"In Wales we have had no rain for a month and here that is virtually unheard of! Whilst it is nice to enjoy some good weather many owners are reporting hard ground at local competitions which of course has a knock-on effect with the horse’s hooves and limbs. We continue to have a higher than normal number of ‘lost’ shoes – this can be put down to the weather combined with the increased activity over the summer and throughout the holidays.

There is little we can do to prevent this, although some topical applications are well worth a try and shortening the shoeing cycle may sometimes help – we completely understand that some horse owners are unwilling to do this but sometimes it is the lesser of two evils, as losing shoes can cause further damage to the hoof. It is always worth talking to your farrier to see if there are other preventative measures that you can take – it is not in his/her interest for your horse to be losing shoes either!

Our two apprentices, Robbie and Harry, attended the Royal Berkshire (Newbury) Show on the weekend of 19th & 20th September for the NAFBAE Reading Branch Shoeing and Shoemaking Competition. Both of them did well – this is Robbie’s first competition in his apprenticeship and Harry’s first as a third year apprentice. (Apprentice classes are split 1st & 2nd years combined and 3rd & 4th years combined). Harry did particularly well with a 5th in his class and had some tough competition.

A visit to the raceyard at the end of last week provided us with a little more work than was expected – a recent visit to Tattersalls sales in Ireland had resulted in the purchase of 16 yearlings - that’s 64 more feet to care for in addition to the 320 already there! They will begin the early stages of their training in the coming weeks in preparation for the turn of the year when they can race as two year olds.

Last weekend we attended a clinic hosted by farriers Paul Robinson and Steven Beane. The clinic was purchased by a group of farriers at a charity auction in aid of Cancer Research at the Handmade Shoes (UK) Ltd Competition & Presentation Dinner. Paul Robinson is current National Champion and 2008 World Champion and Steven Beane is the current European Champion and 2009 World Champion – quite a formidable combination! The clinic was really informative, both were encouraged to give away their secrets, and it is always great to learn from other farriers.

This week we visited Weston Cider to shoe their two shires, Senator and Nobby. Weston’s is slightly out of my normal area but when they rang a few years ago I was not shoeing any heavy horses and whilst I enjoy doing it, it is also good to provide the apprentices with experience of shoeing as many types of horses as possible. Weston’s is a really nice place to go to, incorporating a Visitors Centre, and they still use the horses to take the deliveries of cider into Ledbury in addition to providing transport at weddings and dray rides as well as being a very popular feature on their open days.

After a few late nights, the new website www.farrierspages.com is now live! Claire has been busy putting the finishing touched on the site and it was officially launched on 1st October. We have high hopes for the site as we believe it will be really useful to both horse owners and farriers and feedback so far has been really positive – fingers crossed!"