Dan White’s trade is one that he shares with few others.

He’s a farrier — a custom builder and fitter of corrective shoes for horses at Iowa State’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

White is unique because of the nature of his craft. Making horseshoes is hard work, requiring significant time and labor, said Eric Reinertson, associate professor of veterinary clinical sciences.

White said he first became interested in this profession when he was growing up with horses.

“I became frustrated with the work other farriers were doing,” White said.

He said he finally decided he would go to farriery school in 1993.

Originally from Clear Lake, Dan White made the trip to Kentucky to go to the Kentucky Horseshoeing School. White said he was there for three years learning and then practicing. He went through 12 weeks of schooling and spent the rest of the time as an apprentice.

“The profession of farriery doesn’t require a license in the United States, but I am a certified journeyman,” White said.

There are three levels of farriery; journeyman is the highest level.

After returning to Iowa, White said, he shod some horses on his own and farmed.

He said at that time Iowa State didn’t employ a full-time farrier and would call in different farriers to help.

He became a regular at Iowa State, and, eventually, the university decided to take on a full-time farrier. White said he has been at Iowa State for five years.

He now teaches a class to fourth-year veterinarian students and to practicing veterinarians.

White said he enjoys his job and hopes to do it as long as possible, but the physical demands of farriery are great.

“It can be difficult work standing under 2,500-pound draft horses and trying to mess with their feet,” he said.

Reinertson said there are many reasons for horses to be shod.

If the horse will be doing hard work or running a lot, shoes are mostly protective. They keep the horse’s hooves from wearing down.

Reinertson said shoes can also be used for better grip. He said the benefit to custom-making shoes instead of buying them is a better fit.

Benefits also come from custom-built corrective and therapeutic shoes, Reinertson said.

White said some common problems he has seen were fractures, limb deformities and navicular, a skeletal change to the navicular bone in the foot.

“I work with cases from all over the United States and even Canada,” White said.

About half of the horses he has worked with were from out side Iowa.

“The actual process begins with a series of measurements of the horses hoof,” White said. The hoof needs to be balanced and trimmed.

He said the shoemaking begins with a long, thin bar of steel or aluminum.

White said he holds the metal in the forge, a microwave-sized oven that heats the metal, using long-handled tongs until the metal turns dull red. Then, he puts the metal directly on an anvil, a heavy block of iron where he shapes it with a hammer or mallet.

White said he hammers the metal into the shape of the horse’s foot and repeats the process many times. He sculpts the curves and ridges, then punches nail holes.

“Farriers need to know precisely where to place the nail within the hoof,” White said.

He said the area of the hoof wall where it is OK to nail is less than one-eighth of an inch.

White often holds clinics for the Iowa Farrier Association and the American Farrier Association around the United States.