Sunday, October 03, 2010

Hoofcare@WEG: Cutest Farrier Rig at the World Equestrian Games


I don't know how Sandy Johnson gets any work done. Everyone is so curious about her cute little shoeing trailer that she has to keep showing it off. But she doesn't seem to mind.

Shoeing trailers have become the road fashion accessory of the American farrier for the past few years. Some farriers work out of them on a daily basis, and get to enjoy having a truck that functions as a truck. Or they can pull a small trailer with a smaller truck or SUV, as Sandy has done with this Honda Pilot.

The little black trailer was built this spring from Sandy's scale drawings by Stonewell Forge in Genoa, New York.

Sandy lives in Wellington, Florida, where she and her husband, Joe, operate their International Farrier Service. Horses shod by IFS competed in the Dressage at WEG in the first week and will compete in the Para Dressage in the second week. Sandy was credentialed in horse handling operations for WEG and you might have found her out on the runway at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, riding the high-low up and down with a bouquet of leadlines in her hand. Joe and Sandy were the US Team Farriers for show jumping at the World Equestrian Games in 1996 in Rome, Italy.

The black trailer is only used to service clients in the north during the off season. Sandy's is one of many clever designs rolling down the highways that are saving space and gas and making convenient unhooking locations or even transporting shoeing trailers within cargo containers for overseas work or inside big horse vans or moving vans. Try doing that with a truck.

Sorry it was raining when these photos were taken!

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