Farrier Describes Challenges of Being a Female in Blacksmithing Industry
Laura Kelland-May of Podcasts for Equestrians invited female farrier Jess Paveley of Hufeisen Shoeing Company into the studio to discuss some of the challenges she has faced being a female farrier as well as equitation tips. The twenty minute interview focused on how equine entrepreneurs can overcome some challenges to build a successful business in the equine industry and also provided some excellent equitation tips.
When asked what the major roadblocks were for Paveley, when setting out to become a farrier and blacksmith, she said, “I think one of the major roadblocks for me was gender. I had more than one male farrier refuse to have me ride with them purely because I was a woman.” She went on to explain that she was often the focal point of the farrier visit when horse owners and stable managers would exclaim, “Oh! A female farrier. I haven’t seen one of those.”
Paveley believes she has finally been successful in overcoming the gender barrier. She knew she had to work diligently to win the trust of, sometimes fickle, horse owners. Now, she says people are calling her for advice and saying, “my horse has this problem, can you help him?”
In addition to solid horse shoeing skills and knowledge of horse anatomy, Paveley also cites business skills as a “must have” for farriers, and any business for that matter. “I think you can be a mediocre farrier with reasonably good business skills and you will most likely succeed.” Paveley goes on to say, “I think you can be a really good farrier with poor business skills and you will fail.”
To top off the interview, Kelland-May asked Paveley about some of the common equitation challenges she sees. Paveley cited “a good base of support” as one of the major strengths missing in some of the riders she sees. She went on to suggest riding without stirrups as a means of correcting that particular weakness, adding, “people are going to hate me for this!”
About Jess Paveley – Hufeisen Shoeing Company
An avid rider Jess trained and competed in hunters and jumpers until she decided to pursue a career as a farrier. She attended the Kentucky Horseshoeing School, where she learned anatomy, shoe building and dynamic shoeing. She continued her education in Germany, where she lived shoeing on Thoroughbred stud farms as well as jumpers and hunt horses. She returned to Canada and opened her shoeing practice in Nova Scotia where she continued to develop her profession shoeing show ring hunters, pleasure horses and draughts.
Jess decided to move her practice back home and moved Hufeisen Shoeing Company to Ottawa, Ontario where she continues to grow her business and branch out into custom forge work and decorative pieces as well as taking on a full roster of horse shoeing clients.
Laura Kelland-May of Podcasts for Equestrians (EquineBusinessBuilder.com) is a USEF “R” judge and EC “S” judge and travels North America judging Hunters and Jumpers. She is a Certified Coach – High Performance Trainer who started interviewing equestrians to get some tips to help equine entrepreneurs navigate through the maze of business related topics. In addition, Kelland-May asks her guests for some specific equitation tips to help riders improve their position which will make a lasting transformation in their riding. To hear this interview and other interviews with successful equine entrepreneurs visit EquineBusinessBuilder.com
