Bruce Benjamin's daytime job as Chairman of he Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa may put shoes on his family's feet, but his weekend vocation, shoeing horses, helps his equine clientele do their jobs. Benjamin is a farrier, and the horses he shoes range from Clydesdales that haul to show horses that look like royalty.
Benjamin's research interests include cardiovascular and renal physiology. "In a way, a farrier is a physiologist, too," he says. "I watch the motion of the horse; I make sure it stays correct. You have to know a lot about the kinesiology of the horse."
Horseshoeing came to Benjamin by way of marriage. His wife has always been involved with horses, whether showing, riding, or driving. And where there are horses, there are farriers. Benjamin was drawn to watching them work, and eventually he decided to go to farrier school.
Benjamin ...
