Farrier Turns Horseshoe Pile Into "Art"

Farrier Turns Horseshoe Pile Into "Art" AG WORLD 26-3-22 In more than a decade as a farrier, Jay Russell, Caldwell, Idaho, accumulated tons of used horseshoes. Then one day in 1998, he was hit with a bolt of creative lightning (or something like that) that awoke the artist in him. He decided to use those old shoes to sculpt a horse. Russell nailed his first set of shoes on a horse at the age of 13, when his dad told him $12 was too much to pay to have a farrier shoe his old horse. That was in 1965. In 1986, after about 15 years as a dairy farmer, he decided to try something different. Since he'd gained some proficiency at trimming hooves and shoeing horses, he decided to make his living as a farrier. Russell's records show he's been under nearly 20,000 horses since he became a professional. When he started working on his first sculpture, he spent hours cutting out old nails and bending, straightening and fastening shoes together using measurements made from a stallion owned by his wife, Shannon. "I've never had any formal schooling as a farrier or as an artist," he admits. "I've gone to a lot of shoeing clinics and extension classes to learn more about taking care of horses. But my only training as an artist is my own experience." He finished his first horse sculpture in November, 1998. He figures it took him about 80 hours to put it together, not including the time it took in cutting the old nails out of the shoes. Russell figures that first horse used about 1,000 lbs. from his old shoe collection. Since then, he's made five more sculptures - all lifesize - including a Cinderella carriage pulled by a single horse. He's currently working on the six-horse team that will pull a stagecoach he's already finished. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jay and Shannon Russell, 12537 Chicken Dinner Road, Caldwell, Idaho 83607 (ph 208 454- 8560; E-mail: lostcoz@juno.com).

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