The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 313

4 THE PALM BEACH POST WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004 MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Jack Miller, 63 an wins honor as inductee into Horseshoeing Hall of Fame By VICTORIA MALMER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Jack Miller shoes horses. He specializes in show hunters (horses who jump fences in horse shows), and last week he was inducted into the Horseshoeing Hall of Fame in Kentucky. If a horse is not shod correcdy, it can cause pain or even lameness, making an expensive horse useless for riding. Show jumpers need lightweight front shoes and have many health issues that can be avoided or corrected by an expert farrier, or horseshoer. He uses the analogy of race cars: "A race car needs different tires than a car you or I drive," he said.

"Same with jumpers. So their shoes cost more." He shoes about 75 horses around the country. Each needs shoes every 6 to 8 weeks. An average horse's shoes cost $80 to $100. Show jumpers' shoes are more expensive, and price varies depending on the shoes they need and any foot problems they may have.

Miller started shoeing more than 45 years ago as a teenager in Texas. He left the job to join the Navy, and saw 13 atomic bombs and one hydrogen bomb tested during his four-year stint He was stationed in San Diego, Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and got out of the service in 1961. He began to specialize in jumpers 20 years ago. Miller recently moved to Lantana and slowed down after a heart attack, quadruple bypass and divorce. After the recent installation of a defibrillator, he calls himself "the bionic horseshoer.

I'm made up of spare parts, now." He had been visiting Florida to shoe horses since 1971. "Florida's really important to the jumper world," he said. He travels frequently to shoe "his" horses to California, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas. He also travels internationally to shoe horses and attend clinics in Europe and South America. He also consults for veterinarians on problem horses, and with manufacturers on designs for shoes, nails and anvils.

He's going to China nexj year to work on a new shoe f)fT m-J, li i. -rA- VADA MOSSAVATStaff Photograph Farrier Jack Miller works on a hunter hind shoe. The Lantana man recently was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Ky. design. "I've always been one who wanted to learn," he said.

"I've always got questions." He used to shoe eight to 10 horses a day "when I was young and dumb," he said, laughing. Now he's cut back to three horses a day, six days a week. After he's fully recovered from his heart problems, he hopes to get back to four or five horses a day. The worst part about the job now is that I can't shoe all the horses I used to," he said. "I just love my job.

The more I work, the happier I am." Early this month he joined the rarified ranks of 107 people and manufacturers in the Horseshoeing Hall of Fame. At the ceremony in Cincinnati, 500 people applauded as he and the five other inductees were honored for "helping shape the modern farrier industry." They were chosen from a field of 66 nominees in voting by members of the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame and the International Equine Veterinarians Hall of Fame. "We were chosen by our peers, which is a real honor," he said. He's trained at least 40 people in the profession, and helped "countless" others improve their techniques in clinics. Miller can't imagine any other line of work.

"I love any horse that does his job, whether mat's a pony carrying a kid for fun, or a champi on jumper working his heart out in the show ring," he said. That" what a good horse does, his job." He has no kids of his own, but loves watching young people rise up in the ranks of show jumping. "There's such innocence and delight in children who ride," he said. "It is an honor to watch." He said his clients are a joy to work with, too. "In the past, I've worked in stables where the grooms were all grumpy and the horses were, too.

Horses take on the attitude of the people around them." "Now, I walk into a barn, and the horse will whinny hello. They remember me. They know I give them happy feet" victoriamalmeipbpostcom.