"The ‘summer’ is flying by and whilst the weather hasn’t been as bad as previous years, it certainly hasn’t made life as simple as it could be! The really bad weather has made fields extremely wet, making it very difficult to get to customers with no hard standing – not what you would expect in July and August. Feet haven’t been quite as cracked as they have been in very dry summers, but the damp conditions has kept bacteria happy in their warm moist environments leaving some horses particularly prone to seedy toe and whiteline disease. Laminitis has also kept a constant presence; traditionally we have seen a rise and fall from spring through summer to autumn.

The last few weeks we have taken on a number of new clients – some from quite far away. In all cases these clients have presented us with horses, not necessarily with ‘bad’ feet, but that have been shod below what I feel is an acceptable standard. I always find it disheartening to see horses shod poorly, whilst it is always good to see a horse walk away happier and more comfortable it would be great if they hadn’t got into that situation in the first place.

Similarly we have had call-outs to horses and ponies whose feet have been neglected and in an atrocious state purely due to infrequent trimming and shoeing. These are cases of neglect but also in some instances of ignorance. One farrier friend charges per hour for cases such as these as the time taken to properly trim a foot is considerably more than if the foot had been cared for frequently – therefore there is no cost saving in not caring for equine feet regularly.

Mike, our first apprentice, has delighted us by passing his final exams with flying colours, gaining ‘honours’ in his theory paper. Mike will graduate in early September but will stay with us for the time being on a part-time basis. This will help to ensure that we continue to stay on top of work as it comes in and can provide a quick response to those that have unfortunately ‘lost’ a shoe! Robbie will officially start his apprenticeship in September having completed his probationary period and Harry will soon enter his third year of the four year and two month apprenticeship.

The farriery competition season is beginning to slow a little. Next week is the ‘Internationals’ - a team shoeing competition organised by the National Association and held at The Forge, Stoneleigh alongside the Town & Country Festival. 14 countries will be represented this year which should make for an exciting competition. I will be Reserve for the Welsh Team once more having narrowly been beaten by Grant Moon (six times winner of the World Championships!) at the trials by just 0.4 of a mark. My other team mates will include Billy Crothers, Andy Martin and Jim Blurton. This year will be the first year that the Apprentices compete at the Internationals – Harry will be competing so he has lots of practising to do too!

Forge & Farrier has been really busy and will celebrate it’s second birthday on the 23rd August. We now have over 5,500 individual users from 72 different countries which is fantastic considering the farriery industry is a relatively small one. Farriers Pages is well under construction and will hopefully be live middle to end of September."