Farriery courses.

Ok, so basically I applied to go do a farrier course and by the looks of it had a great chance of getting accepted. It was a year course which meant i'd get to move away from home and fend for myself for a bit because the college is a good two hours from where I live now, my interview was supposed to be at the end of March. But due to educational funding cuts the course got cancelled.
Oatridge ( the college ) send me a few letters after about other courses that would still be running like a blacksmithing course, however it's a short course over the space of 12 weeks which I don't really fancy doing, however today I received another letter from them informing me of a farrier course that has now been set up to run is on track "The (city and guilds) Level 2 Certificate in forge-work"
I feel really tempted due to the fact that this certificate is what accredited trainee farriers like too see before taking on an apprentice and it's also the first step before being able to move on to study an advanced farriery apprenticeship, however it is also only a short full time 12 week course.
So i'm going to get in touch with the college to see about student accommodation for a few months, depending on what the college say I may look in to getting a student transfer to another country to learn.

Sounds very interesting. I hope it works out for you.

Me too, it's something i've always considered doing since I left school but a lot of people put me off of the idea telling me that i'm probably not cut out for the job because im only 5ft and don't really have all that much weight to throw about,and that its a "mans job". However now i'm determined it's what I want to do and even more so to prove people wrong that it doesn't matter about how tall someone is or how much weight you have to throw around or about what gender you are.

That is silly!

I have known several petite female farriers.


If you want to take a full year course why not look around to see if there are any other places that offer that?

I have tried but i'm terrible at searching things and all I came up with weren't really courses, more like one on one training sessions with trained farriers. I will keep looking however to see what I can find. I think also that my searching is hindered because I had it in my head that Oatridge was the place for me haha! Need to keep an open mind.

I don't think in any way it's a "man's job". If you have an ability to do it, why not? Plus females are often more gentle and calming with the animal. The only concern I'd express (as a woman) are you sure you'll have enough strength? Not trying to offend in any way! I know some very good female farriers in area, but I wouldn't be able to trim myself for that very reason - I'm not strong enough (even though I'm 5'8"+ ).