Butler Professional Farrier School teaches equine hoof care

Dec 02, 2023

Jacob Butler uses hoof nippers to trim around the hoof wall until the horse's foot is the proper length.

"We say it with a smile but this is one business that you literally can get kicked out of," Jacob Butler said.

Jacob Butler uses a horse rasp to smooth, level and round the hoof after it has been trimmed.

Jacob Butler in his office at the Butler Professional Horseshoeing School that will begin it's 15th year offering farrier certification courses.

Horseshoes are often attached by nails through the hoof at an outward angle so that the nail tips go through the insensitive top of the hoof wall.

To hot shoe a horse, Jacob Butler will heat the shoe in the forge and place it briefly on the foot to sear the path where the shoe will sit.

A farrier is a specialist who trims and shoes horse feet, combining blacksmith and veterinarian skills.

“Horses suffer in the fact that they stand on their feet, if it’s not done correctly, then the farrier can do harm, which is unfortunate,” Jacob Butler said.

Located 30 minutes from Chadron, Butler Professional Farrier School (BPFS) has been offering students classroom and hands-on learning since its doors opened in 2007. The Butlers have adapted the building that originally operated as a cutting horse facility to fit farrier equipment and a forging area. The substantial indoor space allows the school to operate indoors through inclement weather. In addition to the classroom, the Butlers have created on campus housing options to encourage students to take advantage of concentrated study without distraction.

“We feel really blessed that it just happened the way it did,” Butler said. “We were looking in several areas and got a flyer in the mail that they were selling this place on auction and from there, things just fell into place.”

The school is a collaboration between Doug Butler and his sons, Jacob and Peter, functioning with the goal to raise the standard of farrier practice.

Butler began his teaching career at Mesalands Community College in New Mexico that offered an associate's degree. He is a Certified Journeyman Farrier (CJF) which is the highest certification level of the American Farrier Association. Farriers earning this level of certification must convey in-depth knowledge and highly developed performance skills on a level that equals professional artistry.

Butler is also an Associate of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (AWCF), originally London based, and it is now an international organization for those devoted to the highest levels of equine welfare. His father, Doug Butler, was a pioneer in achieving the aforementioned certificates as well as others and his sons have followed in his footsteps. The combined instruction from the Butlers offers decades of experience and certification, each Butler has their own area of expertise in teaching, blacksmithing, equine anatomy and equine behavior.

The BPFS offers three 12-week sessions throughout the year, students can choose to take the course over a 12=week session or in two separate 6-week sessions. The first 6 weeks consists of foundation curriculum followed by a second 6 week course that offers instruction more advanced and specialized to the student’s interest.

“I think from experience, it is helpful to stay the full 12 weeks to get more time to process and practice but I also recognize a lot of times people can’t be away for that length of time,” Butler said. “Some individuals go home and a lot of times they’re better students (for the second 6 week session) because they’ve had some experience.”

He explained the BPFS discipline focuses both courses on 7 skill areas that represent an acronym for the word farrier. Foot skills, anatomy, respect the horse and horsemanship, respect the client and people skills, iron and forge work, economic and business and lastly responsibility for personal health.

“Every letter stands for one of the skill areas that farriers need to learn and obtain. In those different skill areas, there are different areas that need to be focused on and try to improve,” Butler said.

BPFS students are given the opportunity to extend classroom instruction to hands on application on the variety of horses on the property that are the Butler’s own or have been donated to them for learning purposes. The class will also experience time off the premises to work with horses in the surrounding community. The strategy the Butlers offer will give their students experience practicing farrier skills on a range of horse sizes and temperaments as well as horses with hoof defects.

“We have a variety of different horses, some ponies, a couple draft horses and a donkey. And there’s some that we’ve acquired that have a particular foot problem so the students get to see that first hand and those horses get to live out a good life here,” Jacob said.

Class takes place Monday through Friday and students will spend 300 hours learning during each 6 week term, 240 hours in class and 60 hours of homework. After scoring a 75% average on tests, assigned projects and a comprehensive competency test, students will graduate BPFS with a certificate of completion at the end of each course. The school meets state mandated standards in order to offer the farrier certification.

In addition to operating BPFS, the Butlers also offer their farrier skills to many area horse owners and veterinarians, some with specific needs that they may travel to the veterinarian for and others that may prefer the service of the Butlers.

Butler said that horses are trimmed or shod on average every two months depending on what the horse’s needs are. Some horses may wear their hooves off at the same rate they grow depending on the ground surface these horses will not need a trim as often. Horses wearing shoes will have hooves that grow down and they will need to visit a farrier more often to have the shoe pulled, foot trimmed and then a new shoe will be put back on.

“A shoe that came off a horse can sometimes be reset depending on what the thickness of the shoe is. If it’s worn more than half the thickness of the toe of the shoe we’ll reset them, meaning put a new shoe on,” he said.

There is a lot of diversity in the type of horseshoe on the market which gives the farrier many choices and they have to be able to select the correct shoe for the individual horse. Horses primarily wear shoes to strengthen and protect the hooves and to prevent them from wearing down too quickly. Many different types of shoes can suit specific circumstances. For example, performance horses or horses walking on slippery or icy terrain may benefit from being shod. Horses with health conditions such as balance issues, laminitis or arthritis may also need shoes to help them recover.

“A lot of times we shoe a horse for protection, if they wear their feet faster than they grow them they’ll need protection,” he said. “Sometimes we shod for traction, often times in the winter we’ll sharp shoe a horse with what’s called boreum.”

Sharp shod horses are wearing shoes that carry tungsten carbide pins to improve the shoe’s grip and give the horse better traction. Boreum is a generic name for tungsten carbide and is usually applied to the horseshoe using the forge.

Butler also explained the process of hot shoeing or hot fitting as the process of heating the shoe in the forge and then the hot shoe is placed briefly on the foot to sear the path where the shoe will ultimately lie. The purpose is to create a smooth interface surface between the hoof and the shoe and to create a seal making the foot less likely to dry out in a dry climate or take on moisture in a wet environment.

For Butler, he is rewarded when he is brought a horse in need of help and he is able to provide that.

“When you can see the horse become more comfortable, I like that aspect,” he said. “It’s like when you build a fence and you can look back and see what you did. That aspect of this is that you can be able to see the horse get better.”

On Jan. 10, 2022, the Butlers will begin their 15th year of teaching the craft of farriery. More information is available at the BPFS website, www.butlerprofessionalfarrierschool.com.

Nicole Heldt is a reporter with the Star-Herald, covering agriculture. She can be reached at 308-632-9044 or by email at [email protected].

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