efforts as an educator, in 2010, Bob was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame.4

Esteban Narez: An American Entrepreneur

Esteban Narez, 26, grew up in Watsonville, California with his mother and two sisters. Esteban withdrew from high school his senior year due to a major injury. He hasn’t been able to get a GED because the medical bills and his family’s finances have forced him to work full-time ever since. Esteban now works seven days a week at a ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

California Keeps Esteban in the Stable

In February 2017, a California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education inspector contacted PCHS and told Bob that he had to require prospective students to possess a high school diploma or its equivalent as a prerequisite to admission. The fine for ignoring the inspector is as high as $5,000.5 Because Esteban never finished high school, PCHS was forced to deny his application.

California’s Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 imposes a tangled web of reporting and operating requirements on the schools it regulates.6 For students without a high school diploma, the law requires that they either get their GED or pass an “ability-to-benefit examination” offered by a private vendor and approved by the federal government.7 The federal government has approved the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test and the ACCUPLACER test, among others offered in both English and Spanish. 8The exams test students’ proficiency in grammar, reading comprehension, sentence structure, arithmetic, and geometry. There are no questions about horses or horseshoeing on the exams.

Sample questions from the ACCUPLACER test, which is administered by the College Board, include:

A) If 3/2 ÷ 1/4 = n then n is between

1 and 3 3 and 5 5 and 7 7 and 9

B) 46.2 x 10-2 =

0462 .462 62 462

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence. The first choice is the same as the original.

C) I was surprised by the noise peering through the window to see who was at the door.

I was surprised by the noise peering I was surprised by the noise, peering The noise surprised me, peering Surprised by the noise, I peered

D) For a snake, shedding their skin up to eight times a year is part of the natural process.

For a snake, shedding their skin A snake’s shedding its skin When a snake sheds its skin To shed its skin, for snakes

California borrowed the concept of the ability-to-benefit exam from federal law, but has taken it to an extreme. The federal government has long used ability-to-benefit examinations to screen applicants for federally funded student loans and other grants9—in other words, when taxpayers’ money is at stake, federal law seeks to ensure the student is able to understand and learn what is being taught.

When a student wants to pay for trade school with his or her own money, federal law treats it as none of the government’s business. Nothing in federal law prohibits vocational schools from enrolling students who pay tuition upfront. California, by contrast, restricts PCHS and other trade schools from teaching students like Esteban, who never finished high school, even when the student pays with his or her money.