What job originally applied shoes to horses?

Question

eg. blacksmith etc.

Answer 1

A blacksmith did it in the old days, but today a farrier does it.

Answer 2

Jess has it but he may have misspelled it.I think it,s spelled farrier ,but I may be wrong.

Answer 3

ferrier.

Answer 4

ferrier

Answer 5

a black smith in the old days n then da ferrier.

Answer 6

Farrier

--Rags

Answer 7

Ferrier. He also trimmed hooves and shaped them.

Answer 8

Farriers shoe horses, and that is all they do.  Blacksmiths are general metalworkers, and long ago, before the Industrial Revolution, blacksmiths were also the people who shod horses.

Nowadays many farriers are very pointed in not wanting to be called blacksmiths, or even smiths, because a smith is qualified to do all kinds of metalwork on the forge-- making wrought iron fencing, forged metal implements like plow-blades, the metal hoops that hold barrels together, and so forth.  Farriers don't do work like this.

A farrier works exclusively at shoeing horses.  The best farriers have made an extensive study of the anatomy and physiology of the horse's hoof and leg, and understand things like the pathology of many injuries and disease processes that require corrective or supportive shoeing.  A blacksmith who does general metalworking might know how to fashion a horse shoe from bar stock, but won't necessarily understand things like what a bar shoe does, or why you wedge up the heel of a horse that has navicular disease.  

In pre-industrial times, the distinction between a blacksmith and a farrier was less clear.  A man couldn't necessarily make a living just shoeing horses, and in rural locations, the forge and equipment used for fabricating horse shoes were also needed for things like making and repairing metal implements necessary for people to farm and to live.  In the days before automobiles, people had to bring the job to the blacksmith, rather than the blacksmith going to the job.  Different times, different circumstances.

So while now there is a clear distinction between a farrier and a smith, that wasn't always the case:  pre-industrially, the smith was a person who fabricated metal objects on a forge, and that included horse shoes.

Answer 9

Farriers were horseshoers, but some of them were also blacksmiths at one time. To Karin : Not all farriers are male- there are also some women who do this kind of work. I know a few of them personally, and I am sure that they would not appreciate that you only refer to men in your answer.