Mullins Farrier Podcast

In this episode, I am speaking with Betsy Lordan DVM CJF TE (AKA Dr. Danger). Dr Lordan is the first female veterinarian to pass the Certified Journeyman Farrier Examination. Betsy and I met at Heartland Horseshoeing School when she was preparing for her exam many years ago.

Betsy grew up in Massachusetts and her career path has in no way been a direct one. She has recently completed her Therapeutic Endorsement. While she was preparing for this in February of this year, she agreed to sit down and share some of her stories with us. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

Welcome to the second instalment of The Love of Anatomy with Chris Gregory FWCF. This is a spin-off series of short anatomy focussed segments geared to help all of us with future certifications and become better farriers. This information and much more can be found in Chris' textbook Gregory's Textbook Of Farriery found on Amazon and in most Farrier Supplies worldwide. Enjoy!

In this episode, I had the good fortune to sit and talk with both Craig and Bodie Trnka at the International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati. Craig Trnka, CJF is the founder of the World Championship Blacksmiths, a past president of the American Farrier's Association and a member of the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame. Bodie Trnka CJF is a 2nd generation farrier who has been around horses and horseshoeing his whole life having trained under his father. He currently resides and practices in Minnesota, USA. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

In this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down at the International Hoof-Care Summit with Lance Sloman CJF. Lance has been the resident farrier at Spruce Meadows, the world-renowned show jumping venue, for 40 years. He has been shoeing since 1976 and resides and practices with his son, Connor, in Alberta, Canada. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Welcome to the first instalment of The Love of Anatomy with Chris Gregory FWCF. This is a spin-off series of short anatomy focussed segments geared to help all of us with future certifications and become better farriers. This information and much more can be found in Chris' textbook Gregory's Textbook Of Farriery found on Amazon and in most Farrier Supplies worldwide. Enjoy!

Today I am speaking with Roy Bloom CJF. This interview has been a long time in the works. Dave Farley mentioned that I should interview Roy back when he was a guest on the podcast. At the Summit in Cincinnati, Dave Farley and I worked for three days to convince Roy that it would be a good idea to sit down and chat with me for the podcast and I am so grateful that he agreed.

Roy Bloom started his journey in 1971 working for Rick Kreis. Rick encouraged Roy to go to North Texas Horseshoeing Institute. He did and graduated in May of 1973. Roy found the AFA in 1984. He completed his basic Certification in 1985 and Journeyman Certification in 1986. In 1989, Roy was the alternate on the American Farriers Team. In 1990, Roy had a position on the Gold team and the Silver team in 2001. Earning a position on the team changed everything for Roy and since then he has done clinics and classes in 40 states and 4 Canadian provinces. Roy was awarded the Outstanding Educator in 2001 by the AFA. Roy has both judged and presented for the AFA convention several times. Roy has judged competitions nationally and internationally including the WCB Horseshoeing Classic, the Australian Nationals, and the World Champion Blacksmith Competition at the World's Fair in Calgary, Alberta. Roy was inducted into the Horseshoeing Hall of Fame in 2001. He served as the Team Coordinator from 2009-2002 for the AFA Farriers Team. His journey has produced a great many articles for numerous trade magazines and along with Dave Farley has produced a number of instructional videos. Through many years as a farrier, Roy has perfected his forging skills and is recognized throughout the industry for his blacksmithing, tool production and great attention to detail. Roy is a founding member and served as the 2012 - 2018 Treasurer for the American, Canadian & International Associations of Professional Farriers.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Michael Wildenstein CJF FWCF (Hons) at the International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you to Dave Farley for the introduction.

Michael was inducted into the International Horseshoers Hall of Fame in 2006. He is the former adjunct associate professor of Farrier Medicine and Surgery in the Department of Clinical Sciences of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University from 1991 - 2010. He specialized in the shoeing of lameness cases and heavy horses.

He now spends much of his time coaching. Interested farriers, veterinarians or horse owners are welcome to call 607-279-7645 or email or [email protected]

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Enjoy!

This episode was recorded at the International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati. I was fortunate to sit down with fellow podcaster, Dr Simon Curtis for an amazing interview.

Dr. Simon Curtis has been a practicing farrier in Newmarket for 44 years. He has lectured and demonstrated farriery in more than 30 countries on 6 continents including the USA, Australia, India, Russia, and Brazil. He is an author of 4 textbooks on farriery. He has been published in numerous journals. Simon is the only farrier to have been awarded an Honorary Associateship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (2001-2002) and has chaired the Farriers Registration Council (2006-9). He is a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farriers by examination (FWCF) and is currently an examiner. Simon is a 4th generation farrier; his family have been farriers and blacksmiths on the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk border for at least 150 years. In 2005 Simon was inducted into the International Farriers Hall of Fame at the Kentucky Derby Museum. He gained a First Degree, Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Farriery through Myerscough College, University of Central Lancashire in 2011 and completed a PhD degree in Equine Physiology and Biomechanics in 2017. In 2018 Simon Curtis was presented with the Sir Colin Spedding award for his contribution to equine knowledge and published The Hoof of the Horse.

You can keep up to date with Simon's work on Facebook: facebook.com/drsimoncurtis Follow for useful information on farriery, how-to guides, book release news, future lectures, events and more!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. I'm sure for many of you the next couple of weeks will involve a lot of catching up on the horses that you had to push over the holidays. Just before Christmas, I travelled to Ottawa, Ontario to give a clinic on breakover. Mark Struthers who graciously hosted the clinic at his farm suggested that, while I was in the neighborhood, I should do an interview with his mentor Terry Osborne CJF. Terry has always been a bit of a distant legend to me. He lives and works in an area five and a half hours from where I do, and until the clinic had never actually met the man. I had heard many stories about the quality work he did and the unhuman efficiency at which he did it. I also knew that he worked on many of the top horses in his region, and an interview was the perfect chance to meet and find out more about this enigmatic character that I had heard so much about. Before we start here's a brief bio provided by Terry

Terry started shoeing in 1980. Over the years his clientele has evolved to primarily hunter jumper and dressage. He was an avid competitor and won the Ontario Highpoint in 1986 and 1992. Seeing the need for continuing education he was a founding member of the Ontario Farriers Association. He is at present a member of the AFA, AMFQ, AAPF and the NEAEP. Terry was part of a team that got three different horses onto the Canadian show jumping team. He's also an educator and a clinician. I was thankful to have the opportunity to sit down and have this conversation with Terry. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hello everyone, as the year and this decade come to an end, I wanted to thank all of you for joining me on this little project of mine and listening in. I also wanted to thank everyone who spoke to me in person or reached out online to give their feedback on the podcast. It started out as just one of my many ideas, but because of you, it has grown into such an incredibly fulfilling thing. I have learned so many great applicable lessons from my guests, and their many achievements have really inspired me and many others to pursue our goals. Last year, as everyone asked me what my new year's resolution would be, I said one word, Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning change for better or continuous improvement. There's a lot of literature on this concept, and how it made the Japanese automakers and tech companies a driving force in their industries. It speaks of always looking for ways to improve even if they are small and incremental. It's a never-ending process or striving towards quality. When I first learned of it, I felt an immediate affinity to the word. I've always found that the times I've been the happiest in my life have been when I was working towards a goal. Things like learning a new skill set for a job, or writing and performing a new song. They required me to be consistently pushing myself to be better times when I would plateau, like say at a job that didn't require much mental bandwidth or room to grow, I will become bored and unhappy. That's what makes this career so fulfilling. If you plateau, you only have to look to someone with more knowledge in a certain aspect of the job like forging, toolmaking, lameness, evaluation, etc. and ask them to teach you more. For me, Kaizen actually meant going through all of the steps to start and maintain the podcast, and then starting the process of attempting my fits ASF and it meant attending more clinics and having more forge nights to improve my skill set. My challenge to you is to embrace the concept for your year 2020. Sign up for a pre-certification course. Heck, sign up for a certification! On a smaller scale instead of merely benefiting from their time savings, use resets as a chance to improve the shape of the feet you work on. Take the time to adjust the shoe, not the foot to the ideal you're aiming for. I know there are a lot of non-farriers tuning into some of these episodes as well. Why don't you sign up for a clinic or an online course you're interested in? I realized the time is always a precious commodity for any of us who work with horses. But I have experienced the energy creating power of doing these things myself. It's counterintuitive, but it works. That concludes my pushy speech... Well, almost… Did I mention you should aim to attend a certification this year? All right, maybe I did. But you should really just do it. You won't regret it. Before I sign off, I want to say a few words of thanks to the folks at Twisted Spur Media, especially Heather. It is safe to say that the podcast wouldn't be half of what it is without Heather's hard work and dedication. She tirelessly edits all of my scripts out of the episodes and ensures that the final product is always top-notch before it gets pushed out of the nest and flies on its own. I've been told she has a wicked blooper reel and I'm hoping she never pushes that one out to you. She is the wizard behind the curtain and I wouldn't be able to do this without her. Until next time, have a safe and Happy New Year. I can't wait to see what all of you are going to accomplish this year. Take care of yourselves and each other out there!