For 35 Years, a Perfect Fit

On the solemn occasion of a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, the most enduring image may be that of the horses: big and bold, black and gray, pulling the traditional caisson laden with a casket containing a soldier's body.

The man who shod those horses was Pete Cote.

For 35 years, as the official farrier at Arlington's Fort Myer, Cote tapped special shoes onto the hooves of horses that rode in nine presidential inaugurations, the funeral processions of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, and thousands of military burials.

Cote's horses rode in funerals for famous people as diverse as World War II Gen. Omar Bradley and the astronauts who perished when the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. His small farrier shop on the grounds of Fort Myer's nearly century-old stables became an attraction all its own, visited by celebrities including actor Tom Selleck and model Christie Brinkley.

But the years of swinging the special horseshoe hammer took their toll. Cote recently had rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders and over the years broke his nose, jaw and ribs. He even suffered a collapsed lung. "Sometimes the horses will kick you, or fall on you, or run you over," he said.

As a result, Cote -- the U.S. Army's only farrier -- retired last week. Army officials say he will be sorely missed.

"He is one of those unsung heroes behind the scenes. We can't be in this business very long without someone like Pete," said Lt. Col. Thomas H. Roe, commander of the caisson platoon of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard, which provides funeral and ceremonial support for Arlington National Cemetery.

"It's not a normal thing in the modern Army to be worrying about horseshoes in order to accomplish your mission, but we certainly do here," Roe said.

Over the years, Cote has trained more than 150 military farriers who helped him part time. Some of them will step in until another civilian farrier is hired.

Roe said that for now, he will have to pay more attention to shoeing Fort Myer's 46 horses, but he said the quality of the horses supplied for Arlington funerals will not change.

Cote, 55, a small man with sandy hair, leathery skin and piercing blue eyes who has worn the same horseshoe belt buckle for 35 years, didn't want to leave the job he loved.

"My mind says don't retire, but my body says I have to," he said last week in his garage-size farrier shop, with its aromas of horses and its metal rack loaded with 900 steel horseshoes.