November 2026
First, here’s a music video to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNY6-BqUieg.
It’s from 1989 and shows Todd Rundgren, Bobby Womack and back-up singers performing The Want of a Nail, one of Rundgren’s songs. No, I wasn’t just surfing the web; I came across it while doing research for my book. Since the connection between the video and the tradeswomen I’m writing about is not immediately obvious, I’ll explain.
A few months ago I went to Loudon County, Virgina and spent a day with Sue Aveni, a farrier. Her job is to ensure that horses have healthy feet. Without good feet, a horse is not useful for farm work, pleasure riding or competitions. Sue has a roster of clients and visits their barns regularly to assess the horses’ feet, put on or adjust horseshoes, and file down hooves that have grown since the previous visit, essentially giving the horse a pedicure (minus the nail polish). As we began our day together, Sue reminded me of an aphorism that underscores the importance of equine foot health: “no foot, no horse.”
Several weeks later when I was back in Boston and writing the chapter about Sue and her work as a farrier, I looked into farrier history. Surprisingly, the Boston Public Library has at least sixty books and pamphlets on the subject, some from centuries ago, in which farriers proselytize the importance of horse foot health. One, by Arthur Thomas Fisher, published in London in 1893, has the title The Farrier, or, “No Foot, No Horse.” In it, Fisher describes techniques for horse foot care and reminds his readers why that’s so important. He also quotes this proverb from 14thcentury England which, in turn, derives from 13th century Germany:
‘For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost.’
In the 16th century, in Richard III, Shakespeare linked the loss of a horse to the loss of a kingdom.
‘A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!’ (Act V, Scene IV).
Another version of the original proverb added two lines to make Shakespeare’s concept explicit:
‘For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all from the want of a horseshoe nail.’
As I was scanning the internet and looking into the history of these lines, Rundgren’s music video popped up. I watched it without knowing what to expect and it left me laughing. The musician’s high spirits are infectious and I was amused by the lyrics’ improbable connection to farrier work. While Rundgren’s lyrics differ somewhat from the original, clearly they are based on the 14th century proverb. (You’ll recognize the lyrics in the video at 1 minute, 24 seconds.) He starts with this:
‘For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost
For the want of a horse, the rider was lost
For the want of a rider, the message was lost ‘
In another stanza, he segues into the ramifications of the lost message. Essentially, the lyrics say that he had big plans but overlooked one detail — there was no one to love him. The lack of a love relationship leads to loneliness and that, multiplied a billion times and spread around the world, causes everything to fail. The last line of the song brings us back to the beginning:
‘And it was all for the want of a nail.’
This improbable progression from interviewing a farrier to delighting in a music video shows how unpredictable and enjoyable research for a book can be. Researching women in the trades has taken me to people and work where I have learned many new things. It also has taken me on detours, like this one, that expand my world. Finding this video and seeing how it links to centuries-old farrier work gave me such a kick that I couldn’t help but share it with you. Here it is again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNY6-BqUieg.
* * *
If you have a friend who would be interested in what I’m up to, please feel free to forward this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe to keep up with my latest news, bookish and otherwise, and to stay in touch. Just visit my website and sign up on the newsletter page.
