PROCEDURES,TIMINGS AND STANDARDS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PRACTICAL EXAM

Jay qualified in 1996 and has been competing in farriery competitions since he was an apprentice. He represented his country as an apprentice during the 90s and continued to compete successfully at many national and international competitions over the years. He became a Worshipful Company of Farriers judge in 2008 and has had the great honour of judging the Home International and the International Shoeing Competition at Stoneleigh. He was also on the farriery team at the London Olympics 2012. He passed the AWCF in 2013 and then went on to pass the highest exam possible, the FWCF, in 2017. In 2018, he was also appointed as a WCF examiner and in 2020 became part of the team of 4 farriers and 3 vets on the EEG (Executive Examiners Group).

Jay is passionate about farriery education and runs his own farriery tuition business where he tries to pass on his own knowledge and encourage others to pass on theirs. With an ever-growing number of tutors specialising in many different aspects of farriery, they have helped farriers in furthering their knowledge in the UK and all over the world. Recently a group of nine farriers from Sweden, Norway and Denmark who hadn’t previously taken the Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers were tutored by Jay and his team to pass their AWCF exams, the group had a 100% pass rate.

Jay has spoken, demonstrated and judged all over the world at many farriery events and conferences and continues to enjoy the passing on farriery knowledge travelling regularly as a farriery clinician. He runs his farriery business from his home in Bedfordshire shoeing all types of horses. He has just successfully trained his son who is very successful in his own right and has represented England on the farriery apprentice team.
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Sol qualified in November 2022, achieving the highest grade on the theory paper for that year.

Among his academic achievements, he competed on the England apprentice team, winning best specimen at the International Team Horseshoeing and Home International competitions, helping the team to victory in both competitions.

He continues to develop his work by regularly working for internationally recognised farriers around the country.

TENDON INJURIES

Chris has been professional horseshoer since 1987 and operates from his farm outside Lamar, Missouri, USA. Chris has been an American Farrier’s Association Certified Journeyman Farrier since 1991 and holds several academic degrees, including a master’s degree in human resource development, two bachelor’s degrees (with a minor) and an associate’s degree.

Chris started competing in 1988, and has been in contests all over the world. Competing as a member of the American Farrier’s Team, which represents the US at the Internationals in Stoneleigh. He has also competed at the World Championships Blacksmith Competition in Calgary 18 times and been in the Top Ten at that contest. He has also judged the contest at the Calgary Stampede.

Chris earned the title of Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (FWCF) at the age of 30 being one of five Americans to currently hold this distinction. In 2010, the Company named Chris an examiner, becoming the first American to work as an examiner for a WCF exam. As an educator, clinician and lecturer, Chris has appeared at farrier and equine footcare events across the United States and around the globe. He has shod horses and presented at clinics on 6 continents, as well as lecturing numerous times at the American Farrier’s Association Annual Convention and the International Hoof-Care Summit.

Chris’ writings have appeared in American Farriers Journal, Anvil Magazine, Rural Heritage, Loose Shoe, and Western Horseman, to name a few. In 2011, he published Gregory’s Textbook of Farriery, a 696-page book with over 3400 pictures and drawings on the art of the farrier. It has become the textbook for most of the top schools teaching the craft, and is helping farriers and horses all over the world.

In 2008 at the age of 39, Chris was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame, joining nearly 120 accomplished members. Chris and his wife Kelly opened the Heartland Horseshoeing School in 1995 and now run the school alongside their son Cody. Their graduates have gone on to shoe every discipline of horses and develop noteworthy practices.

FLEXURAL DEFORMITIES: PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Simon John Curtis (born 15 May 1956) is a farrier, author, lecturer and horse hoof-care expert with a PhD in Equine Physiology and Biomechanics (2017). He is a 4th generation farrier; his family have been farriers and blacksmiths in the Newmarket area for at least 150 years. In 50 years working as a farrier, he has lectured and demonstrated in more than 30 countries including the USA, Australia, India, Russia, and Brazil.

Curtis is internationally renowned in the hoof-care world for his remedial farriery textbooks and lectures. Among other roles, is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Farriers, was made a member of the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame in 2005 and is the only farrier to have been awarded an Honorary Associateship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. His contribution to the equine world was recognised by receiving the Sir Colin Spedding Award from the Princess Royal in 2019.

MANAGING THE UNSHOD PERFORMANCE HORSE; A FARRIER’S PERSPECTIVE

Aksel started his apprenticeship in 1994 at the Norwegian Veterinarian College, where he served 2½ years under Master Farrier M Delebekk and Prof. R Birkeland. After working with various farriers in Sweden and Denmark, Aksel started his own business in Norway in 1999. Following this, in 2007 Aksel started a farrier/vet clinic where he currently trains apprentices and carries out remedial shoeing and consulting. In 2016 Aksel successfully passed the AWCF and was awarded the Varnham trophy for best practical exam.

As well as competing internationally, Aksel has also judges many shoeing competitions and Is currently the only non-British WCF Judge. He has presented at many clinics for farriers, vets and other horse professionals in numerous countries over the world. Aksel’s farriery practice predominately consists of sport horses, dressage and show jumpers with some of his clients being Olympic and World Champion medal winners.

As well as shoeing and lecturing, Aksel is currently a consultant for BHoof, Agria and Mustad Hoofcare.

MEDIOLATERAL IMBALANCE – CAUSE, EFFECT, TREATMENT

Mark started his training in 1997 in Newmarket with Dr Simon Curtis FWCF passing the Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (DipWCF) in 2001. During his apprenticeship, he spent the majority of his time shoeing and trimming racehorses in training and both young stock and brood mares on stud farms. Following his apprenticeship, Mark moved to Lincolnshire and developed his business there over the next 20 years. In January 2022 Mark, with his family, relocated to Scotland to be closer to the great outdoors.

The majority of his work in the earlier years ranged from general riding horses to competition horses. It was shoeing these horses which gained him the experience needed to move onto further training and higher qualifications within farriery. During this period, he was mentored by Martin Deacon FWCF who he regularly observed working at a veterinary hospital. In 2013 Mark passed the AssociateWCF (AWCF) examination and in 2016 went on to achieve the highest qualification available in farriery the FellowshipWCF (FWCF). Mark is an examiner for the Worshipful Company of Farriers, an experienced clinician and lecturer not only in the UK but Europe and the USA. He has regularly been a clinician on the Worshipful Company of Farriers Foot Balance course and has recently written a review on foot balance methods for the WCF Examination board.

The importance of assessing and evaluating the horse’s conformation and foot balance has become the priority when working with all horses. Increasingly over the last few years the majority of his work has been on performance horses competing at the highest levels in dressage, showjumping and three-day eventing primarily but also with referral cases from vets and farriers. He is a consultant farrier at a veterinary practice in the north of England, travelling south for their farriery clinic every six weeks.

WHERE WILL FARRIERY BE IN 10 YEARS?

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