Mullins Farrier Podcast

Welcome everyone, as you will hear, this is another episode from my trip to England and Danny Bennett played co-host on this one. This was great because he and Billy Crothers AWCF have a bit of a history through the competition world, so they were able to take the conversation in directions that I wouldn't have been able to.

As you will hear during this episode, Billy has a great attitude and philosophy when it comes to life, his career, and competing. I found it quite infectious. It was really great to sit down and have this talk with him and Danny, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

As you probably noticed, this episode is a little bit early compared to my two week schedule that I've been maintaining thus far. This is a bit of a public service announcement, a PSA if you will because I feel like this topic is really important. It's really affecting us right now, and as in all business things, who better to explain it to us than Andrew DeVisser?

You may have heard his previous episodes where he has shed a bit of light on the business and financial end of things in what we do. Every year Andrew hosts a small forging clinic at his home, and then his wife makes us a wonderful lunch. Afterward, he always does a business talk and this year I asked if I could record it and then share it with you.

Andrew agreed, but part of the deal was that instead of him asking himself the questions, he had me do that part of the job. There were a couple of audience questions that I was unable to really record, but Andrew does a pretty good job of repeating what they say, so you'll get the gist of it. I hope you find this informative and enjoy it as much as I did.

Welcome everyone. I'm sure you noticed the new intro. I worked on that the whole flight back from England. Just thought I would change things up a little bit for you with some new and equally inspiring quotes from some other folks who have been on the podcast. As I'm sure you already gathered from the accents of the people in the new intro, this is the first episode of many to come out of my trip to England.

Abby Bunyard is the Vice President of the British Farriers and Blacksmiths Association. Abby was admittedly a bit hesitant to do this at first with a little bit of cajoling from Danny Bennet we were able to convince her to sit down and do this, her positivity and her kindness came through quite strongly.

In re-listening to the edited version of this, I was reminded of a good friend over here, Cathy Lesperance, who you've heard in an interview way back in the beginning. Their two personalities are very similar. They're just go-getters, very strong women, and very kind as well. I've told many people that it was really cool to go to England and meet many of my heroes whom I'd heard about for so many years but I also met many new heroes, and Abby Bunyard, AWCF is definitely one of those. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Welcome everyone, I'm just back from England where I got to hang out in person with none other than Danny Bennett and so many other folks that I have only known through Facebook. We had a behind-the-scenes tour of Newmarket, thank you to Dr. Simon Curtis and Ian Alexander Nixon. We were also able to hang out with the Canadian and the American teams as they prepared for the International at Stoneleigh and then at the International as well as Focus.

Danny and I wandered around with microphones in hand getting as much content as we could to share with you about everything that was going on at those events. Needless to say, I have a ton of interviews to share with you, so keep an ear out for those as we put them out.

My guest today is Shearer Wludyka, CJF ASF. I first heard about this incredible woman many years back when I first started attending Heartland Horseshoeing School. Chris often speaks of her fondly as one of his star students who went off to do great things.

There had been a few occasions where we were supposed to be in the Heartland at the same time, but unfortunately, life got in the way for one reason or another that didn't happen until this October. Shearer was there with one of her employees helping her to prepare for the CF exam. I think she was supposed to be working on her AW herself, but she was so busy helping out others that I don't think she got around to it.

Anyway, we found a few quiet moments and she, her trusty sidekick Jinx, and I got to sit down and have a conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

As I record this intro I'm packing up and getting ready to head to England to hang out with my friend and fellow podcaster, Danny Bennett. It looks like Danny has me signed up for several interviews with some legends over there, so look for those in the coming months and keep an eye on the Lockdown Farrier Podcast Facebook page as well as my own, as we will be trying to put up some content leading up to and during the International Shoeing Competition at Stoneleigh and the BFBA Focus Convention. If you're going to be there, please seek us out and say hi.

Today's guest is someone I truly look up to. He has pushed himself to pursue and achieve many certifications in our profession and the whole time that he has been on that journey he has willingly shared his knowledge and mentored many on the same path.

Emilio Giannotti, AWCF CJF- TE, and ASF is a humble man, but an incredible talent in the forge and a wealth of knowledge. We only had a short window of time in which to do the interview down in the Heartland. I'm glad I finally was able to get him to sit down for a few minutes and have a chat.

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

My guest today needs no introduction, Mr. Steven Beane FWCF of England. He was the judge and clinician for our annual convention for the Ontario Farriers Association this year and I had the great honour to be able to sit down and interview him before the convention got started.

I really appreciate Steven's raw honesty. He was quite forthcoming with a lot of really good wisdom. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Today's guest comes from the other side of the planet from me, where every creature big and small is seemingly trying to kill you and the toilets flush in the wrong direction. I'm talking today to Dean Lewis, a WCF. If memory serves, Dean is one of only a couple AWCFs in the country and in corresponding with him, I discovered we share a mutual friend in Mr. Daniel Bennett. It never ceases to amaze me how small the farrier world truly is. It has been a lot of fun getting to know this kind and thoughtful man from the other side of the planet and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Today I'm speaking with Sam Durham, CJF, dipWCF. Sam was up here in the great white north, along with Hank Chisholm to be a clinician for the first ever pre-cert hosted in Ontario. As I mentioned in the intro to Hanks's interview, it was a late night after two solid days of teaching for the two gentlemen and they had an early morning ahead of them. Despite all this, they still pressed on and did their respective interviews. As with Hank, Sam was informative and insightful. Our discussion about the suspensory apparatus of the distal phalanx was especially enlightening for me. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Welcome everyone. Today, I'm talking to Hank Chisholm, C JF.

Hank is the current president of the AFA and I caught him for an interview when he and Sam Durham were up here in the great white north to give a pre-cert clinic. Before the interview, dinner went a little long, as they tend to do when a bunch of farriers get together. Even though it was late and Hank and Sam only had a few hours of sleep ahead of them before their journey to the airport, they pressed on with their interviews. It is short and sweet due to our time constraints but I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Today, I'm speaking with Chris Diehl, CJF, FE, AWCF. When I first started this little podcast project of mine, I had more than just a little bit of difficulty getting some people on board with doing an interview. Many didn't know what a podcast was, let alone who I was. To this day, I have quite a few interview request messages in my outbox that have not been responded to.

So, on the day that someone reached out for me to interview then I knew that the podcast had reached some sort of pinnacle of traction. Chris' opening message to me promised that he had a lot to offer in a conversation for the podcast and as you will hear, he did not disappoint. To this day when I'm working on a set of keg shoes with pre-made clips, I hear Chris' voice in my head saying "I'm pro clip, I'm just not pro angle iron". Sometimes controversial but always calling things as he sees them, I now bring you Chris Diehl CJF, FE, AWCF. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.