In the Company of Horses

On a chilly February day, the long hallways of the Jamaica Bay Academy stables are peaceful and quiet. A few stable workers, walking back and forth, throw square stacks of hay into the stalls.

The silence is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a hammer banging on steel - bang, bang, bang. A short walk through one of the hallways, sharp left turn, then another, and a tall man appears. He stands next to a huge horse covered with a green blanket. The man wears a thick navy blue sweatshirt and brown pants, covered with leather leg protectors. From time to time, he pounds on a red-hot horseshoe, held by a pair of large metal tongs.

Drilling holes in horseshoes is a difficult task.

He is Tom the Farrier, as he likes to be called, without giving out his last name. Every day, six days a week he shoes horses in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, and he's been doing this for more than 20 years.

"I went to college for electronics and accounting and all this computer stuff, " Tom says. "But I never got any satisfaction out of fixing computers. So I decided to fix horses. I love animals, they have feelings."

To become a farrier, Tom went to a blacksmith school and then spent years apprenticing with different farriers, mainly on Long Island.

But it's not easy to shoe horses and there are not that many farriers in the city.

"Only a few people could do it," Tom says. "It's a tough job, you have to know what you're doing with a horse. You have to know how to get along with a horse, so you don't get hurt."

Tom shoes different horses - riding horses, racetrack horses and heavy carriage horses. Their horseshoes come in different sizes and types; it all depends on a horse type.

"Racetrack horses get aluminum shoes," Tom says. "If I was to put those kind of shoes on these horses here, they would last maybe a week. I use heavy steel shoes and they last about six weeks."

Before putting a new shoe on a horse, Tom takes off the old shoes, cleans the feet and tries the new one.

"Sometimes I have to do some forge work, work in the fire, and fit the shoe," he explains. "But it's ten times easier than it was a hundred years ago, when you had to do everything from scratch."

Even though Tom enjoys the company of horses, he often misses the company of people.

"This sometimes can be a very lonely job, and sure it's hard," Tom says. "When I am not working I try to get as far away from horses as possible. But somehow I'm always back with them. If I'm not working on them, I'm always talking to people about them."

And Tom knows his horses well; to him they are like people.

"Horses have different personalities," he says."Some of them belong in jail, some of them belong in a convent, but that's what makes them special."

Tom can talk about horses non-stop.

"A horse is like a two-year-old, thousand-pound kid," he says. "Some of them will try to get away from you, they'll test you, they'll try you. That's the beauty. They don't want to hurt you, but just to play with you."

Tom takes his job seriously. He often feels like a family doctor who comes every six weeks to fix people's horses. "I get to know them, they get to know me," says Tom with a smile. "And the horses recognize me."

Even though he gets lonely, Tom doesn't complain. He says he likes the variety of constantly changing working conditions.

"Every day I'm someplace different, sometimes three times a day," he says. "One day I work in a stable, the next day I am out on a racetrack. It's better than being stuck in the office."

If he ever complains, it's not about horses or his job.

"You don't mind working on a tough horse," he says. "But then you have a tough horse with a tough owner, and you want to shoot somebody."

And the downside of his profession? Back aches.

"My chiropractor likes me very much." Tom says and laughs.

But Tom knew what he was getting into when he took this job. "I knew I was going to have back problems," he says. "I work to prevent them, I exercise."

Becoming a farrier was a choice Tom made in his own, and he wouldn't change his job if he could. He loves it, he says.

"If I had a family I probably would have never chosen this profession," says Tom. "I had to work hard to establish my reputation. It did not happen overnight, but I would never change anything."

Go to A Day of Ups and Downs or Unlimited Naked Power

On the Job, On Their Own
A Day of Ups and Downs
In the Company of Horses
Unlimited Naked Power

"Shoeing" horses is a lot of work... PHOTOS: Iwona K. Hoffman

First Tom "bakes'' the horseshoes in this portable gas oven.

Since each horse is diffferent, Tom must carefully adjust the shoe.

Then he gives the horses a pedicure.

One more nail, and this horse is ready to dance.

Facts About Us...

A good way to tell our age is by opening our mouth and looking at our teeth. We go to the dentist twice a year to have our teeth floated ( which means filing them down). We get our feet done every six weeks. We cannot see directly in front of us or directly behind us. That's why you shouldn't creep up behind us! We can stand on our own and walk within an hour of our birth. Our size is measured in "hands", which is equal to four inches. And yes, we sleep standing up.