Amanda Chromasta, Female Canadian Farrier Headed Your Way

There are few people that are as nice or agreeable as the next victim of the Heartland blog. Amanda Chromasta is a young lady from Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. She is here for the Practical Farrier Course, but wishes she were here for one of the longer ones. That is saying a lot knowing that Amanda is a very recent bride to her best friend, Deny. We wish she were here longer as well, but I would imagine that Deny is ready for this course to be over. There is a lot to know about shoeing horses, and eight-weeks is a short time to become a farrier.

If you know many Canadians you know that they can be over the top when it comes to saying “sorry”. Amanda is one of those that uses the word in a way that would make her country proud, but in a new twist, she really means it. A few minutes with Amanda can really improve your mood. She has a contagious personality, and since she acts a little like a chipmunk that found a stash of crack, you get energized and happy when you spend some time with her.

Amanda does not come from a farrier past, although her family did have horses when she was a kid, so she was familiar with horseshoeing and the farrier craft. Her career path had originally been in an office. She earned a diploma from Olds College as a Land Agent, and spent five and a half years in an office. Being a farrier has always been a goal for Amanda, but it did not fall into place until her Grandma Fordyce passed and left some money to each of the grandkids. With it was a note expressing that the grandparents wanted the heirs to celebrate them by doing something with the money that would improve their lives. For Amanda, that means becoming a self-employed farrier, and she feels that there could be no better use for the money than spending it to learn a career that she is passionate about and wanted to do for so long. Horseshoeing and becoming a great farrier is going to be a fantastic way to celebrate her grandparents.

When it comes to being friendly and outgoing, Amanda has a corner on the market. However she does not hold still very well, (remember the chipmunk?). That is one of the reasons the office-bound job was so hard. All of her activities on the side are active ones. Riding, skiing, fishing, camping, and yes; even roller derby are the way that she got rid of excess energy before she started swinging a hammer and bending hot steel. You may think she is too nice for roller derby, but I am certain that she says sorry to the girls that she body-checks and elbows off the track. Her roller derby name is Amandatory Beating. She did have contact between her head and the hind foot of a mule, but her comment was that her roller derby buddy Sister Fibrosis hits way harder than that. She does have some crazy stories. Even though Canadians don’t have the access to guns that Americans do, Amanda was able to shoot herself in the foot when she was a teenager. Yes, literally shoot herself in the foot. Get her to also tell you about her belly button piercing if she happens to be shoeing your horses someday.

 

“Wow. Did Cody really just cut that much off?”

International hello from Canada and Holland

Little Noavel training can go a long way

Everything is covered in horse hair during shedding season

Always willing to help anyone