OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKlahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

Dear Friends and Family:

I have very exciting news.  On April 11, 2011, I will be beginning a 12 week curriculum at Oklahoma Horseshoeing School, where I will spend 9 hours a day for 6 days a week learning everything I can about taking care of horses' feet.  I'm beginning my journey on the 9th, driving 800 miles to a place I've never been, never seen, but have only heard about.  It's scary.  It's very scary.

Some of you may not know that I've spent about half of my life working with horses.  I grew up in Zumbrota on a farm where, in cooperation with my dad's parents, we bred, raised and trained Paso Fino horses.  A significant portion of my teenage life was spent taking care of, training, and learning about horses.  So, to those of you who may think this is a strange step for me to be taking, I assure you it is not.

I've struggled with school for nearly five years now, moving from one educational institution to another.  The most important thing I've learned in all of this is that I'm not ready to get a bachelor's degree or even an AA degree.  I just can't make it seem important enough.  Always it's in competition for time from my job, my social life, my involvement in church, reading interesting books, watching TV, playing video games...the list goes on.  Realizing this in recent months has been frustrating, and I began looking for alternatives.  Becoming a farrier (dude who takes care of horses' feet....think of them as 'horse podiatrists') was one alternative I was presented with about two years ago and passed by, because I just wasn't ready to pursue it.  Now, the opportunity reared its head again and I decided to pursue it.

I'm excited at the prospect of the occupation.  I've always liked horses, though I'll admit that having ten or twenty on the farm certainly seemed like a nuisance when trying to juggle high school, sports, social life..., and know that I will be passionate about taking the BEST care of them that I possibly can.  I do a very good job of latching onto information and processing it into useful knowledge.  Horseshoeing is FULL of information like this.  Also, I've had a year and a half experience at Caribou Coffee where I've come to understand the service industry on a very deep level, as well as have grown to appreciate the importance of networking and customer service/communication.  With the training I'll receive at Oklahoma Horseshoeing School, I believe I'll be very well set up to enter back into the horse world as a well trained and highly skilled farrier.

I won't have a computer down at OHS, nor will I have regular access to internet, but my hope is to go to a library on a weekly basis, or some similar regular interval, to update this blog and check my emails.  I will have my cell phone, for those of you who have the number or know where you can get it, and I'll be done with my classes on a daily basis at 4 PM if you care to reach me, talk with me, check in with me, etc.  This adventure is going to be more difficult than probably any undertaking I've yet attempted, but I've done as much as I can to be sure that I am prepared and will have as few distractions as possible.  Your support would be much appreciated while I am down at OHS, whether it is prayer or mail or just general encouragement.  The address that snail mail can be sent to (and I actually really love snail mail) is:

Jef Allen
Oklahoma Horseshoeing School
26446 Horseshoe Cir.
Purcell, OK 73080

I will be living at dormitories on the compound at the school and will be almost COMPLETELY immersed in the culture and experience the school has to offer.

One of the reasons this opportunity excites me is that, once I am done at OHS, I will be responsible for finding my own clientele and will basically decide my workload and how I want to go about marketing and networking.  I have no delusions that I won't be scrambling for any opportunity I can lay my hands on once I return this summer, but as I progress and get my foot in the door, I will be able to work at my own pace and with incredible freedom.  I'll be able to work around other things that are important to me such as ministry opportunities, mission trips, vacations, and time for writing.  Also, there is always the opportunity to develop and become a better farrier.  There's no real limit to what I can achieve.  I find it impossible to be anything BUT excited about these prospects. 

I expect I will be returning to the twin cities (over 4th of July weekend) after completing the 12 week program (that sounds funny...especially if you substitute 'step' for 'week'...I digress), begging for a place to stay from some of my friends, and then seeking out an apprenticeship under one of the established farriers in the Twin Cities area.  From there...who knows?  I'm just excited to be stepping forward into a bigger adventure than what I've been living lately.  I'm excited at the prospect of financial independence and stability.  I'm excited at the idea of making life better for horse owners and, yes, even horses.  Also, I'm excited that the years I spent working on a farm will actually be useful again, as they so often seem to be just quaint memories in the city, as the environment is so very different.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and learning what it is I'm setting out to do.  I hope the information presented here is useful and gives you insight into me and what I'm about and what I'm going to be doing.  I'd love to stay in contact with as many people as possible, although the amount of time and internet access available to me down in Oklahoma will limit that to a degree, so please, if you try to contact me, be patient and I'll do my best to respond when I can. (sounds like an answering machine message). 

Thanks again and God bless!