{"id":3075,"date":"2026-09-06T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2026-09-04T13:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:20:06","slug":"at-88-he-still-shoes-horses-two-days-a-week-outside-urlingford-and-says-the-back-is-the-first-thing-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/at-88-he-still-shoes-horses-two-days-a-week-outside-urlingford-and-says-the-back-is-the-first-thing-to-go\/","title":{"rendered":"At 88 he still shoes horses two days a week outside Urlingford and says the back is the first thing to go"},"content":{"rendered":"

The road bends past hedgerows, and on a quiet stretch outside Urlingford<\/strong>, a small plume of smoke<\/strong> curls from a low tin-roofed shed. Inside, iron<\/strong> rings, a horse shifts weight, and an old man steadies a hoof with hands<\/strong> that remember every decade they\u2019ve lived. He works just two days<\/strong> each week now, and when asked how the years feel on him, he says with a laugh<\/strong>, \u201cThe back is the first thing to go<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He is nearly ninety<\/strong>, but time has mostly signed his body with creases<\/strong> and caution, not surrender. The forge is tidy, the anvil<\/strong> bright at the edges, the tools set down where muscle memory<\/strong> expects them. The rhythm is unhurried, patient as a tide<\/strong> returning to shore.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Trade Hammered Into Memory<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

He learned at fourteen, warming nails<\/strong> in a stove and sweeping grit from his father\u2019s boots<\/strong>. \u201cBack then,\u201d he says, \u201cyou learned by looking<\/strong>, and by keeping your mouth shut<\/strong>.\u201d Farms wanted strong horses<\/strong>, cart wheels needed fixing, and every mile of road meant more work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Then tractors came, and the trade felt the ground shift<\/strong>. He stopped making wheels<\/strong>, started shoeing for leisure riders, hunters<\/strong>, and the odd plough horse that still pulled through bog<\/strong> and stone. \u201cYou go with the times<\/strong>,\u201d he says, \u201cor the times go on without you<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why He Still Does It<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

He shrugs at talk of retiring<\/strong>, at calendars that end with golf or gardens<\/strong>. \u201cThe day you stop moving,\u201d he says, \u201cthe joints set like cement<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n
  • The pull of simple rhythm<\/strong>, heat and hoof and a clean swing of the hammer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  • The faces that come back each season<\/strong>, riders and farmers who bring stories and news<\/strong>.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  • The quiet trust of an animal that lets you lift its weight<\/strong>, then sets it down sound<\/strong>.<\/li>\n

    \n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Payment comes in envelopes and in tea<\/strong>, in the slow honor of being called when something matters<\/strong>. He doesn\u2019t count the hours so much as the steps<\/strong> between farmyards, the lanes he\u2019s walked in every shade of weather<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The Ritual of Fire and Iron<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    He trims the hoof with nippers<\/strong>, levels it with a rasp that sings like a saw<\/strong>. He sizes the shoe<\/strong>, warms it to a faint cherry, and lays it to the hoof with a hiss like a kettle<\/strong> on boil. The smoke rises quick and then is gone<\/strong>, a scent he says he can pick from any wind in Ireland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Some days it\u2019s cold shoeing, when the weather is too wild<\/strong> or the horse too fresh<\/strong>. Other days, hot, because the fit is truer<\/strong> and the nail line sits exactly where the hoof says it should<\/strong>. He taps, tests, and listens, because the hoof talks in echo<\/strong>, and the metal in a different tongue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The horse dozes, then flicks an ear<\/strong>, and he strokes a soft neck<\/strong> out of habit that looks like prayer. \u201cThey balance us,\u201d he says, \u201cwhen we think we know it all<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Backs, Brains, and Balance<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    He works off a stand<\/strong> now, not the old stoop that punished every vertebra<\/strong>. \u201cThe back is the first thing to go,\u201d he repeats, and slips on a belt<\/strong> he trusts like an old friend<\/strong>. Between horses he stretches, small motions<\/strong> that look like a dance remembered in bones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The doctor talks calcium and care<\/strong>, and he nods, then adds his own kind of medicine<\/strong>: steady breath, no rushed lifts<\/strong>, and never one more horse than the body can carry<\/strong>. \u201cPain teaches,\u201d he says, \u201cbut a wise man learns sooner<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Weather, Time, and the Road<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    In winter he watches the sky for breaks<\/strong>, because cold iron makes a liar of your grip<\/strong>. In summer the midges find the only soft spot<\/strong> left on your neck<\/strong>. He keeps Tuesdays and Fridays for the work<\/strong>, with a day in between to let the back forget what it just did<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The rest of the week belongs to small repairs<\/strong>, grandkids, and a garden that insists on faith<\/strong>. \u201cBeans never grow the same way twice<\/strong>,\u201d he says, \u201cand neither do horses<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The People Around the Anvil<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Faces pass through the yard like chapters<\/strong>: a teenager with a nervous cob<\/strong>, a hunter built like a barrel<\/strong>, a mare who worries the bit until he sighs and pats her star<\/strong>. Folks bring him sandwiches and tangles of news<\/strong>, and he answers with stories that wear their truth like mud<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    A young farrier from Thurles comes on Saturdays<\/strong>, hands sharp, eyes shy<\/strong>. \u201cShe\u2019s better than I was at her age<\/strong>,\u201d he says, and the anvil seems to stand a little taller<\/strong>. He shows her how to hear the nail\u2019s first small protest<\/strong>, how to stop before iron becomes stubborn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    What the Work Leaves Behind<\/h2>\n

    <\/p>\n

    When the shoes ring true and the hoof sets square<\/strong>, something in the yard feels level<\/strong>. The horse walks off light, a rider waves, and the shed slips back into its quiet breathing<\/strong>. He wipes the anvil\u2019s face with a rag that\u2019s more hole than cloth<\/strong>, and sets the hammer where it always sleeps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    He will be here again next week<\/strong>, earlier than he needs, because the day starts better when iron meets light<\/strong>. \u201cYou keep moving,\u201d he says, \u201cand the world keeps time with you<\/strong>.\u201d Then he smiles at the old ache in his spine<\/strong>, thankful to feel where the work has been, and where it will still go<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3105,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions\/3105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}