Johnstown, Ohio, farrier Dean Moshier is grateful to American Farriers Journal for changing his life and career trajectory.

Editor’s Note: American Farriers Journal is celebrating its 50th anniversary and we’re reflecting on the relationships and partnerships we’ve forged, the milestones and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. In the famed Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” protagonist George Bailey gets to see, via a dramatic intervention by an angel named Clarence Oddbody, what the world might have been like had he never been born. Johnstown, Ohio, farrier Dean Moshier shares the impact AFJ has had on his life and career.

As a high schooler, I decided that I wanted to become a horse trainer. In my naive world, if you went to college and learned a skill, you just went to work! No one told me that the path to becoming a trainer doesn’t quite work that way. Be that as it may, I attended SUNY (the State University of New York at) Morrisville in their Saddlehorse Management and Production Program. I earned an AAS with Honors.

Along the way, I was taught very basic hoof trimming, how to pull a shoe and how to nail one back on. Even before I graduated, I was trimming horses. Not many, but thankfully, I had a solid education in horse anatomy, too.

After graduation, I did become a trainer, where I continued to trim and had an occasion to put a shoe back on. Upon the encouragement of the farrier that I’d hired, I tried shoeing and doing his resets. Later, my career evolved into Standardbred racehorses. I had the privilege to learn under several farriers where horses were shod once a month! I started shoeing for a few others but not nearly enough to call a career.

Times were lean as I was traveling from track to track with my racing string, and I learned to drive a tractor trailer to make ends meet. Because of the Standardbred racehorses, I’d had the opportunity to buy and sell them in Delaware, Ohio, 8.5 hours away from central New York!

When I’d be out on the road driving a tractor trailer, I had the opportunity to retrieve outdated copies of AFJ. It was my joy at the end of the day to read some of it! They were always read cover to cover. The life-changing part was when I came across the year-end article on statistics. Everything, of course, from how many horses do you do to the ultimate question: how much do you earn? I was stunned. I had never thought to ask any of my mentors what they made! Then a brilliant idea formed in my mind as I drove those long miles: what if I were a full-time farrier?

I could earn way more money than driving a truck and get back into the horse business full time! Moreover, it seemed most logical to relocate to central Ohio, where the economy was exploding! Delaware County, Ohio, was, at one point, the number one growing county in the country!

But did I have enough training? Not really. That led to research and my attending the Oklahoma Horseshoeing School for a 12 week program beginning January 2000. During the dreaded Y2K doomsday, I moved from New York state to Ohio, rang in the New Year and then drove (most of the way) to Purcell, Oklahoma! I succeeded in that program and began my business April 1st of 2000.

To supplement my income I picked up another truck driving job overnights, but my business took off like lightning, and I only had to drive for 6 months! I’ve been shoeing and supporting the Journal ever since, including the very first International Hoof-Care Summit!

I’ve been blessed to lead several round tables and been on a few panel discussions as well as served on the advisory board. Through my interactions at the IHCS, I have met many lifelong friends and exchanged invaluable information along the way! Thank you American Farriers Journal for having such a profound impact on my life and career journey.