Kirk Smith joined the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine as head farrier Sept. 16, 2026, making him the seventh head farrier at Cornell since the program's beginning in 1914.

As head farrier at Cornell, Smith is responsible for teaching the farrier program as well as working on outpatient farrier cases and inpatient hospital cases that require hoof care. These cases span everything from routine maintenance of university horses to advanced therapeutic and corrective shoeing of hospital cases. As instructor for the farrier program, Smith focuses on the fundamental building blocks of the trade. Those include functional anatomy of the lower limb, trimming, forging and fitting of appropriate shoes, and horsemanship. All the modern devices, pads, manufactured therapeutic shoes and more advanced work are built on this foundation.

Smith grew up on a small family farm in South Dakota, riding and using horses around the farm from a very early age. This early exposure and time spent with the horse has been the foundation of a lifelong passion to understand and help the animals that give us so much. He graduated from the Cornell University College of Engineering in 2002, and much of his approach to understanding the mechanics of the lower limb is guided by his education in fundamental mechanical and biological engineering. "After all, the lower limb is basically a finely tuned mechanical structure built with living biological tissue," Smith says.

While operating a farrier business in central New York for 25 years, Smith worked on almost every type of horse you can think of. "My shoeing philosophy has always been that the fundamentals of our trade are the building blocks upon which everything else must be built," Smith says. "Complete mastery is very elusive and requires constant, lifelong practice, and a dedication to improving."

He has been an active member of both the American Farriers Association (AFA) and the Western New York Farriers Association (WNYFA), serving as president, treasurer, secretary and board member of the WNYFA at various times throughout the last 20 years. Smith is a Certified Journeyman Farrier with the AFA and has mentored dozens of younger farriers and apprentices. He is eager to share what he has learned and the insights gained along the way with the next generation of farriers.

When not in the shop or under a horse, Smith can mostly be found either coaching youth baseball, snowboarding or tending to his own animals.