Farrier delights in telling tales of horses and men Frans discovered he had an endless supply of horse tales to tell. When Maungaturoto farrier Frans Jansen decided to write a book about his experiences shoeing horses he discovered he had a surprising amount of material. The horses he has dealt with, together with their owners, provided him with a colourful cast of characters to write about in his book: Of Horses and Men – true tales from a rural New Zealand farrier. Frans says each time a strange or amusing incident happened while shoeing he worried that he would forget it and the episode would be lost forever. So he began snatching moments during morning tea and lunchtime to write down snippets of his experiences. Each new story sparked memories of earlier stories, and he began writing them down, too.