Welcome everyone. As this is being released, we are just past the middle of July. For many of us in the Northern hemisphere, we will be amid our busiest season. Horse shows are in full swing and those clients that tried to get by riding their horses over the roughest rockiest most abrasive terrain barefoot now want shoes yesterday. There aren't enough hours in the day to get everything all done and those of us with partners and children who have normal civilian jobs are now feeling the added pressure to take advantage of the weather and take holidays with them. It's a lot of pulls and several different and opposing directions.

The people pleasers amongst us are never seemingly able to please anyone at this point in the year amongst all of this. Take a step back and reflect on what this is all for. What are your priorities? If you have financial goals and they're at the top of your list, those goals may be the driver that keeps you going but don't sacrifice your health to get there.

Future goals aren't easy to enjoy when you're living in a state of poor health. If your family, your significant other, or your hobbies outside of shoeing are your priority, learn to get good at saying no to unrealistic requests from clients. Sometimes that shoe can wait another day to get fixed. I've been that person who tried to please everyone and failed miserably. I've come to believe that there is no such thing as work life balance. It's not a noun. It's a verb. It's a process. One that constantly needs addressing and reworking. Figure out what your priorities are, what you're doing all of this for and let those answers guide you in the process. I believe we all need reasons to push us forward and without them it's easy to become lost adrift and a sea of never-ending lists of horses to do and barely able to keep our heads above the water.

They say that what you focus on you'll achieve, but I believe if you're not focused on anything, treading water is all you've got. I guess, with all of this, what I'm really trying to say is take care of yourselves and each other out there. It's just that time of year and it too will eventually pass.

Today's guest is Dusty Franklin, C JF, ASF, AWCF. If anybody had the honour to hear Dusty's talk at this year's convention, they will know that he is quite the inspirational guy. It will be no surprise after hearing Dusty's story today that many of the students that graduate from the various programs at his school in Oklahoma, Five Star Horseshoeing School go on to be such successful farriers in their own right. Leading by example, Dusty is always pushing himself to learn more and to achieve more in this trade and he, along with his network of like-minded individuals, instill those same principles in the students that come through the school. Anyway, I am so glad that we were able to have this conversation.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.