This enables us to buy the Teamster insurance, but we run our own group as a guild, have our own officers, police our own people, and give our own tests for qualifications. Our Guild test is halfway between the old test and the state test. In three hours you're required to shoe one horse and make two shoes. We no longer require swedging as in the previous exam. The track shoer needs to be proficient in the fire to do the specialty jobs.
Racehorses have special problems and they deserve the best care they can get.
I feel that on the racetrack trainers and owners should be able to draw on blacksmiths with that kind of knowledge. A lot of the off-track shoers are unaware that track shoers, though putting on mostly cold aluminum shoes with a stall jack, are really pretty good blacksmiths. Most of them practice the trade and keep on it pretty well. The quality of the work we do and the special shoes we have to make keep a farrier practiced. Yes, that is correct.