“Over the 7th – 11th July the two most prestigious farriery competitions, and most sought after titles, took place on either side of the Atlantic. In the UK, the British Farriers and Blacksmiths Association hosted the PROFEET Royal Show and National Show Championships at the Royal Festival of the Horse. In extremely hot conditions farriers and farriery apprentices from across the UK took part in a gruelling four days of competition to compete in a series of forging and shoeing tests for the title of Royal Show Champion and National Champion.

Gary Darlow, from Over Peover in Cheshire, accumulated the most points over the first three days of competition to be crowned Royal Show Champion. Reserve Royal Show Champion was David Smith from Over Norton in Oxfordshire.

The PROFEET National Championships held on the Sunday is a single class consisting of competitors making and fitting a concave ‘hunter style’ shoe to a foot and making two specimen shoes to the judge’s specifications – a fully fullered deep seated bar shoe and a double calkin all in just 75 minutes. The standard was exceptionally high across the class with 3rd, 4th and 5th place being decided on a tie-break and just 1.8 marks separating 1st and 8th place! Victorious, and going one better than the day before, David Smith came out on top to be crowned 2010 National Champion, receiving the Mustad New Century Cup, a Gold Medal and a cheque for £1,000 from sponsors PROFEET. David’s striker, Andy Martin, from Chipping Norton, was Reserve Champion. I finished 8th overall in the National Championships which was a good individual result.

Brits go stateside

On Sunday, across the Atlantic in Calgary, the inaugural World Championship Blacksmiths Competition at the Calgary Stampede had reached it’s final day of competition with just ten out of 56 competitors from 12 countries qualifying for the final shoeing rounds. At Stoneleigh texts and phone calls were hurriedly being made back and forth so we could keep up to date with how each other were getting on! UK representatives gained four of the final ten places – Steven Beane (Northallerton, Yorkshire), Ian Gajczak (East Lothian), David Varini (By Dalry, Ayrshire) and Derek Gardner (Penrith, Cumbria).

Yorkshire’s Steven ‘Beanie’ Beane, in second place going into the final ten, executed a fine display of forging and shoeing to secure the title of World Champion Blacksmith for the second year running, beating America’s Jake Engler by 32 points in the final competition rounds. Derek Gardner finished third and David Varini (current European Champion) fourth overall. A brilliant result for the UK all round and a real privilege to be able to know and compete alongside these farriers.

Apprentice success and the price rise

This week Harry and Robbie went to the Royal Welsh Show to compete. Hard work and forging practise has truly paid off with Robbie winning the Donkey Trimming class and fifth in the 1st and 2nd Year Apprentices and Harry winning the 3rd and 4th Year Apprentice class!

Our new price list has been implemented and, thankfully, seems to have been received relatively well. We haven’t lost any customers and even seemed to have gained a few in recent weeks! Business is going well and we are keeping busy, the summer holidays are now upon us and therefore more horses and ponies are out and about at competitions and shows.

Farriers and vets

We work closely with our local veterinary practises and quite often receive referrals for remedial work to be undertaken. When a horse is referred to us it is normally for short term care of the feet to help with a particular problem or ailment. It is always worth contacting the existing farrier wherever possible to gain further knowledge about the animal as they often know the horse better and this can result in you working together toward a better outcome overall. I would encourage all farriers to speak to the existing farrier if a horse is referred to them – we have been in a position recently whereby one of our clients horses were shod by a different farrier whilst at a veterinary clinic (for problems not foot related!) which resulted in lost shoes and damage to the hoof wall due to a different style of shoeing. We knew the horse was prone to pulling shoes and had we been able to discuss this we would have been able to pass this information on. The horse is now back under our care and the owner has incurred additional foot care expenses whilst we have got the horses feet back in good condition. I would also encourage vets to speak to the current farrier before referring the horse to be shod by the farrier utilised by their practise – by working together we can all achieve better results for the horses (and owners) involved.

Recruiting a new apprentice

As Harry will be entering his fourth, and final, year in September (hard to believe time has gone so quickly) it is time for us to start thinking about a new apprentice. We try to space our apprentices about two years apart and starting to look early can give you the pick of the bunch! Competition for apprenticeships is fierce but as an ATF (Approved Training Farrier) choosing the right one can be hard! We like apprentices to come on work experience so that we can gain an insight into the type of person they are and their approach to horses and work in general. The raceyard can provide us with some lively animals and therefore it is imperative that we have someone who is quiet, confident and firm when handling these animals. We also like applicants to go out and spend time with our current apprentices – this is an opportunity for them to ask Harry and Robbie the questions they may not like to ask us!! Four years is a long time and it is really important we work together as a team and get along well. In the next few weeks we will start sifting through CV’s received so far...”