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In this episode I talk to Genevieve Joyce.

Gen is an equine osteopath but has recently developed an App to help equine professionals save time in the management of their businesses by taking care of the large amount of organisation and admin we incur especially as a small one person business. 

Equigate is an app for ANYONE who works with animals. It handles the day-to-day running of your business, allowing you to spend more time with hands on animals, and less time on admin and paperwork. Whether you’re and Equine massage therapist, bodyworker, physiotherapist, chiropractor, farrier, dentist, saddle fitter, bit fitter, podiatrist, nutritionist, riding coach, groom etc etc…..(you get the picture), then Equigate is here to help your business thrive.

The app handles your client management, all of your client communication, your record keeping, your diary and your invoicing, plus everything in between. Work in the sticks? No problem, Equigate even works offline with no signal.

Gone are the days of paper diaries, the folders and folders full of past paper treatment reports, and all the manual work of keeping your clients informed and updated about their appointments, as Equigate handles it all, right from your smartphone and a lot of it on auto pilot!

Listen out for the discount code in the episode for 20% off subscriptions.

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Last month saw the passing of a dear, farrier, educator, mentor, friend and all round legend. David “Slim” Symons FWCF Hons lead a very interesting Farriery career and put so much back in to the industry and those in it. This is a great loss to the UK Farriery industry, his family and his friends. 

This is an edited re touched for quality, tribute of a conversation I had with Slim the other year.

Rest in peace Sir

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Recently there has been a lot of discussions and social media debate about the apparent crisis within the farriery profession.

This has centred around the economy of farriery as a profession and the lack of training providers and people coming into the profession.

Like all farriery rants on social media, we all shared it on our feed so no doubt your customers can see it and feel sorry for you! Id like to add at this point “they don’t care”. I have personally thought for some time in the UK that we are most of the time subsidising their hobby and their want to own a horse compared to the prices with the rest of the developed world.

To fix this it will take more than farriers sharing a well written post by another farrier on their social media. We need to get in a room together discover how we got in this situation in the first place, work on strategies to improve our value and to raise the price of farriery and go up together.

Up until this point apart from moaning no one has proactively done anything to resolve this situation until now.

Tom Smith FWCF, an experienced farrier who has been in the business since 2006, discusses his career journey, the challenges faced by the farrier industry, and the need for change. 

He highlights the potential lack of farriers in the future, the struggle with proper pricing, and the undervaluation of their work. 

Tom introduces 'Forge Smart,' a 10-month program designed to help farriers improve their business acumen, raise their prices collectively, and enhance the professionalism of the industry. 

The discussion covers the importance of community, professional development, and re-evaluating traditional practices to ensure the sustainability and growth of the farrier profession.

www.forgesmart.co.uk

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I was recently asked to do a webinar on be half of the British Farriers & Blacksmiths Association explaining the concept of social license to operate in the equine sector. This is a term which has been banded around for a few years now and there have been many who have misunderstood what this actually means.

This is about public approval, for us to carry on doing what we do. Although this is mainly aimed at the equestrian world, we do play a part in it, and with out it we have no job.

Thank you to the BFBA for asking me to do this and for allowing me to publish the audio here to share. This recording is of me talking via a online webinar, of which there were a few technical problems of which I have done my best to edit out.

If you are not a BFBA member please check out their web site to see the members benefits available and sign up. 

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This discussion is about a recent article in the Forge magazine. It is not about imposing rules but it is about protecting ourselves and all those involved (including the equine) at farriery competitions and forging best practice for future generations.

What is Social License to Operate (SLO) 

Social license is increasingly important in horse sport and leisure. This is the general public’s interpretation of equine welfare and professionalism. We must be seen to be always putting equine welfare FIRST. When a social license is lost, this is when the general public’s opinion decides that the activity we are doing falls below their expectations of animal welfare and/ or professionalism. This means that the welfare of the horse must be put first, and be seen to be put first, all the time. It is the responsibility of everyone involved with equines to demonstrate this. Sometimes, mistakes will be made. However, if all of those involved in horse sport and leisure can learn from these mistakes and demonstrate that they are always striving to do right by their horses, wider society is more likely to trust that equine welfare is genuinely being put first and it is more likely that equestrianism’s social license will be maintained. We have all seen the potential damage one video can make to a sport. During the build up to the 2024 Olympics, one video of one person connected to a sport, made headline news leading to a large swing in public opinion. This in turn reignited the question - should equestrianism be included as an Olympic sport? Worryingly, one public vote resulted in 49% of the voters being against. This is concerning and is evidence of what damage one viral video can do. The equestrian world needs to maintain and strengthen its social license for it to have a future.

 Horseshoeing Competitions 

As a competition, we must treat this activity as a sport utilizing the equine, and where live equines are used, their welfare MUST be the primary concern. Most horseshoeing competitions held within the UK are organised in conjunction with a bigger event, such as a county show. These are very public facing events and due to the nature of the spectacle provided, they are a huge crowd pulling part of the event. We are exposed to many members of the public that may have little or no knowledge of what they are watching. Some of these spectators may also be members of organisations or have opinions opposed to the use of horses in sport and may be looking to publicly evidence this. To this end, we as organisers and competitors need to utilise this industry spotlight to educate, communicate, and actively promote best practice and professionalism. The competition environment can be stressful for both equines and competitors due to several different factors, but with proper organisation, contingency planning and common sense, this can be kept to a minimum 

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It’s been a while……

Today me and my friend and fellow podcaster Brian Mullins reflect and breakdown his recent experience facing the AWCF exam for the first time, we talk about the journey he took and navigate his personal voyage of discovery. Brian has lots of priceless nuggets of information for anyone considering this journey for this exam or any certification the world over.

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Since Lockdown we have seen a rise in online and other forms of farriery education....  This is a good thing!
To put this on takes a lot of time, effort and of course money.
One of these people throwing his hat in the ring is todays guest Connor Morison DipWCF. Connor is an Ex-Army farriery instructor who currently works at the Warwickshire college school of farriery, and like many of us has a passion for education. He has recently set up Farrier Scholar an Online farriery education platform, to help farriers on their educational journey.

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David Gulley FWCF

On the 2nd of May 2024 we received the sad news of the passing of David Gulley FWCF.

Born on the 4th of August 1939 in Plymouth Devon, David grew up with an obsession for horses, his mother once telling him of his fascination of the Shire horses working in the streets Plymouth. When David reached the age of 15 due to the lack of farriery apprenticeships being available due to mechanisation, David took on a 4-year apprenticeship in Blacksmithing and Engineering. 

On completion of his apprenticeship in 1960 he was called up for National Service into the British Army. As he signed up, he asked about the possibility of being an Army Farrier, of which the ill-informed Army recruiting Sergeant replied, “there was not such a thing anymore”. David then opted to become a Driver. 

Whilst in basic training Davids unit was visited by a recruiting officer from the Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), looking for recruits. David asked the officer did they have Farriers? The officer replied “yes”. At that point David told the officer that if he could transfer to the forge, he would instantly sign up for 22 years’ service, the maximum engagement you can sign up for. In late 1960 David moved to Melton Mowbray and started working at the Remount Depot, now known as the Defence Animal Training Regiment, and started his life as an Army Farrier Apprentice at the old Army School of Farriery (ASF). 

Coincidently David joined the school 1 day after another farriery legend and lifelong friend David “Slim” Symons FWCF (hons). David was lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Jock Green a very well-regarded Army farrier instructor who pushed David to excel through hard work and determination. David managed to achieve the uncompressible feat of becoming a B1 Army farriery instructor and the rank of full Corporal in under 2 years.

After 9 years of being based at the ASF teaching and competing David took the decision to leave the army and set up his own business. These were the days pre regulation, which would not become an act of parliament for a few years. At the time there was a lack of good farriers in the Leicestershire area servicing the fledgling equine leisure industry, with many untrained farriers cold shoeing applying shoes poorly. David was lucky enough to get the opportunity to repurpose a disused cattle shed into a forge, which is where he remained for the rest of his life in Thorpe Satchville, Leicestershire with his partner Judy. 

It wasn’t long before David had built a busy business and the requirement for more manpower, so started his long list of successful apprentices. The first of which was Andrew Speck RSS, which went on to include the likes of Cecil Swan, Gary Darlow, Kevin Green, Joe Bryan and Andrew James. He went on to train 24 apprentices in total and was always proud of the achievements of all he trained and had said countless times that his proudest achievement was training his own son Micheal. On retirement he was presented a “Family Tree”, by some of his ex-apprentices, starting with David, his apprentices, their apprentices and so on. To this date there are 5 generations of farriers with lineage back to David, over time this will grow and will remain one of Davids Legacies. 

After leaving the Army David’s involvement with the National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers (now known as BFBA) began. Joining his local branch, Leicestershire, David became an active member and very quickly rising to the position of chairman. With the registration act looming on the horizon, David was proactive in putting on training and testing for farriers in the area to achieve their Registered Shoeing Smiths (RSS) exams. In Davids own words this was all about trying to make farriers better. David always held hors

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I’ve just got back from a very busy summer period. Back to school for me now! Last week I spent the week in Canada with my awesome friend Brian Mullins CJF. Week spent the week fine tuning and preparing for his upcoming AWCF exams. I met Brian back in lockdown through our respective podcast passion projects. As we were together we decided to chat with microphones and this is the results.

Check out Brian’s podcast if you haven’t already as it is the best one out there. That’s not to say all the Farriery podcasts are all awesome.

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