The image of a farrier as a young, burly man able to nail on horseshoes using sheer strength has long given way to a more eclectic picture. Today's farrier can be almost any age and might just as easily be a woman as a man.

"We get a lot of women in their 30s who want a career with horses and something that allows them to work around their husbands' schedules and their kids in school," says Bob Smith, founder, owner, and head instructor of the Pacific Coast Horse-shoeing School in Plymouth, Calif. He and Chris Gregory of Heartland Horsehoeing School in Lamar, Mo., are two of the many who run schools for aspiring farriers.

Such students in the past apprenticed themselves to a journeyman to learn the trade. Now they are much more likely to attend one of the horseshoeing schools across the nation