John Bunting: Shoeing racing’s stars

You’ve been a farrier for almost 30 years. How did you get into it?

I went for a job trial between year 11 and 12, over the Christmas holidays, and never went back to school. I love the industry – it takes you anywhere in the world; horse racing is basically everywhere. It brings you into contact with so many different people, from people on the ground right through to the big owners. I’ve worked with Ciaron Maher since he brought three horses to Caulfield back in 2012, so my business has sort of grown alongside his. It’s the greatest leveller of all – everyone can get a good one, and everyone can get a slow one.

Talk me through an average day.

The guys get to the stables about 6.30 in the morning – not too early, or you clash with trackwork. We need the horses back in their boxes once they’ve already worked before we can start. A typical day is checking runners, any fix-ups – horses that have shifted a shoe overnight – then shoeing. Most guys shoe six to eight horses a day, on roughly a three- to fourweek cycle. Shoes have got to be tight for racing – you don’t want excess growth on their feet, and you don’t want one coming off and hitting another horse, or a jockey.

You now oversee a business with 13 farriers across Victoria and Sydney. How did that come about?

I don’t like to say the guys work for me – we work as a team. We’ve got people based in each location so they’re not travelling constantly, and we work through problems together. I’m just back from four months off after hip surgery, getting into it before the spring carnival.

You’ve worked on pretty much all of the top horses – Gold Trip, Sir Dragonet, Pride Of Jenni, Takeover Target, Winx – as well as all of the internationals that arrive at Werribee. What’s it like working with horses of such calibre?

Gold Trip was a big one for me, I did a lot of work on him. And when a horse like that wins, I celebrate heavily! It was a day-by-day proposition with his feet; they’d fluctuate up and down, and then we got the rain and everything clicked, and he won (the 2022 Lexus Melbourne Cup) easily. He probably pulled up better than we did, to be honest. It’s the same with the internationals – I go to the races with them. Same when I was shoeing Winx for the Cox Plate; Chris Waller wanted me stationed outside her stall until she was saddled, then the race-day farriers took over.

Has the job changed much in 30 years?

Not really – shoeing horses is still shoeing horses. What’s changed is horses travel a lot more now, and good quality acrylics mean you can manage their feet for much longer than 20 years ago. It’s nothing now for a horse to race through autumn, do a winter campaign in Brisbane, and be back for spring – when I started, it was rare for a horse to even travel interstate. Standard horseshoes have improved too, everything’s drop-forged now instead of extruded aluminium. But the job itself hasn’t changed – you’ve still got to bend your back and get underneath there.

It’s pretty physical work.

Definitely. I’ve had two back surgeries and a hip replacement. Some guys get through without issues, others don’t. I actually encourage my apprentices to do things like yoga and pilates to look after their core strength. But despite my injuries, I still love the job – I’ve got three sons and I wouldn’t put any of them off it. It’s taken me all over the world.

Do you get attached to the horses?

100%. You definitely get your favourites. And like people, there are some you just don’t get on with – a personality clash. If one of the farriers is struggling with a horse, we put someone else under it and they’ll have no issues. Horses are the same – they don’t like some people either. They’re quite clever animals, in a lot of ways.

What’s the future of farriery looking like?

It’s getting a little harder to find people for the job – a lot of the next generation aren’t so keen on six days a week, and working every Saturday, our most important day. But there are still lots who are keen. The best age to start is around 17 to 20 – it’s a three or four year apprenticeship, with TAFE blocks where they learn anatomy, shoemaking, business studies, health and safety. It’s a really good course, and it’s a really good trade if you stick with it.

And finally, where do all those used horseshoes go once they come off the horse?

We used to just scrap them, but now I send all the steel shoes to a guy near Warrnambool who makes garden art like spheres and sculptures out of them. It’s become really popular in the last five years or so. Flemington should look at getting some of the art!