Kingman Brewster III who shod horses, kept bees and understood animal intelligence, died peacefully in his Vermont home on August 20. He was 76.

Born January 6, 1948, Kingman was the second of five children of Kingman Brewster Jr. and Mary Louise Phillips. He grew up in Cambridge, Mass., New Haven, Conn. and Martha’s Vineyard where his father taught him and his siblings to sail.  

On the Vineyard, he formed lifelong friendships and a powerful connection with horses that would stay with him his entire life.

Growing up, he explored the natural world on a sailboat, motorcycle and horse. As a young man, along with many friends and musicians, he made his way to northern Vermont, where he met his wife Marcia in 1972 and her three young daughters, Michelle, Xena and Rachel. In 1975, they had a son Kingman Brewster IV.

They built a house, kept chickens and horses, flower and vegetable gardens in a like-minded community of friends and neighbors. He trained and started a farrier business tending to both riding and work horses and their owners for 43 years, all over Vermont.  

Ahead of his time, he understood the emotional intelligence of animals from dogs to elephants and horses to bees. He kept draft horses that he used to work the land and gather firewood. He appreciated the dignity of large draft horses and had great respect for owners who treated them properly—and little patience for those who did not.

From the grace and consistency that he had learned from his own parents, he included humans among animals and believed that he needed to train his farrier customers and children even more than the horses he shod.  

He was predeceased by his father, Kingman Brewster Jr, his mother Mary Louise Phillips and by his sisters Constance and Deborah. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Marcia; stepdaughters Michelle, Xena and Rachel and her husband Dan Shook; son Kingman and his wife Erin Hunt; brothers Alden and Riley; grandchildren Ada, Finn, Ingrid, Ansel and Bergen; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of his life will be held at the Meeting House on the Green in East Fairfield, Vt. on October 12  at 2:00 p.m.