{"id":8545,"date":"2014-04-18T02:18:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T02:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gs90.inmotionhosting.com\/~ntalkh5\/?p=8545"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:49:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:49:05","slug":"farrier-kenny-bellis-visits-ballentines-horse-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/?p=8545","title":{"rendered":"Farrier Kenny Bellis Visits Ballentine&#8217;s Horse Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/13W6wqJInJk?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><a href=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-and-CJ.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-and-CJ-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kenny Bellis and CJ\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8553\" srcset=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-and-CJ-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-and-CJ-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nA gray haze clouded the sky restraining the early April morning. A slight chill clung to the shadows but spring definitely hung in the air. When I pulled in front of the stables Kenny\u2019s truck was already there.  I walked through the barn and found Johnn and Kenny in Myrtle\u2019s stall.  The draft horse had one leg lifted as Kenny finished off filing the hoof.<\/p>\n<p>Kenny in some ways was new to being a farrier having just graduated from Oklahoma State Farrier School in September. In other ways, being a farrier seemed only natural since he was the son of a farrier. At Oklahoma State, Kenny completed the 6 week course; a hands on experience with some lecture\/class time. The class was small, only 12 students. Every day he worked with different horses, solved different problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you decide to become a farrier,\u201d I asked Kenny. <a href=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Johnn-Ballintine.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Johnn-Ballintine-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Johnn Ballintine\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-8551\" srcset=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Johnn-Ballintine-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Johnn-Ballintine-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always wanted to be a farrier, but I didn\u2019t want to compete or interfere with my <a href=http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/?p=7976\"\/\"title=\"father\u2019s\">father&#8217;s<\/a> business. When he passed away I decided to go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you\u2019ve been around horses all of your life?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI grew up with horses, did all the kid stuff, shows, roping competitions, trail riding, team penning. I still do local rodeos. My wife, Dawn, does barrel racing. We run a family stable with 18 boarders.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That must keep you busy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It does. We also have a 2 year old son. He has a mini-horse that he loves to brush, but as soon as we put him on the horse he cries. If we put him on a bigger horse he\u2019s fine. So when we go to shows, our son rides the big horse in lead line classes.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kenny Bellis\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8546\" srcset=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-199x300.jpg 199w, http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Kenny-Bellis-680x1024.jpg 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a>  He finished trimming Sam and Myrtle; although draft horses, the two are trimmed without use of a stock.  Stocks aren\u2019t\u2019 always fail-proof. After Kenny graduated from farrier school, he was hired by a farrier who had been injured by a Clydesdale. The horse was in a stock when the animal panicked, broke the stock and the farrier\u2019s leg. Kenny was hired by the farrier, and for several weeks, Kenny rode around with the injured man. He picked up some useful pointers as he trimmed and shoed horses for the other farrier. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m careful when I go out to the pasture to get CJ or Pepper. I\u2019m always aware of the draft horses, especially Myrtle since she\u2019s very attached to Pepper. Myrtle\u2019s a big horse and sometimes runs after us and likes to kick up her heels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good to be careful. A draft horse is like a mule. A riding horse usually won\u2019t run you over, but they will. Mules and draft horses aren&#8217;t animals to mess with or take lightly,\u201d replied Kenny.<\/p>\n<p>Kenny moved on to the riding horses, Jupiter, CJ and Pepper. Each horse in turn received a trim; no shoes today.  Kenny lifted CJ\u2019s hoof, did his job, and everything went like clockwork.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat are some of the challenges you find being a farrier?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love what I do and I am lucky to be able to work with horses every day. It is hard to work for people who don\u2019t understand horses. Some people buy a horse for their kid and know nothing about the horse. It\u2019s easier to work for people who know their animals and work with them daily,\u201d replied Kenny putting CJ\u2019s hoof back on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Before long the horses had all received their trims and waited to be returned to the pasture. I turned my car towards home as Kenny gathered his tools, climbed in his truck, and headed for another job.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 Patricia Miran All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A gray haze clouded the sky restraining the early April morning. A slight chill clung to the shadows but spring definitely hung in the air. When I pulled in front of the stables Kenny\u2019s truck was already there. I walked &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/?p=8545\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[506,507],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8545"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8545"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12324,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8545\/revisions\/12324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2talkhorses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}