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Show y ' r ' i A j f j ' j - J WOKKIMi HIS WAY TllROl till COLLEGE. Rich Robinson shoes his horse Missoula Chip. The SUSC student shoes horses to earn his way through college. Shoeing horses earns Rick Robinson education A life long interest in horses is providing a unique way for a Southern Utah State College student to work his way through school. Rick Robinson, Cedar City, grew up around horses and has been shoeing them since he was about 12 years old. Now 22 and a SUSC senior majoring in chemistry, he is the youngest commercial horse shoer in the area. "It's something you learn by practical experience; no two horses are alike so you can always expect the unusual to happen," Robinson said. "A horse weighs around a thousand pounds; I weigh 160 pounds and remember that when I'm working," Robinson noted. "I feel a strange horse out, see what he's like, before I ever if begin working on him." :, Robiason noted that a horse should be shoed every 6-8 weeks because hooves grow about one half inch during that time and should be trimmed down to avoid crippling effects. "In the old days, shoers often made their own shoes but hot forging isn't done much now except for standard breeds, trotters and pacers. These kinds of horses must be perfectly balance, so hot forging is still done because each shoe is often a different weight," Robinson said. Robinson plans to go into veterinary medicine and wants to work with large animals, horses in particular. While waiting to hear about vet school he's breaking colts, working at a service station and at a local cobbler's shop in addition ad-dition to shoeing horses. Married to the former Peggy Lamoreaux, Paragonah, the Robinson's have a son Brandant, a year and a half old. Rick is the son of Mark and LaFaun Robinson, Cedar City. |