Families are preparing to hear from colleges for their teenage darlings. Each acceptance will come with a price tag of up to $400,000 plus the cost of the darling not being in the workforce for four years (foregone wages). In order to cheer everyone up who is facing these costs, let me relate a conversation that I had with a farrier recently. We shared a row on a commercial flight to PBI, the second-closest airport to the equestrian gold mine of Wellington, Florida (there’s also a fabulous airpark right in Wellington!).
A farrier may prepare for the career with a half-year program (example; also, a 16-week $8500 program at Cornell) and then start as an apprentice. If joining a multi-farrier enterprise, the starting salary can be over $60,000 per year. After 10 years, a farrier who works hard among show horses should be earning about $250,000 per year. That’s with 6 months of post-high-school education and is about 2X what a veterinarian earns (BLS).
Note that this career does require maintaining some physical fitness: “Be able to lift 75 pounds and be in reasonable physical condition for the work,” says Cornell.