Grit, Grime And Flies
HORSE-SHOEING COWBOY SUPPORTS WESTERN LIFE
Allen McBurnett credits his grandma for capturing his courage and catapulting him into his career.
Tired of poor workmanship, McBurnett lamented that he could do a much better job of shoeing horses than some others.
He came in the house, stomping a little bit, and spouting off about the lack of quality farriers.
“If you’re so smart,” she quipped, “why don’t you just go to school and learn how?” McBurnett laughs about it now.
“And that was history.”
McBurnett and his young family oversee a farm with 114 acres, complete with mares, a stud horse and raising a few babies each year.
He travels almost daily to serve as a quality farrier to service cutting horses and Western performance horses, from Joplin to Jay, Okla.
He also custom-makes leather goods, including saddles, wallets, purses and more.
His wife, Lindsay, who has a full-time job in town, assists him with his full-time business and the farm. Together, they are parents to little Hadley, who will turn 3 in May.
How do they manage such a busy schedule? “Dirty hands make clean money,” he said.
Swinging A Big Hammer
The McBurnett’s family farm – Rafter Lazy M — is located in Pineville. That’s the official address anyway. The farm is physically located about a one-fourth of a mile north of Ozark Beverage, near the McDonald County/Benton County, Ark., line.
McBurnett grew up rodeoing and being around horses. The family had a great guy who was their main farrier. When he retired, “we went through about a dozen guys.”
Not finding the type of quality they were used to, McBurnett was frustrated. His grandma’s comment made him think hard about a future career in horseshoeing.
He entered an apprenticeship with a friend and
worked for two years with him to learn the trade.
He then enrolled in Heartland Horseshoeing School in Lamar in a 16-week advanced farrier program.
Trainer Chris Gregory said the program is not for the faint of heart.
“We’ve made a whole program out of demanding these unrealistic expectations and then fully expecting people to achieve them, so that brings out the best in people in my experience,” he said in an online video on the school’s website.
“If you have grit in you, you rise to the surface.”
Shoeing horses is a tough business, McBurnett said.
“You’re dealing with a 1,000-pound animal that may not allow you to shoe them, swinging a big hammer and fighting flies,” he said. The method of horseshoeing can “change a horse’s path or how it hits the ground,” he said.
That is extremely important for those who want to protect their horses’ health. Trimming horses’ hooves, making shoes and applying them to the hooves can keep the horses comfortable, functional and performance-ready.
The challenge of the craft is critical to McBurnett, who feels his career gives back to the cowboy.
“People moved west to look for a better life. The men in denim built this country. I want to keep the western heritage alive and pass it down to our kids.”
Back In The Saddle
Helping horses and helping the cowboy go handin-hand for McBurnett. The former rodeo cowboy recently finished his first saddle, a proud accomplishment that took 40 hours to complete.
McBurnett — again — was not satisfied with that for which he had been searching. McBurnett longed to learn how to build one himself.
He’s worked with leather for about 10 to 15 years, more seriously for the last eight or so. He makes tack, billfolds, and purses. He bounces ideas off his wife, who gives important input about what ladies like in their purses and such.
It’s the saddle-making that really motivated him to express his creativity.
“I wanted to gain the knowledge to build the one I wanted,” he said. “I feel some of the saddles have lost a little of the handmade quality.”
McBurnett purchases his leather from a supply place owned by local saddlebuilder Denny Lowe, who is well-known for his saddle-building career. Through the years, McBurnett’s interest grew in learning how to craft one. While there one day, he asked about the chance to learn from the best.
“I was in the right place at the right time.”
Quite a bit of work goes into building a saddle, he said.
A tree shaped like a horse’s back provides the base on which the leather is laid to form the saddle. A tree’s size can help determine the fit.
“You cover it in rawhide and sometimes fiberglass,” he said.
Working with his hands, cutting leather and doing detailed work is all part of the effort.
Numerous steps are part of the process. Patience and a steady hand are required. Learning a new trade is the result.
A plain saddle can be roughed out in about 40 hours. The painstaking work includes the seat, the pommel, cantle, stirrup, leathers and flaps, a D-ring, girth and panels, lining or padding.
“It takes an entire cow to produce a saddle,” he said.
Creating one’s own saddle has been most satisfying for the rodeo-rancher.
“I can make it the way I want it to be,” he said.
McBurnett takes custom orders for saddles, in addition to the purses and other items he makes. He utilizes his leather-making skills to create beautiful work needed for cowboys, cowgirls and ranchers.
Through a rapidly changing technological world, McBurnett is glad to give back to the western way of life. The career of a farrier is not a dying breed. McBurnett believes there are fewer farriers available overall, but those who remain are focused on top quality.
The career he’s chosen actually chose him.
“There is something in us,” he said. “Once it gets in you, it’s hard to get it out.”