Oh give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Now don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evening breeze
Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever, but I ask you please
Don't fence me in.
You could read about horseshoeing, and study horse shoeing at a university setting
for twenty years, and not be able to shoe a horse.
You've just got to physically get underneath the horse,
manipulate the feet, play with the tools,
so it's strictly all hands on.
For a thousand years, its just been traditionally handed down, you just learn from grandpa.
You don't learn in a formal classroom, or a formal school.
Schools are a relatively new invention for horse shoeing.
The name of my business is Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School,
and we train people to be professional farriers.
A farrier is someone that trims and shoes horses feet.
The state of California, requires that every student that I accept in my program,
either possess a high school diploma, a GED,
or they pass a written exam that's been approved
by the U.S. Department of Education.
You don't have to know algebra to be able to shoe a horse.
You don't have to be able to read a novel, to be able to shoe a horse.
You don't have to be able to write a novel to shoe a horse.
You don't have to possess any kind of degree
in mathematics, or in English in order to shoe a horse.
Horses don't speak English, horses don't do math...
We're good.
Before this law was enacted, I had many many many kids,
from all over the United States that would come through the program that
did exceptionally well and they're still shoeing horses today, making a living.
They had no high school diploma, no GED,
they didn't take a written exam.
A lot of these young folks that are coming to the school
they're looking to better their lives because they have really low end jobs
and in order to support themselves and their families,
their seven days a week, they're working full-time
and they're hardly making it.
Esteban is a young man that has been doing some helping,
he has to support his family and so he has all these little odd jobs that he has to do,
but he doesn't have a high school diploma.
Government is his biggest obstacle to success,
and not because the government is protecting him,
but they just arbitrarily decided that all schools are not allowed to take these kids
unless they meet their requirements regardless of what the training is.
I can't believe that the state of California makes a decision that somebody is not
worthy of investing in their own selves.
They pick winners and losers, based on an arbitrary system of whose finished high school,
and if you haven't finished high school you're not even allowed to invest in yourself, and that's insane.