PROGRESS • FEBRUARY, 26, 2017
INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE What’s inside?
“The passion I have is helping horses move better. Seeing the satisfaction of the horse doing its job.” — CLAY LEVINE HORSE FARRIER
A passion for helping
HORSES
Life on the farm Area women balance passion for farming with family and work. Page 3
It’s all in the family Local beverage company has loyal customers across the area. Page 4
Business booming Zumbro River Brand has been successful since expanding to Albert Lea. Page 5
Albert Lean Clay Levine owns his own horse farrier business — Levine’s Farrier Service. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
Albert Lea man is sole proprietor of farrier business By Sam Wilmes
sam.wilmes@albertleatribune.com
H
A passion for horses See more photos from the cover story on a local horse farrier. Page 7
orses play many roles in society. They are ridden for recreation, race and fulfill work functions. One rural Albert Lea man is helping nearly 200 horses fulfill their calling. Clay Levine is a farrier and sole proprietor of Levine’s Farrier Service. He places steel shoes on the bottoms of horses’ feet and trims their feet on site. As the sole proprietor of the operation, Levine takes care of about 190 horses in an area from the Twin Cities to Mason City, to Rochester and west of Albert Lea. “The horses I take care of generally are not really working, they’re playing,” he said. “We trim them. If they need protection, we can make shoes that add protection, traction. Or we shoe them therapeutically, which means we help them if they have a lameness problem. We try to help them out.” Levine said he evaluates the conformation of the horse. “Our goal is to balance the horse’s foot,” he said. “Most horses are not ideal in their conformation, which means they are usually off somewhere. So we are always helping them get back to balance.” See HORSES, Page 2