ALGERIA'S LAST FARRIERS

CLUTCHING a glowing red horseshoe between blacksmith tongs, Meddah Larbi delights in his passion caring for horses' hooves, as one of Algeria's last farriers.

At his workshop at the Chaou-Chaoua national stud farm in Tiaret, 340 kilometres [210 miles] southwest of Algiers, Larbi hammered the horseshoe on an anvil.

He has spent years crafting shoes of all shapes and sizes, after first visiting the workshop with his horse as a 16-year-old. ''At the sight of an old man wielding a horseshoe over the coal forge, taking it from the flames, I fell in love. I knew that  was what I wanted to do,'' Larbi said.

He left school to become the apprentice of the farrier at Chaou-Chaoua and after four years took over the job when his mentor retired. For the next decade, the former champion showjumper continued to ride competitively, combining his passion with a useful craft.

''In Algeria, riding horses is more of a hobby than a trade,'' he said. ''I had to have a profession to live by, to have a social security,''

His tools of the trade hang from the workshop walls, some pieces dating from its establishment in 1877  by French colonialists.

''For me, the best symphony is the sound of the hammer on the hot iron. It's as if I've turned the radio on, it fills with me happiness,'' said the 39-year old Larbi.

Some of the tools he still uses have barely changed since the Middle Ages, while the work of the farrier dates back more than 1,000 years.

In recent times, more and more people are turning to  machine-made- horseshoes, which are lighter. Even those factory-made shoes still have to be adapted, however, and fitted to each horse's hoof.

Although he receives a  minimum wage as a civil servant for the national stud farm, his lucrative private work can, see him earn more than a million dinars [$8,400  a year] , twice the average salary in Algeria.

Yet with few people willing to learn the craft, Larbi, worries about its future. A farrier's expertise is also vital to the health of a horse, he said, highlighting an old saying : ''No foot, no horse.''  [Agencies].