Mullins Farrier Podcast

So this following interview was done during my time at convention this year. I was visiting with Cody Gregory in the trade show hall as everyone was getting their booth set up, and he introduced me to Conrad.

Conrad was getting his Grand Circuit booth set up, and although he was in for a few busy days there at the convention, he agreed to sit down and do an interview. The next day after doing our interview, I ran into Conrad again, and who else was there, but another legend and former guest, Nigel Fennel. They were discussing the modifications that Conrad had already made to Grand Circuit's product to make the shoes more farrier-friendly and usable in our day-to-day work, which you will hear later in the interview was part of Conrad's mission when he took over the company. It was kind of a surreal moment for me to stand there while these two legends of the industry discuss shoe shape and potential changes that Conrad could make even further to the product line.

I learned a lot just standing there and observing that conversation. I wish I had had my mic on me. Anyway, as you will hear, Conrad is a very glass-half-full kind of guy, and his enthusiasm I found quite infectious. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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Welcome everyone, a little shopkeeping before we start. If you haven't already seen it on socials, we now have a merch store, two in fact, one for the US and one for Canada, to make things easier on both sides of the border. I'll leave it to the international folks to decide which one's easier for them.

The links to both stores are on all the socials and they will be in the show notes of this episode. Also, on the supporting the podcast front, I must send a shout-out to Gary Martin and Nick Harvey. Thank you both for supporting the show by buying a virtual coffee.

So a while back when I was introducing the episode with Mercy and Ben Bishop. I had mentioned that quite a few people have reached out to me requesting interviews with folks who are at the beginning of their careers, and this particular gentleman you're about to hear fits that bill perfectly. The thing is, though, whether you're at the start of your career or partway through it, I don't think you can help but be inspired by this gentleman's stories.

When I first met him at the pre-cert course at Heartland in October, a couple of years back, he walked up to me, shook my hand, and he said, I know you're nervous, but you don't have to worry. Yes, I will be a guest on your podcast. As you will hear, at that time, he was able to count how many horses he had done, literally how many shoes he had nailed when he showed up at this course. It's a reoccurring theme, prepared or not, Riley will jump in head first at any opportunity to learn something new. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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Today's guest was another gentleman that I got to meet whilst over at the International at Stoneleigh, Russell Jones was the judge for the apprentice teams and the individual competition and if taking the piss out of somebody was an Olympic sport, I would have to say that he and Danny Bennett would be nose-to-nose for the gold medal. I wonder if this has anything to do with their military training. As you'll hear, Russell was in the army as a farrier, and I don't know if Danny has ever mentioned it before on his podcast, but he too was an army farrier. It was an honour to meet Russell and to spend some time with him. He was serious when he needed to be as the judge, but he was also fun when we would all hang out socially afterward.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Merch Madness!

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Welcome everyone. I'm coming to you from down in the Heartland where I just spent a week with my fellow farriers learning all we could from Chris and Cody and a special guest, Emilio Giannotti.

As always, I met so many great folks down here, made some new friends, and got to hang out with some old ones. The blacksmith workshop that we just finished attending here is a very neat and unique course where you've got students who are just starting out on their farrier journey and have never used a forge or struck a piece of steel, and then you have seasoned farriers wanting to get better in their day to day or start their certification journey. It never ceases to amaze me how Chris and Cody can teach all of those skill levels in the same place and keep it interesting and challenging for all of us. It seems every time I speak to somebody who's come here after years of me recommending it, one of the first things they say just a few days in is "I've gotta come back here".

The conversation you're about to hear took place once again across the pond on my trip over to Stoneleigh. If you're in North America, this particular organization might not be very familiar to you, and if you're from England, It might be familiar to you, but you might not completely understand what it is that they do.

This was another conversation I recorded with Danny Bennett of the Lockdown Farriery Podcast, and ever since we recorded it, he has been pushing for me to release it so the folks over in his country could understand how integral the FRC is in the role of the farrier organizations over there. As you will hear, the three gentlemen that we interviewed representing The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) really take their jobs seriously and are passionate about what they do. I found it really informative and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) is a corporate body established under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975. Our vision is the "Prevention and avoidance of suffering by equines through ensuring that equine owners are able to access the equine hoof-care that best meets their needs in a timely and assured manner; this care will be delivered only by those capable and qualified to do so."

https://www.farrier-reg.gov.uk/

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I met today's guest across the pond as he was preparing with the rest of his American teammates, Team America as Danny Bennett would refer to them, for the International at Stoneleigh. I have to say this gentleman is intimidating when he's got his game face on. We arrived when he was just in the midst of a mock run and nothing was going to get in his way, including some strangers who just all of a sudden showed up in the forge. After his run was done though, and we were all sitting down as a group to do an interview together, it became quite clear that this gentleman was just as friendly and hospitable as his southern accent would have you believe.

A few short weeks later, when we met again at convention, Daniel agreed to sit down and have a chat. As you will hear, his raw honesty is quite endearing and he pulls no punches. Very early on in our interview, we were joined by Daniel's wife, Allison, who you will hear is just as ambitious and as much of a force to be reckoned with as Daniel is. If I had been thinking I would've hooked up another mic and given that to her because I'm sure her insights would've made the interview even more entertaining than it already is. It was an honor to get to know this man who is such an inspiration to so many people on this side of the pond. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

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Welcome everyone, we are working on setting up a swag store by the next episode and I will keep you posted on that. We have now set up another way for you to support the production of the show during our time in the booth at. I was reminded that we are an industry full of amazing people who are so supportive of each other. I'm grateful for all the listeners who've been tuning in to our show over the last four years as I interview these very same people.

There will be a link to support the show below by buying a virtual coffee. Every little bit helps, and it would be greatly appreciated. I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of our guests for joining us on the podcast and sharing their stories. We're so grateful for your time and effort in helping us to create the podcast for our listeners, thank you.

Today's guest is a local legend. He lives a four to five-hour drive east of me here in Ontario, and I've always known him as one of the very few Canadian examiners for the AFA as well as the guy you didn't want to go toe to toe with bidding on an auction item at our local Ontario Farriers Association Convention. Once he has his heart set on an item, you are not going to outbid him. Steven Morris, CJF imparts a lot of wisdom in this conversation, well earned and hard gained through his long career as a farrier.

As someone who just recently retired, he has a lot of advice for those of us in the midst of our careers, or those of you just starting out. hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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Welcome everyone. This episode's release comes just a few days after the final lecture at The Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. As I alluded to in the previous episode, I had a booth set up in the trade show selling shirts to support the podcast, and the response was incredible. My father, Ian, came along to help and it was quite amazing to be able to introduce him to so many of my heroes and good farrier friends.

In true farrier fashion, dad was welcomed and included in all the events and outings with open arms. We sold quite a bit of swag and I sent the remainder down to where I stay when I'm working in Florida so if any American listeners want to buy a hoodie or a T-shirt, let me know and I will see if I have your size.

Having the booth was also a great way to meet so many listeners in person and one of the suggestions is one that I've heard many times before, and the timing of it was perfect. People said that interviews with the big movers and shakers of our industry were great, but they wanted to hear more from the people who were just starting out or early in their careers. To share the trials and triumphs they experience in the dawn of their farrier business.

Today I'm speaking with Mercy Bishop CF and her father, Ben Bishop, CJF. At the time we recorded, Mercy had just freshly graduated the 12-week program at Heartland Horseshoeing School and was in the midst of her journey to get her CF, and Ben was in the midst of his CJF during the pre-cert course. So there you go, I do listen to suggestions.

I hope you enjoy the conversation I had with this wonderful duo as much as I did.

Welcome everyone. We are just over a week away from the Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I am busy preparing to get stuff set up for that booth. This is a new endeavor for me, so we'll see how that pans out. But hoping to have some swag there and be able to meet and greet with so many of you while you're wandering the halls of the trade show. Also hoping to catch a few interviews while I'm there, so stay tuned for those.

Today's guest I met at another convention across the pond at Focus in Stoneleigh. This gentleman, Jürgen Gotthardt FdSc AWCF BSc(Hons) APF-I, was walking the halls of Focus with the legendary David Gully, and he had in his hands a book that he had, David, Danny, and myself to sign which you'll hear about in the interview.

He has put a lot of time and effort into educating himself and doing a better job for the horses that he works on. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Welcome everyone and Happy New Year. I hope that 2023 has great things in store for all of you and of the many resolutions you have probably made over the past few days, I hope that you stick to some of them.

A little shopkeeping before we start. I hope to see all of you at the 2023 International Hoof Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. That is January 24th to the 27th at the Duke Energy Center and the Hyatt Regency. If all goes as planned, I'm hoping to have a booth there for the first time this year with some swag for sale to help support the podcast. So, if you haven't already, go online to americanfarriers.com and click on the International Healthcare Summit link and buy your tickets. If you find yourself there, please stop by the booth and say hi. The summit is such a cool opportunity to learn from and network with so many good folks from our trade. I hope to see you there.

Well, as you probably gathered from his introduction, today's guest is from across the pond in Scotland. He was one of the judges of the International at Stoneleigh this year. Over that weekend I had several conversations with Ian and he is, as you will hear, a very easygoing fellow and great to talk to. Despite some hardships that he has come across, his mantra of adapting and overcoming has helped him to carry on through this time. I found it quite inspirational and wanted to share his story with you.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

So I met today's guest in England of all places, even though we live in the same country. She lives on the other side of it from me, and I was quite happy to finally meet the legendary Canada Kim. As you hear the interview, you'll understand why Kim has become somewhat of an ambassador of Canada to the rest of the farrier world, or at least the places she's visited.

It wasn't a surprise that once again she was representing Canada as the alternate for the Canadian team at Stoneleigh. I had an opportunity to watch Kim prepare for the competition along with the rest of the Canadian team, and her grit and determination was quite evident. Kim also became somewhat of a mother hen to the rest of the team, keeping them all in line, and generally getting them to where they needed to be somewhat on time.

On the final day of Focus, during a well-deserved break from herding all the cats, Kim sat down with Daniel Bennett and I and I hope you enjoy the resulting conversation as much as we did