Section
SANDY, OREGON THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1981
The Sandy Post
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It takes Gaylen Sundquist about I'., hours to shoe each horse
They
shoe
horses
don’t they?
Gaylen Sundquist's hammer clangs
An average day will find Sundquist
against the horseshoe, bending it just
fitting lour horses with new shoes and
slightly each time metal meets metal
trimm ing the hooves of three other
He thrusts the U-shaped shoe into
animals He travels from Ames to
the fire of his portable forge In a
Oregon City but most of his work is in
short time it glows cherry red A leu
East ( ounty and the Damascus
more taps open the nail holes he
Boring area
earlier had pounded shut
But its often not the mean horse that
Gaylen Sundquist is a modern day
w ill stir up trouble for theshoer Flies
horseshoer
can make even a mild-mannered
Like blacksmiths before him, he
beast grumpy, Sundquist says To
uses a forge and anvil to shape shoes
calm a jumpy horse, Sundquist
of all sizes for horses
believes the shoer’s stall-side manner
Sundquist learned his trade the
and personality are most important.
modern way - in school Unlike early
I think a lot ol getting along with
farriers — the British word for
horses is the shoer’s personality,” he
horseshoers
Sundquist went to
says "They can pick up a quiet voice
Clackamas Community College for
or a gruff sound "
six months to learn his skill
The horseshoer considered going
“ I was working in an office and I
back to an office job He even went
just didn’t like it," Sundquist says as
back to his old job for an interview
he prys off a shoe from a gentle
But it didn't work ou,
thoroughbred “ I was attracted first
"Boy. I’m sure glad it didn't too."
by the way the old blacksmiths used to
he says
™
do it. the old hand cranked forge, the
feeling of going back to using horses ’’
So Sundquist worked during the day
at his office job and spent nights going
to school Shortly after graduation he
found himself spending evenings and
weekends fitting horses with new
shoes
"Now I'm into it fulltime and that’s
what’s been paying the hills," he says
The job is fulltime for him. supporting
him and his wife and two children in
their home in Boring
And like any craftsman, he takes
pride in his work Seamstresses are
proud of even stitches; chefs boast of
a perfect meal For Sundquist his
delight comes in com pleting a
straight row of nails
To get that even row Sundquist
holds in his mouth the eight nails used
on a shoe He gently cradles the
horse's hoof between his legs and sets
the new shoe on the hoof With one
quick motion, he pops one nail out of
his mouth, into the nail hole and ham
mers it out through the hoof With
another snappy motion, Sundquist
nips off the exposed nml tip and
begins the process again
I try to take some pride in my row
of nails I make it straight and even,"
he says "Sometimes I pull nails out
because they're not in line "
He s had pretty gixxl luck so far
with feisty horses or mules, coming
out with only a broken toe and a bruis
ed arm
" I was working on a mule Well, I
never did finish him Anyway. I was
working on his back leg and he was
nasty He kicked my arm and banged
it. bang. bang. bang, and even knock
ed my glove off. So I relinquished that
job to another fellow who wants to risk
his body ”
Like a circuit-riding preacher. Sun
dquist visits his horses every eight
weeks to trim their hooves Every
other visit requires a new set of shoes
Sundquist parks everything on his pickup truck and travels from home to horse
Boring resident quit an office job to become a fulltim e farrier.
G" ¥' r n .................. .
h' m * —
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Story by Lori C o llis te r
Photos by K. J. Snipes
Most shoes are pounded into shape while they are cold,
then thrust into hot coals to open up the nail holes
again.