Mullins Farrier Podcast

I wanted to start this episode off with a term we use in my practice. Unfortunately, we don't get to use it often, but it is always exciting when we do, let me explain. A brief career as a sound and lighting engineer doing live acts followed by a career hammering metal and using all the power tools a non- purest farrier does, has led to some hearing loss for me and I often don't hear what people say properly and my creative brain fills in the rest. Often, this leads to some pretty funny misinterpretations of what people say. One day, two of my shoeing compatriots were talking as I came into the barn and one of them, a highly-skilled chap from England named Pete, was talking about getting the fit on the first burn. What I thought he had exclaimed was Portuguese touchdown. Two words that probably have never been uttered in conjunction with each other in any language ever, but they stuck and became our triumphant call whenever someone got the fit on the first burn. My guest today probably has more Portuguese touchdowns than most, but I suspect he wouldn't settle for less than perfect before he proclaimed it.

This will become clear from his favourite Bob Marsh quote, Minnesota farrier, Mark Thorkildson CJF AWCF is my guest today. I have had him on my hit list since the podcast started. Mark was an examiner when I did both my CF and CJF exams down in the Heartland and as you will hear, he was key in helping all of us to settle a bit once he gave us his introductory talk.

I wanted to have an episode to explain the process of the various levels of certification with the AFA, but it was hard to peg someone down to do it. Mark graciously agreed to take on the task and I hope it helps some of you to understand it a little bit better and inspires you to go down the certification path. Mark was awesome, inspiring, and full of wisdom as I knew he would be. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

My guest today joins us all the way from Cape Town, South Africa. Robbie Miller AWCF ASF is an accomplished racehorse shoer, competitor, and promoter of the farrier profession in South Africa. He accomplishes this through his joint effort with Robbie Dawson, to set up the South African Association of Professional Farriers, the SAAPF and as an official tester for the Farriers International Testing system FITS. Robbie is a good friend of my mentor and friend, Chris Gregory but you will notice that Robbie becomes good friends with almost everyone he meets.

Robbie joined me from his back garden so there is some wind noise that I hope doesn't get too distracting. I quite enjoyed our time together and I hope we can meet in person someday. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

Welcome, everyone. First, a little shopkeeping. I recently finished a book by Greg McKeown called essentialism. The main premise of the book is exactly as the title indicates. It's about honing in on just the essentials in order to be more effective with your time and your effort. As someone who is easily distracted by a potential new project or new hobby before finishing the ones I am already committed to, this book seemed like a necessary read for me. One of the key chapters that really stuck out is titled "Protect the Asset", and the asset, in this case, is yourself. Mr. McEwen basically points out the not-so-obvious, even though it should be, that unless you prioritize your own health and wellbeing the rest of your efforts will be compromised. He talks about the necessity of getting enough proper sleep and nutrition, as well as booking time off for relaxation and recovery. Something that I'm sure most of us in this career, myself included, probably don't do enough of. He basically makes a pretty compelling argument for scheduling time for doing absolutely nothing so that we accomplish more when we actually get back to work. With all of that in mind, I would ask you to consider how do you protect your biggest asset? What do you do to keep yourself operating at your best? Do you prioritize yourself and your body's needs when they inevitably arise or do you always put the horses and your clients first? And finally, the question that plays a central role in my conversation today - What do you do to protect yourself during your workday when situations with difficult horses and difficult environments arise?

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to Elisa Miller, CF. Elisa was a recent graduate of the eight-week shoeing course at Heartland horseshoeing school many years ago when we first met. Fresh out of school and already a force to be reckoned with Elisa challenged me constantly with her questions and her strong, fresh out-of-school opinions. I learned a ton from working with her and we had a lot of adventures too. We have literally shed blood, sweat, and tears together, and I know she has always had my back. I always knew she would be a guest one day on the podcast. I just wished that it hadn't been under the circumstances that precipitated in us doing this interview. You see, Elisa was the friend that I mentioned a while back who had been injured quite badly. It was a long road, but in true Elisa style, she faced it headlong and headstrong and she is now back to shoeing full time. The whole experience changed Elisa's perspective on a lot of things, especially being an advocate for her own safety and she really wanted to share them with you. Her goal in doing this was to help at least one of you to learn from her situation and appreciate how fragile our careers and our bodies can really be.

She's a wonderful mother, a great farrier, and a good friend. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Dr. Sarah Cohen, and she definitely has a unique perspective on her business as a veterinarian serving the Wellington Florida area, her business website for Equity Performance Equine has the description listed under the subtitle team approach, seamless concierge-style medicine, tailored to the needs of your specific team and program.

Dr. Sarah was recommended to me as a guest by a previous guest, Dr. Andrea Dubé. Dr. Andrea described her as a bad-ass vet that I needed to talk to. I'll read you her bio from her website, and you'll start to understand why.

Dr. Sarah Cohen grew up in New Jersey showing in the hunters and equitation before attending Purdue University for her undergraduate training. She graduated from Ross University in June of 2007. Having completed her clinical training at Iowa State University, Sarah then joined Merritt and Associates Equine Hospital outside of Chicago for a one-year intensive internship. Then joining Miller and Associates in 2008, and finally launched Equity Performance Equine in the fall of 2020.

Over her decade plus in practice, Dr. Cohen has developed a client-based consisting of some of the most well-regarded in the Hunter and showjumping community in the country. Dr. Cohen believes passionately in evidence-based medicine and putting the horse's needs at the fore of all decisions. Since 2010, she has been a regular on the international scene serving as the USEF showjumping team veterinarian in competitions in Spain, Slovakia, Belgium, France, Wellington, and other international competition locales.

Sarah is president of the Northeast Association of Equine Practitioners, having served on the board of directors for five years. She is a member of the USHJA's horse and riders advocates committee. She lives in Wellington, Florida, and Waccabuc, NY with her husband, Lance and two daughters, Evelyn and June.

Dr. Andrea's recommendation was spot on and Dr. Sarah did not disappoint. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

As mentioned in the episode if you are interested in participating in the American Farriers Association Journal club please reach out to Martha Jones at [email protected]

As the COVID pandemic struck and international borders closed, I was unable to head South and visit one of my really good accounts in Tampa Bay, Florida. On those occasions when you're unable to tend to some of the horses in your care for any number of reasons, you're left in that awkward position of not knowing what the person coming in behind you is going to do and what their plan or their vision for their feet is going to be. I did not have those concerns when I found out that they were going to use Bruce Martin. I had met Bruce several times at that account. We actually, as you will hear in the interview, had a chance to spend an afternoon together, just chatting while he was shoeing some horses and we were waiting to catch an Uber and fly out. I knew that my client was in very good hands and I have not been disappointed. Bruce has sent me several photos, keeping me updated on their feet and their progress and his vision was the same as mine. He has done a fantastic job of keeping those horses shod and looking beautiful.

As you will hear in the following interview, Bruce possesses all of the traits of a really good craftsman. He is constantly being self-critical, paying attention to the results of his work, he's ever humble, and he's just an all-around good dude. I'm really glad that we were able to get in touch, do this interview and share some of his insights with you. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Today I'm speaking with Dr. Alan Manning, MSC DVM. From my early beginnings as a farrier, it was always exciting to run into this gentleman. He is one of those vets who will always work with you on a lameness problem and will never throw you under the bus if things don't go as predicted with the shoeing plan. Some of my early mentors warned me about working with vets, but Alan quickly showed me that farriers and vets could work together as a team and that this was to the benefit of everyone, most importantly, the horse.

Dr. Alan Manning is well known in Canada for his expertise in performance horse lameness and rehabilitation, he has been an FEI accredited veterinarian for Canada for over 20 years and has attended the Pan-Am games for the Canadian Dressage team, as well as the World Equestrian Games for the Para-dressage team.

Every time I have had an opportunity to work with this man, he has patiently taught me a great deal. He is however a very hard person to peg down for an interview. It took a snowy day while working on a case with him at his farm and clinic in Orton Ontario, for us to finally have that conversation.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Welcome, everyone! If it seems like it's been a while, you're right. Fear not though, I've been busy sending microphones all over the world and I'm excited for the guests we will have on in the coming months.

A little shopkeeping before we start, you will notice that some of the questions in the Stratum Tectorium portion have been added and some have been omitted. Some I found were becoming redundant. The answers were always the same, or they weren't really offering that much insight into the personality of the guests. Then there were others that I thought would be interesting to add. I apologize if I omitted any of your favourites.

My friend, Ali Carpenter's shoe board contest is almost finished its first round, but it's not too late to enter the second one, feel free to reach out to her on Facebook. It's a great opportunity to get your journey to becoming a certified farrier started.

Finally, I wanted to direct you to my friend and former podcast, guest Daniel Bennet's Lockdown, Farrier Learning Podcast. Since the pandemic caused the world to come to a screeching halt, no one has done more to keep the continuing education of farriers going. Daniel has used as many platforms as possible to do this. His Facebook page has had several videos on tips for the diploma exams in the UK and his podcast has had several great episodes with lots of practical advice and many useful takeaways. At this time with many of us missing the traditional convention, summits and clinics, the lockdown farrier learning podcast is a great way to get your educational fix.

Today, I'm speaking with Peter Ayranto CJF Peter is a farrier whose practice is predominantly West of mine in Southern Ontario. We don't cross paths nearly enough, but we always have great conversations when we do. Peter lives close to the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph and has been the resident farrier in their large animal clinic for many years, you may hear me refer to it in the conversation as OVC or the university, as you will hear, Peter is always thinking, observing, and striving to do better in this craft. All good attributes to have in his role at the university. We hadn't seen each other in quite a while so it was great to have the opportunity to have this conversation.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In today's episode, I am speaking with Riley Kirkpatrick CF, of Kirkpatrick Forge in Oregon. As you will hear explained in more detail, Riley was strongly recommended to me by a friend of mine as a potential podcast guest. She was not wrong and he did not disappoint. We talk about his journey from running a regular farrier practice to becoming the toolmaker that many of you will be familiar with. We also talk about his brief stint in Hollywood on Forged in Fire. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Kirkpatrick Forge

In this episode, I am talking with Andrew DeVisser CJF. You will be familiar with Andrew's voice as he has been on the podcast before. Through many conversations we've had over the past year, Andrew and I decided that it would be a really good opportunity to sit down and do an episode just on the business of farriery.

Andrew gives a talk on some of the fundamental things that you need to know from the business side of what we do. I have seen it a couple of times actually now, and I'm still learning each time he does it. It surprised me how little of it I knew or understood until he broke it down and explained it to me.

He has become a bit of a mentor to me, as far as my business and finances and all things money. I think this would be a good opportunity for him to hopefully help some of you out as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Blacksmith's Guide To Financial Freedom by Andrew DeVisser CJF

In today's episode, I had the opportunity to talk with Vern Powell, CJF (TE). Vern is the owner of MVP's Farrier Service in Marengo, Illinois, USA and has been a farrier for 20 years. He is the chairman of the American Farrier's Association Cultural Exchange Program and throughout this episode shares many great stories about the exchange. The mission of the Cultural Exchange is to select, organize and supervise an international exchange of farriers between the AFA and participating national farriery associations. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

For more information about the Cultural Exchange Program please follow this link: https://americanfarriers.org/page/cultural_exchange

Here is the link to the Cultural Exchange application: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6skL6kVz25DTTBabU1TLWxQWFk/view