The ring of the hammer on glowing steel has resounded for a quarter of a century at Montana State University-Bozeman. With students from all over the world, the MSU Horseshoeing School celebrate its 25th year in 1996, according to Director Tom Wolfe. The school has been self-supporting since the beginning. An awful lot of people do it on that basis. The MSU Horseshoeing School attracts school teachers who are looking for work they can do during their summers off.
Some students live in the Rockies and work snow-related jobs during the winter.
Many of Wolfe's students live in the rural areas of Montana and use horseshoeing to supplement their incomes. The average age of the MSU Horseshoeing School students is 31. Seventy percent are men and 30 percent women. He and his sons shoe horses around southwest Montana during the summer. The 900 students who've attended the MSU Horseshoeing School so far have included Japanese women involved in horse racing, a Welsh woman who ran a bed and breakfast, South Africans, Irish, Fins and Canadians.