Lee, Jamie & Trace Olsen

About Lee Olsen

My name is Lee Olsen. I grew up ranching, roping, and training horses on a cattle and horse ranch in western South Dakota. In 2007, I graduated from Western Dakota Tech, Rapid City, SD as an industrial electrician. I rodeoed, amateur and professionally, for several years, qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo three times and the Badlands Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals two times. I married Jamie (Lindsay) Olsen in 2008; she runs barrels, ropes, is an RN, and is pursuing her nurse practioner degree. We moved to TX in 2010, and our son Trace was born in 2012.

I am an AFA certified farrier. I am currently working on my certified journeyman farrier licensure. I am constantly pursuing continuing education, always trying to keep up with the changing times and gathering all the new information I can.

I specialize in shoeing the western performance horse. I work on some of the top barrel racing, team roping, cutting and reined cow horses there are. I also teach shoeing and trimming clinics in various locations.

My Personal Opinions on Hoof Care

I believe that barefoot is the best way to go if your horse can handle it. Not all horses can handle being barefoot, however, which is why shoeing can be a necessity in caring for your equine athlete. If a horse does need to be shod, most likely that is for protection, performance, a soundness issue, or conformational defects. The good news is that there is usually a winning combination the horse can be accommodated by. In these cases, I recommend pulling the shoes and trimming if the horse has down time throughout the year.

I believe that shoeing is something that should be kept as simple as possible. Shoeing should compliment the foot and be a continuation of it. There are some life-changing developments in the industry today that allow us to save horses that we normally wouldn’t have been able to. As with anything, there are gimmicks and fads out there also. I believe that being open to better ways of doing things and accepting help from others is a great way to do anything in life. With all the different styles of shoeing and trimming, I think that an open-minded approach will take you a long ways. God Bless America.