17 May 2015
Words Should Matter To Us
So why is farrier licensing once again a hot topic?
It is because farriers want to unite for the betterment of the trade? Uh, no.
Is it because Frank Lessiter wants to sell some magazines? No. Is it because
horse owners are demanding it of their respective legislatures? Oh come now. No, it is coming back up because a group of
Veterinarians want to formalize the term “equine podiatry”.
Last December, the Veterinary Equine Podiatry Group
(VEPG) made their existence known at the American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP) annual convention and part of their purpose according to
Fran Jurga’s Hoofblog, is to: “establish
what is known as a veterinary board certification, another name for an
officially recognized professional specialty within medicine”.
While this is not wholly a “game changer” it
has the potential to be as we as a trade don’t really look at the words that we
use to define ourselves.
In the modern era of horseshoeing (since the trade
bifurcated from the general blacksmith shop) we have used all types of words to
describe what we do for a living. While “blacksmith” is still in parlance with
American Saddlebreds and the American Standardbred, we all chose what verbiage
we use to describe our individual horseshoeing businesses. Many use the word
“Farrier” others chose “Horseshoer”, race track farriers use “Plater”, while
others, farriers and veterinarians have used “Equine Podiatrist”. According to
Webster’s a farrier is a: “a person who shoes horses”, while a podiatrist is a: “a
person qualified to diagnose and treat foot disorders.” Currently this is only in the human sense as
Podiatry is defined as: “the
medical care and treatment of the human foot”. The word “horseshoer” appears in Webster’s
but is not strictly defined, while “Blacksmith” is defined as: “a person who makes or repairs
things made of iron (such as horseshoes).” While I realize most
of the world doesn’t care about this, legislators may and you should to a point
especially if you’re under 35 years old and make your living in hoof care.
Further if you’re over 35 you should care because (we) are the ones leaving the
legacy for future farriers. While a word might just be a “word” to you, words
and their definitions are the foundations of all legislation going back to the
Magna Carta. In the event that the VEPG is successful in their quest, Webster
most likely will have to shorten its definition of podiatry and once the core
document is changed, well, so goes the world.
Everyday an equine hoof care professional walks a
fairly blurred line between gut instincts for improvement and diagnosis. In the
event that “equine podiatry” is established as an actual thing that line may
well come in to sharp focus. It is this
instance that licensing advocates inside the trade are looking at with an
opinion that it is better to be in an established position rather than a
reactive one. It’s a salient argument but only if we have words to establish
us.
Labels: AAEP, Farrier Licensing, Licensing, VEPG
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