Farrier forges parallel career as blacksmith

The Chinese lunar year has turned and 2026 is designated as the Year of the Horse. And with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair coming up — where there will be plenty of horses — it’s the perfect time to hear from a farrier: a skilled professional who ensures horses keep their equipoise.

Ethan Radstrom, 51, is a Manitoba-born farrier who began his apprenticeship 26 years ago. At the same time, he began learning how to handle hammer and tongs to make horseshoes, which led him to his “parallel” career as a blacksmith. Today, he runs Prairie Hammer Metalworks.

Radstrom began working as a groom at racetracks across the country. Luck was with him in Montréal where he was hired on with Cheval Theatre, a touring circus show started by a former director of Cirque du Soleil. The farrier in charge asked him if he would like to learn the work.

“After that first year, he left the show and we began hiring horseshoers in every city where we would set up. We hired the very best farriers in every region. I had the good fortune of working with some very good farriers during my initial apprenticeship,” Radstrom said.

A tour member from Belgium tipped him off to a program in Brussels where he did further training.

Radstrom said there’s more to the job than horseshoes. The farrier’s job is to deal with physiological issues and problems.

“A farrier is like a mechanic for horses. Our job is to keep them on their feet and running in a sound manner. Balance is the key word. We want a horse to be balanced on its feet and moving in a way that a rider or trainer or driver can have confidence they have a sound horse in their hands,” he said.

As for the difference in caring for working horses versus show or competitive horses, he said the farrier must establish and maintain a high standard of work and try to achieve that standard regardless of the situation.

“In performance situations, there is the added stress and adrenaline, which tends to come from the competitors or the performers. You will often have to work on a stricter time crunch if something goes wrong, if a horse loses a shoe shortly before they’re supposed to enter the show ring or go on stage. So you do have to know how to handle stress and how to remain focussed,” he said.

He explains that farriers must be good communicators because they are working as a team with owners, trainers, veterinarians and the industry.

“You have to be a businessman, you have to be a craftsman, you have to be something of a scientist, you have to be a diplomat because you’re dealing with people and their horses and you have to learn bedside manners, et cetera,” he said.

Farrier work was Radstrom’s focus until about eight years ago when a friend asked him if he could forge security window bars for a store he was opening. He decided to give it a shot since blacksmithing goes hand in hand with farrier work.

“That made me have to really reconsider what I was doing at the forge and anvil,” he said.

“You can do things with blacksmithing and metalwork that I was not familiar with because I had just been so focussed on horses and horseshoeing. Then I began to pursue other projects. It was a little bit of a lateral move going into the artisanal blacksmithing.”

He furthered his skill set with practice and by talking with other people. He considers himself to be “self-taught with due diligence.” That drive to improve keeps him at the forge.

“It’s that there’s always more to learn and develop in order to hone that craft and do good work. So the craft itself becomes a passion. And when you see some other work out there, because there are some fantastic blacksmiths, it encourages you to keep at it because there’s always challenges to take on,” he said.

Radstrom said blacksmithing is a combination of the technical and the creative.

“The drive will be creative, but you have to still apply the skill and techniques in order to achieve your creative vision. And that can be encapsulated in a way that the farrier trade has been described as both a craft and a science. The creative part would be the craft and the technical side would be the science involved.”

Radstrom takes commissions for things like gates, fencing, deck railing, window covering and also does art pieces. He said he enjoys the collaboration with customers and there is more to it than fabrication and function.

“The particular look or feel that I’m being asked to provide is coming from my own imagination. It’s working in collaboration with someone, but being allowed the freedom to bring my own ideas and creative flair into the project.”

He also keeps his work with the horses.

“They keep me grounded and they’re a great source of joy because working with them is just so pleasurable despite the challenges.”

As for the future of the work, Radstrom said there is always room for more qualified farriers. For someone starting out, he said the best advice is to not rush things.

“It’s a valid trade that takes a few years to develop the skills. Be wary of the weekend workshops that provide you with “certification’ of some kind,” Radstrom said.

“There’s no fast track to becoming a good farrier. And the same goes with blacksmithing. You will always be learning and improving.”

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