The petrol shortage in the Untied States has brought about a revival in the old art of horse shoeing. The standard rate for fitting four light weight horse shoes is around seventeen dollars.

A smithy willing to put in the time can expect to earn around 30-thousand dollars a year. With money like that to be made its little wonder that a newly set up horse showing school near Los Angeles in California has more applicants than it can handle.

Among the pupils are a former navy deep sea diver and an ex-wrestler. Shoeing horses is not as simple as it looks. It requires co-operation between the horse and the farrier, or smithy, as he is more commonly known.

SYNOPSIS: There are something like 200-thousand horses in the county of Los Angeles, and each of them needs new shoes about every six weeks. That adds up to 800-thousand horses hooves to be shod. At 16 to 17 dollars per horse, a village smithy can make up to 30-thousand dollars a year, but he earns it. As any cowpoke or farrier that's the proper name for a black-smith can tell you horses aren't always the most co-operative of animals.

So what is a navy deep sea diver doing trying to show horses...or for that matter a former professional wrestler. The answer is that they, and the other men here, are going to school to learn a new trade, and cash in on the shortage of farriers in the United States. Shoeing is not simple matter and each show has to be tailor made to an exact fit. According to the head of the school, Jerry Faber, getting the horse to cooperate is the hardest part of the job.

There are probably a number of people in the United States who would like to see the country cris-crossed with bridle paths, but it's worth keeping in mind that it would cost more over a year to keep the horse in shoes than to buy tyres for the family car.