|
- The
Story -
Many people ask the origin of the name, "Turned Luck".
As many of you know, I am
often required to hand forge specialty shoes for horses. The trade term for hand forging a shoe is "turning a shoe", because you turn the steel on
the horn of your anvil to create the shoe. As we all know horseshoes are a sign of good luck, so I just combined the action and the belief to come up with name "Turned
Luck."
This actually has a little more meaning to me personally as I feel one creates their own luck and it is all in what you make of it. So I keep that in mind as I
go through life - "It is all what I make of it and I leave nothing to luck." |
- The Farrier -
My journey as a farrier actually began when I was
about 12 or 13 years old. The only other family member remotely
interested in horses was a distant cousin who trained
Standardbreds at the Frederick Fairgrounds. I worked with her
every weekend that I could. One of my chores was to hold horses
for the farrier - at this point I don't even remember his name.
Showing an interest, he always teased me about being his
apprentice. This planted the seed for me to become a farrier.
Out of high school I
worked with my Dad in the construction field for three years.
During this time I really missed my work with horses and
cows, which prompted me to look into farrier schools. One day
while visiting
my former teacher and long time friend Tommy Smith at the
Fredrick High School shop class, to my
surprise he pulled out literature from his bottom desk drawer
from the Eastern School of Farriery; with the comment "I knew
you would be back for this some day." Within months I was
attending Danny Ward's school. That was the fall of 1985.
My schooling was
followed by a one year apprenticeship with Don Dressel, which
provided the much needed time under horses with the proper
guidance to prevent the development of so many bad habits. I concentrated on
building my own clientele on the weekends. After that, during my
first year on my own I worked with Dave Ferguson one day a week
to further hone my skills. During that time I also spent many
hours in the shop with Dave as we prepared to compete in the Two
Man Draft Class at the American Farriers' Association's Annual
Championship Forging contest. I might add and am proud to say
we finished second behind world renowned farriers and
blacksmiths Jock Martin and Edward Martin. This also qualified
Dave with enough points to make his first North American
Farriers' Team.
During all this time I
attended every seminar, clinic and convention, read every book
and magazine I could get my hands on. My goal was develop a
superior understanding of equine anatomy and mechanics, coupled
with time proven methods of shoeing as well as new and
innovative ideas. Due to its practical application and unmatched
logic I followed the "Ducket's Dot" theory and still apply it to
my work today.
In ???? I tested and was
accredited with the American Farriers' Association's Certified
Journeyman Farrier. This is the highest recognized certification
in the U.S. for farriers. It is even accepted as an equal to the
extensive testing done by the British Worshipful College of
Farriers.
As an additional note -
at the time I passed I was told by the association Secretary
that I was the youngest to achieve this level of certification.
I think that mark has since been surpassed but good trivia.
In 2006 I finally
succumbed to not only a back issue but some very personal issues
as well and decided to give up my trade. Most know about the
back issues, but most don't know about the personal issue;
namely depression. I always
hesitated speaking about this personal issue until I lost a very
young cousin last year; he took his life on July 11th
2010. I wish now I would have been more open about my depression
as that young man may have felt more inclined to talk to me or
at least someone about his problem and may still be here with us
today.
I won't use it as an
excuse but my depression was certainly a cause to many of the
problems I created for myself, my family and my clients. It
negatively effected every aspect of my life and basically
overtook me UNTIL I admitted that I had the problem; that it is
a medical issue and that I could get help. Some may think this
is way too personal to put on my website, but I think it is a
message everyone needs to hear. And something I need to
reinforce to myself everyday. I wish I were able to sit down and
talk to my young cousin about it.
- The
Plan -
Now at 46 years of age, the plan is to shoe 2-3
horses a day and spend my afternoons doing forge work. My wife
and friends are constantly encouraging me to "make this and make
that" so I have finally succumbed and have set up a shop. I love
forging but just never felt "artsy" or creative enough. Plus I
am so hard on myself that I just stress on perfection, which
always prevented me from offering my work to anyone outside the
family. Something
I will have to work on. An acquaintance of mine who crafts
pottery for a living has impressed upon me, "that if folks
wanted factory made, stamped out items, that they would go to
Wal-Mart. It is the imperfections of "hand-made" that make it
unique and collectible!"
| 