A Shoeing Team For A Riding Team: Virginia farriers provide the footwork for college's championship equestrians

摘要

The air is cool in the Appalachian Mountains on this late May Virginia morning, but the weather has been dry and there's a promise of higher temperatures later in the day. Farrier J.C. Maloyed and his partner, Travis Thompson, are eager to get their day of "Shoeing For A Living" started—hoping to get the majority of their horses done before the day gets too uncomfortable. Maloyed (the J.C. stands for James Curtis — or "Jungle Cat" he says with an easy grin) and Thompson are headed for Virginia Interment College, a small coed school located in Bristol, Va., a few miles southwest of Glade Spring, where Maloyed lives. But they aren't going to the ivy-covered and white-columned buildings of the main campus. Instead, they're headed for the college's Riding Center, located about 6 miles away on the outskirts of town.