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Phelps Family Collection
of Farrier Guy Christy
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In 2002, we contacted the University to find out where the collection was being displayed, only to learn the University had no idea where the collection was.
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Guy Herbert Christy was was born on 11 Oct. 1871 in
Upper Alton, Illinois, just north of St. Louis. He learned the trade of blacksmithing and horseshoeing as a young man. A
Horseshoer, or Farrier, was a well-respected and much-needed trade in the late 1800s. As a
Farrier, Guy followed the emerging trends of his profession, creating shoes that demonstrating the latest methods for shoeing, counterbalancing, and gaiting horses.
Guy Christy in 1908 in his blacksmith shop in Santa
Cruz, California.
Guy's son-in-law, Bart Phelps, assumed that the shoes were for corrective purposes when he wrote that during Guy's lifetime as a blacksmith and
Farrier he "made horseshoes to fit and correct different hoof conditions
and deformities. These were used for horses employed in drawing carriages,
hacks, buggies, and buckboards of the era. Having a passion for his work, as he made unusual shoes,
and he
adopted the habit of making an additional one for himself, until he had
84 shoes.
In 1900, he had his collection nickel plated, placed in a frame lined with black velvet, and it then hung on the walls of his blacksmith shop.
Shortly before 1900, Christy moved, to
Paducah
Kentucky.
The shoes remained in Paducah for seven years, where Guy continued to operate a blacksmith business, until 1907. The family doctor advised Guy that for the sake of his wife's health they should move west. They left Paducah, Kentucky on January 15, 1907 and arrived in
Durango, Colorado via train five days later.
Guy tried his hand at blacksmithing in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Elko, Nevada.
But with the increasing use of cars, he decided in 1917 he had to find a new line of work. He moved the family to San Francisco where he paid to attend
Heald College. He learned welding and within four years was in charge of the welding and blacksmithing department
at that same College.
Whenever they moved, the shoe board of 84 nickel-plated horseshoes went with them.
"About 1916 [when he moved from Santa Cruz to San Francisco], he removed the shoes, wrapped them individually, and placed them
in a box," wrote Bart Phelps, his son-in-law.
"Before he passed away in 1947, at the age of 76, he asked me to take care of his prized shoes," Bart Phelps recorded in a letter.
Bart and Guy's daughter Betty Phelps donated the shoes in 1980 to the
College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University at Pullman, Washington.
In 2002, we contacted the University to find out where the collection was being displayed, only to learn the University had no idea where the collection was.
Thankfully, a dedicated staff member, Lynne Haley, took it upon herself to track the collection down, and after several months of searching, she finally located the collection buried under a pile of other boxes in a barn. The University agreed to sell the collection back to our family for $1.
The Phelps Family have now made arrangements with the Horseshoe
Museum to display the images of the horseshoes and related
photos, online for all the world to see.
Guy Christy repairing a wagon in Elko, Nevada in 1908.
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