FARRIER TRAINING

I am a 23 year old groom and have always been very interested in farriery. I have worked with horses since I left school and I am considering going to college to learn to become a farrier. I am extremely strong and very determined to succeed as it's a dream I've had for years. I also have some money saved to help me through the first year of college or apprenticeship. Could you please advise me - what does the training involve, how do I go about getting an apprenticeship and am I at a disadvantage because I am female?

The training involves 4 years working for a Training Farrier during which time you would spend 6 months away at Farriery College. At the end of the time you will take a Diploma exam and become a Registered Farrier. This is how the system has worked for the last 25 years.

Recently the apprenticeship system has become a Modern Apprenticeship. This is a major reform of the training system in England and Wales introduced in 1995 which is designed to offer flexible training programmes providing high-quality training to industry-recognised standards.

Unfortunately there is only one training provider, the Farriery Training Service. They will charge you some six thousand pounds and also expect you to pay for your board and lodging while at College.

The trouble is that the Training Farriers are becoming more burdened with rules and regulations and ever increasing costs and fewer of them are prepared to take on mature apprentices. The system still works for younger apprentices who are grant aided but for older entrants who do not get grants the opportunities are poor.

Some of the problems are due to new Government Legislation such as the National Minimum Wage but mostly they are due to the failure of the Farriery Training Service to keep up with the changes. Once you reach the age of 26 a prospective employer will be obliged to pay the national minimum wage right from the start of the apprenticeship. The FTS also require the employer to continue to pay you a wage for the 6 months spent away at College, so it will be quite a luxury to take you on and train you. You will have to be able, hard working and dependable to be able to justify the investment. Being female should not be a disadvantage. What matters is that you can be relied upon and do the job well.

You must write to the FTS for a list of Approved Training Farriers. You must then write lots of letters to ask to be considered for an apprenticeship. Don’t expect many replies. It would help if you had done a pre-farriery course, something offered by Farriery Colleges which will give you an introduction to important aspects of the job such as metalworking.

One alternative is to be trained by the Army but you can’t apply to join the army to be a farrier, you can only join the army and hope that they will let you train to be a farrier. They might not.

Anther options is to go abroad and learn farriery. You can then come back here and take the Diploma exam if you are good enough. It is a sad commentary on the failure of the training system that this is increasingly what would be farriers of your age are doing.

The address of the Farriery Training Service is Sefton House, Adam Court, Newark Road,Peterborough PE1 5PP.

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