A Brit in our Midst

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By Judy Heinrich
October 2 2017

Young UK farrier works with Landrum’s Jeff Pauley

Even among the diverse group of farriers we have working in the Carolina Foothills, there are several things that set Tom Holliday apart. First he didn’t grow up around here: he’s from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, a market town with farming and foxhunting traditions. He’s also young compared to our average population – just 23. And he’s a graduate of the very rigorous system of study, apprenticeship and certification developed by Great Britain’s Worshipful Company of Farriers (WCF), which was established in the year 1356 a.d. and given a Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1674 (see pg. 56).

Tom spent his boyhood around horses, starting with a Shetland pony and then riding a variety of breeds. His father was a huntsman, so naturally Tom hunted a lot. He also developed an early and enduring interest in farriery: “I always wanted to be a farrier,” he says. That began with his grandfather, who trained as a farrier in the army and then did all his own shoeing for the Appaloosa stud farm he owned.

Tom’s riding was curtailed as a teenager when he spent several years between Germany and Northern Ireland, where the family followed his stepfather’s army career. After finishing high school in Germany, Tom applied to the WCF certification program.

His first step was a pre-farrier course (forging) at Herefordshire College of Technology, and he then completed the required apprenticeship with an Approved Training Farrier (ATF), in Shropshire, England. He now has his Diploma from the WCF, which is the first of three levels of accreditation; the second and third are Associate and then Approved Training Farrier. If Tom hadn’t passed his exam for the “Dip-WCF” level, he’d have been pushed back in his training for six months before getting to try again.

Meanwhile in Burnsville…

For longer than Tom has been alive, Jeff Pauley has been a farrier in the Carolinas, starting in 1989 in Burnsville, N.C. His primary career was in engineering for the Rockwell Corporation in Weaverville, and he got interested in farriery through his hobby of competitive roping. “I watched the farrier work and liked what he did so much that I took a leave of absence from work to attend farrier school,” he says. After starting farriery part-time he turned it into a full-time career in 2002...

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