Welcome, everyone. I first met today's guest at Spruce Meadows in Alberta. I had just arrived at the beautiful and expansive grounds and could not find a single staff member to direct me to Craig's competition tent. Always friendly and eager to help, Alan immediately stood up, and despite being sore from his recent back surgery, led me to where the competition was being held. We had a couple of great conversations that day, and when we met up again in Cincinnati at the Hoof Care Summit, I convinced Alan to do an interview. In it, he shares some really hard earned lessons on taking care of your body, as well as the value of chasing certifications, even if you're well into your career when you start the process. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

I have to say I've been blown away by the many messages of support I've received in response to my announcement about the podcast moving to a subscription model. We are still setting up the infrastructure, so by next episode I will be able to tell you how to sign up and we'll have links posted on all the socials.

As I said before, I don't want someone's financial situation to hinder them from having access to our content. So, if you're an apprentice already barely scraping by, or find yourself in a tough financial spot no matter what stage of your career, please reach out on Facebook Messenger and we will get you access.

And as I said before, even after August 12th, all listeners will still have access to the whole catalog of episodes we have published up to that point. Thanks again to everyone for your support in this big change. Your messages were encouraging and exactly what I needed to hear.