PrintI had the luck to sit down with Sean Crocker (as some have said, Farrier to the Equestrian Stars) in the kitchen of his and his wife’s “Just Enough” Farm in Middleburg, Va., right after he’d flown back from Wellington, Fla.
Our conversation began amidst a toddler clamoring over a snoring Doberman and surrounded by your not-so-average pictures, like the one of Sean show jumping with Blenheim Palace in the background. But these, to Sean and Shannon Crocker, are standard fare given their history as top young riders and advanced three-day eventers who trained with the likes of Karen O’Connor and Jim Wofford.
Sean has a way of making you feel right at home, and that’s why for two hours we talked about eventing, shoeing and horses.
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. Massachusetts. We moved to the Cape when I was seven. My parents built a house on the Cape, and my dad was into horses. He was on mounted police. We had an eight-stall barn and four acres. A lot of land for Cape Cod.
The lady across street had horses, and I would sneak off across the street to ride them. I was nagging her everyday. I started in show hunters and with summer camps, and then I started going to unrecognized events and got totally hooked after doing cross-country.
When you did jumping you got judged for clearing jumps, not how pretty you looked. In show hunters, if your horse touched a rail you got a penalty; you have to look really pretty and have good equitation, which I never really had.
My first major three-day event trainer was Mike Plumb—he was in Dover, Mass. After that, I worked with Iimmy Wofford, and that’s when I moved here. From Jimmy’s I went to Southern California and worked for a wonderful family out there. They had a farm in the middle of suburban Los Angeles. The father was a landscape designer and architect. They got a lot of horses off the track and were into racing for some time. They were a big influence on my life as far as getting me exposure in eventing and experience riding and training a lot of young, green horses—or trying to train them!
I got to a certain age, and I thought it’s hard to make a decent level trying to be an upper level event rider. At that time I was living in Pennsylvania, which is probably the most competitive event trainer area. Phillip Dutton and Bruce Davidson are both there. A great vet friend of mine put me in touch with a guy (who’s actually Phillip’s farrier) to apprentice with him.
I did that for three years and then moved down here. I met Shannon before I started my apprenticeship in the winter of ’03. She was wintering in Florida with the O’Connors, which I think she had done two or three times.
I apprenticed in Pennsylvania with a guy named Dave Kumpf. It’s very similar to this area with lots of sport and performance horses. A lot of really good farriers too. There’s a world-renowned farrier school at the University of Pennsylvania at the New Bolton Center that started in the mid to late 60’s or early 70’s. A lot of really good farriers came out of that program, and Dave was one of them.
I apprenticed with Dave, and when I moved here I apprenticed with two local farriers. The more people you work with the more you learn. It’s kind of like riding and being a competitor: The more people you clinic with the better rider you’ll become. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat, so to speak.
Q. What do you learn when you apprentice?
