His wife might think he’s crazy, but farrier Paul Fischbach says he thoroughly enjoys making 500 pairs of horseshoes by hand every month.
“I found the world’s greatest job. I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” said Fischbach, who was on hand to demonstrate his craft at Canada’s Outdoor Equine Expo last month.
Fischbach, who lives on a farm southwest of Hillsburgh, is a tool and die maker by trade, but now works full time at what he says is his true calling.
Having grown up near a blacksmith shop in Switzerland, shoeing horses always intrigued him.
“I always wanted to be a tenor or a blacksmith,” he said, jokingly adding he thinks he made the right choice.
In fact, he has become so busy he had to hire full-time help this year and may even add an apprentice. In his business, which he said grows mainly through word of mouth, he stressed it is very important to keep up one’s skills and also to provide a superior level of customer service.
A specialist in equine hoof care, Fischbach was one of over two dozen experts at the Equine Expo who offered demonstrations.
“It’s my way of giving back a little bit,” he said of his regular appearances at such events.
Other topics at the Equine Expo last month ranged from eventing coaching, saddle systems, medical procedures, fencing, biosecurity, legal issues and more.
Many of the speakers came from elsewhere in Ontario, from western Canada and the southern U.S., but Fischbach says he is quite content on his 70 acre farm in Wellington County.
“I think it’s the heart of the horse industry,” he said. “This is the centre of the horse world.”
Having served in the armed forces, Fischbach has travelled all over and says there’s nowhere better than northern Erin.
“Hillsburgh, for me, is a cradle of peace,” he said, adding he especially enjoys the landscape and the great people.
