COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine has joined a handful of veterinary schools around the nation with its own full-time farrier, or horseshoer.
A&M officials say the move makes sense in a state with more horses than any other. There’s about 1 million horses in Texas, and they are the most common animal treated at A&M’s Large Animal Hospital.
Farrier Jason Wilson-Maki removes horses’ shoes so veterinarians can get better X-rays. He also makes custom shoes for horses who have injured a hoof or lost part of one.
Cornell University in New York has employed a farrier for nearly a century. Its chief of large animal surgery, Susie Fubini, says their farrier does much of the preliminary work for surgeries.