Jess Adrian Farrier Service

08/29/2024

Another perfect evening.

08/27/2024

This is not my child

08/24/2024

See you there tonight!!!

08/23/2024

Listening to open mic night at Winston's old bank from my fire pit. Y'all are good tonight! 😲

08/21/2024

This little man lives a life of luxury. 🤣

08/19/2024

Just about a full moon. Soaking in these last summer nights.

07/30/2024

Super quiet small town Monday night.

11/17/2023

Told AI to make me a picture of a girl with a bun on top of her head in overalls in front of a barn with animals watching while she shoes a horse.

Yeah, AI, the internets.... No body knows what that means.

But hey, while a little perplexing, the pics are cute. I like to imagine this is what I look like while working.

08/18/2023

Still alive. 🤣 loving the mom life, still working. Learning how to schedule for what is now my small multi-farrier practice, did I say loving the mom life? 😄💜
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12/24/2022

Wut. It's barely sinking in.
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#2022

12/12/2022

Hello!
There are so many of you new to my page I wanted to introduce myself!
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My name is Jess and I’m a farrier in central Illinois. I’ve been shoeing since 2014, started my business in 2016 (6 years on my own, wow!) My dog and I live on the edge of a small farming community and my hubby stays with us. (Just kidding, married to the love of my life and we have a dog child together). Porter is the truck dog and goes with me EVERYWHERE. I love traveling, hiking, and adventuring and am proud to have built a life that allows quite a bit of that. I’m a huge advocate of a life in the trades and building your dream life in a vocation you love. Stick around on this page to see our adventures together!
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I also own a small business called Happy Healthy Hoof. It started off as just a hoof cleaner for getting rid of and protecting against thrush but I have several other products in the pipeline right now including a book to hopefully come out later this year with everything I wish my clients knew about horse feet!
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I love Instagram and being able to share my knowledge as a farrier with all of you but also to start good conversations in the comments on how others do things and hopefully, we all learn a little something. I’ve also met some really cool people via this platform so I just feel really grateful for all of you on here who follow along.
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So, cheers to all of you, the OGs and the newbies, thanks for following my journey!

-Jess

08/22/2022

07/15/2022

Do y'all stay hydrated?? Especially in the summer I take care to drink at LEAST a gallon of water a day and I always do 1-2 servings of electrolyte mixes. This has been the biggest thing I've done to boost energy and performance and keep me feeling lighter and stronger under horses.
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I've tried a lot of different mixes in packets and in bottles that work great but I'm glad to have one from in a powder! It is so much less expensive than buying individual servings!
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If y'all want to purchase yours use my code JBAK10 to save 10% off your purchase. There is a link in my bio that will take you straight to the electrolytes on their website!
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Thank you so much to all of you who have used my link in the past!
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Stay hydrated my friends!
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07/15/2022

How long does it take to become a farrier?
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The horse shoeing trade is unregulated in the united states so education and certification are completely voluntary. There are one or two groups that are recognized as being the industry standard for certification, namely the American Farriers Association, and many different routes to learn the trade. School and apprenticeships are the route I went. Six months of school and a year and a half in two separate apprenticeships and I was ready to go and started taking clients.
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Looking back I see just how inexperienced I still was after 2 years. I knew so little. Haha. Every year you learn new things, get better, faster, more efficient and hopefully get paid accordingly.
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I have a video on YouTube (link in my bio) on how I became a farrier and what I recommend. Who would be interested in a course on how I went full time in my farrier business in 6 months??
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07/11/2022

I guess it's national farrier week! Happy week to all my fellow farriers and those thinking about joining the trade! It's a fantastic career to be in and I'm so grateful I found it.
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02/23/2022

Steady hands, strong back... Things to have if you're going to do things like hold hot metal against an animal and take a knife to their hoof and cut within a quarter inch of blood and leave him more comfortable than you found him. There's not a lot of room for error in what we do as farriers but plenty of opportunity for it. And often I think the single most detrimental thing to the quality of my work is being distracted by my own pain, which these days I have very little of.
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There's two main ways I keep my body feeling happy and healthy. First is to take Tylenol with my breakfast every morning when I don't feel like implementing option two. Option two is to do things throughout the week to optimize my health.
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The top three things I do throughout the week to keep feeling fresh are as follows:
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One, work out and stretch at least 3 times a week. I have a fantastic stretching routine that makes a world of difference.
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Second, I have a good chiropractor that I see a couple times a month or as needed. I can tell throughout the month when things are starting to tighten or I'm just not feeling as spry, but it doesn't work to wait until you cant stand up to go to the chiropractor, that's not the point.
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Third, I keep a good diet and don't eat crap on the road. High protein helps your body heal fast (a collagen supplement makes a noticeable difference as well) which keeps your body strong. And in general, aside from protein, I really believe you are what you eat. Bad food makes you feel bad, good food makes you feel good.
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I don't do any of these perfectly consistently but when I do I feel fantastic!
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02/22/2022

How I decided to become a full time farrier. Most asked question!
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So I think the most commonly asked question I get in real life is how I decided to become a farrier. The most common question I get on IG is specifically how to become one. This is my story and how I decided this was for me!
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In 2011 I graduated from high school and started taking a few college classes. I worked at a boarding barn managing the daily operations in the barn, I rode with and worked with several trainers, and also worked at an ice cream shop but that didn't play into my decision much. However, yum.
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I slowly weeded out a boarding or training facility of my own being a good career choice for me, and realized how much people-training was really involved in horse training. Also not for me. I entertained dog training as an option but I figured it would be similar in that you really have to train people, which as young as I was then I knew would not be my strong suit.
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I started entertaining the idea of learning the basics of trimming just for the understanding and experience, not as a career idea. This materialized when I was halfway through my degree in college and 20 years old in the summer of 2014. I signed up for a 2 week trimming course and after the two weeks was up I was hooked. I decided to extend my stay and finish the full 5 month course. I dropped out of college, moved in across from the school, and the rest is history!
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So I graduated the school, got certified a month later, stayed at the school to help out with the next class and then apprenticed several hours away. During this time my family moved from Illinois to South Dakota where my dad was from and I intended to join them post apprenticeship. As my apprenticeship came to an end I had determined that I really didn't want to start my business up with ranch horses in the middle of nowhere so I decided to stay in Illinois to start my business. And here we are.
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So now I live in central Illinois, I'm living life with , work full time as a farrier, and am building and running this page in the rest of my time.
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Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day!
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02/21/2022

Hello!
My name is Jess and I’m a farrier in central Illinois. I’ve been shoeing since 2014, started my business in 2016 (6 years on my own, wow!) My dog and I live on the edge of a small farming community and my hubby stays with us. (Just kidding, married to the love of my life and we have a dog child together). Porter is the truck dog and goes with me EVERYWHERE. I love traveling, hiking, and adventuring and am
proud to have built a life that allows quite a bit of that. I’m a huge advocate of a life in the trades and building your dream life in a vocation you love. Stick around on this page and you will see quite a bit of our adventures together!
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I also own a small business called Happy Healthy Hoof. It started off as just a hoof cleaner for getting rid of and protecting against thrush but I have several other products in the pipeline right now including a book to hopefully come out later this year with everything I wish my clients knew about horse feet!
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I love Instagram and being able to share my knowledge as a farrier with all of you but also to start good conversations in the comments on how others do things and hopefully, we all learn a little something.
I’ve also met some really cool people via this platform so I just feel really grateful for all of you on here who follow along.
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So, cheers to all of you, the OGs and the newbies, thanks for following my journey!
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Jess
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02/10/2022

Alright, last how to set up your farrier business post.
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Here’s how I started my business and went from 1 client to quitting my other job and only working for myself in less than 6 months.
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First, I wrote myself a SLIM budget of what I needed to make to scrape by with my bills. Then I got a flexible job and took just enough hours to cover those bills. THEN, in my spare time here is what I did.
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First, I ran some small ads on Facebook and Newhorse .com. I got SO MANY calls from these two places. Some of the clients I got originally were not ideal but some of them I did for a year, paid my bills, got several connections to other stops/neighbors and then passed them off to someone else. Not so great stops can really lead to some good places.
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Second, I drove around in my spare time with business card magnets and if I saw horses I would stop and knock on their door or go out to the barn. (disclaimer if you do this and get abducted its not my fault, please use discretion and know how to fight back. Haha) For a while if someone was not home I would leave it in their mailbox but then I switched and would actually write their address down and send them a more personalized flier in the mail.
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Third, as soon as I was getting clients I was backing out of my other job. You will never build a business quickly unless you treat it like your full time job and more.
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Hope this was a helpful week of posts! Yall have been asking these questions for months, sorry it took me so long to get it all down!
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Whos ready to build something great?!?!
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02/09/2022

Today is another continuation of the how to become a farrier series! Highly requested!
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So you’ve been to school and you are now apprenticing. This is the time to get all the boring leg work of setting up your own farrier practice. If you haven’t already its time to acquire all your own tools and buy a forge and anvil. Time to pick a business name, get a website, Facebook, email, and cards made. You want to make sure you are set up to look and operate professionally. Figure out how you are going to run your books, make sure you know what you’re doing as far as taxes go, and set up a way to take card payments. You don’t want to be messing with this when you’re trying to juggle two jobs and get clients. This is also a good time to know where you will be setting up shop and touching base with local veterinarians.
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Word to the wise, I have gotten MOST of my clients from either Facebook or from business cards/fliers that I left at peoples front doors or personally handed them by driving around in the country and stopping when I saw horses. So make a Facebook and get NICE cards made.
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Seasoned farriers? Where did you get most of your startup clients?
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02/08/2022

Alright! Playing off of yesterday’s post on how to find a farrier school, todays post is starting a series on how to start your farrier business. To start I think that after school it is so important to work for someone else or do an apprenticeship. Make sure you have a total 1.5 years of school or apprenticeship. There is so much you learn working in an actual business and getting sent out on your own to run calls that you just won’t learn in school. Talk to instructors about this early on in your schooling and they can help you find a good job or apprenticeship. Work hard and be the best and you might get offered a similar position at whatever school you’re attending. You can also join groups on facebook or the AFA to get your name out there that you are or will be looking for work soon. I personally did approx. 7 months at school (got certified in this time) and another 6 or so as an apprentice.
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For my seasoned farriers out there, how long did y’all apprentice or school for before you went out on your own?
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02/07/2022

How to find a farrier school: So, when I started thinking about going to a farrier school, I started with just google to see where there are schools. I came up with a handful, did as much research as I knew how considering I knew nothing about the trade before school, and then scheduled a visit to the one closest to where I lived at the time. I went to the school and talked with an instructor and a current student and asked all my questions, saw the shop and classroom, saw the dorms, and drove around the area. Then I determined which school I wanted to go to and signed up! It really wasn’t complicated. Things I know now that you want to watch out for are making sure the instructors are certified by the AFA. The AFA is the industry standard in certifications. Make sure the school will be spending portions of each day in a text book in classroom learning anatomy and biomechanics as well as teach hot shoeing and shoe building. At the time and even now I know that Butler Farrier School, Heartland Horseshoeing School, University of Montana, and University of Illinois all cover their bases.
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Who here is thinking of going to school or already signed up????
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02/01/2022

Yay! New topper for Nicks new truck!! Truck Trends Inc.

12/03/2021

Even if it's a quick trim for a yard ornament, you took on the client so do a damn good job. Treat it likes it's your own. Don't take clients you don't like or can't do well.
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12/03/2021

Everybody has their concentration face.... at least its not one with my tongue sticking out. 😄

12/02/2021

Life update and story!
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and I met some months back when he commented on one of my pictures on Instagram and said something to the extent of "can you come to Idaho I can't find a farrier. Haha." We've had several phone conversations about horses, training my dog, new puppy owner questions, how to do Instagram and YouTube and finally at the beginning of November we met in person!
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Lindsay flew out to do a little training with me and Porter before he went on to visit other friends in the Midwest. I knew I wanted to do SOMETHING with Porter like hinting or finding something to compete in. She's too smart not to have a job. While Lindsay was here we decided on pheasant hunting!
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We worked on a variety of things, showing me what to work on for the next month or so. She is passing with flying colors! So smart. She's done a little with live birds already as well.
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Can't wait to keep showing you guys our progress! Keep an eye on my stories for videos of her training!
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11/30/2021

Baby micro mini donkey feet. 😲😂😭
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11/24/2021

Do you trim donkeys, minis and drafts? I know some people locally who only do standard sizes. What are your thoughts on that?⠀
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11/03/2021

Missing the hills and my family. So many fun memories there from the last twenty some years. Gosh that makes me old.⠀
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Use code JESSIB10 to get 10% off these fabulous hoodies or anything else on their site. Link in my bio. ⠀
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11/02/2021

Your hoof cleaner or thrush treatment should be gentle. Bleach, iodine, and other harsh applications will kill bacteria but they also kill the flesh, re**rd new frog growth, and dry out the hoof. Mine will not.
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Click on the Happy Healthy Hoof link in my bio to try .
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