As farriers, we work with a variety of horses and clients. Since the summer of 2016, I’ve worked with a rare set of clients: jousters who travel and compete at Renaissance fairs. Although this is a very small niche of the equine industry, in a way it is still everyday work because of how I apply the basics.

In another sense, it isn’t everyday shoeing. There are certain needs of the horses and clients that differed from the common farrier experience. But by understanding what they horses need to joust and helping them stay in the show arena, they are among my favorite clients.

The Jousting Horses

The first thing to recognize is that these are performance horses — both in the sense of they are entertainers, but also the job requires their precise, athletic control and movement. And some of these horses are large athletes. This particular team keeps eight horses, ranging from a Quarter Horse to a Percheron-Quarter cross to even a full Percheron. 

The shows that these horses perform in are seasonal with a short window, so the jousting team must travel nationally. I’m based in Illinois and one of…