H O O F B L O G S P O N S O R E D S T O R Y
The Blacksmith Buddy
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| The Blacksmith Buddy was designed with students like these in minds. Once the Buddy is in place, the real horse becomes an accessory--and someone has to hold him instead of trying out the new practice leg! |
Every year there's something. Farriers hang out after a trade show and talk over what stuck in their minds after they paraded up and down the rows of booths. Most often, it's a little thing--a new size, shape, hardness or color of something they use every day, which they believe will save them time or money. Sometimes it's a big thing, like a new model of gas forge or even a truck body.
But this year, many people listed an educational tool. "Wes Champagne's deal was slick," one said. Another's eyes lit up and sighed, "Why, oh why, didn't I think of that!"
Wes Champagne's "deal" was a teaching tool which, once clever farriers laid eyes on it, had the creative juices flowing. Other trade show booths wanted to use it to demonstrate a new clincher, or a pull off. Suddenly, with the Blacksmith Buddy's removable and reusable plastic hoof capsules, it's possible to demonstrate nailing or glueing on a shoe or filling a sole with pressure material.
With a Blacksmith Buddy in a flight case, a hoofcare seminar can be held in a hotel banquet hall, in a restaurant, or at any big event. There are no trailers to park, no horses to load or unload, no Coggins tests needed. The farrier show has finally hit the road.
With a Blacksmith Buddy in a flight case, a hoofcare seminar can be held in a hotel banquet hall, in a restaurant, or at any big event. There are no trailers to park, no horses to load or unload, no Coggins tests needed. The farrier show has finally hit the road.
At a trade show, it would even be possible to have six people standing around a booth all at once, all trying a new material or hammering a new nail, into multiple hooves.
These types of uses for the Blacksmith Buddy have been just as ground-breaking as the thought that a class of vet or farrier students can watch a hoof being worked on without the instructor having to worry about someone holding a horse, or the chance that the horse will snatch a foot or lean or kick.
These types of uses for the Blacksmith Buddy have been just as ground-breaking as the thought that a class of vet or farrier students can watch a hoof being worked on without the instructor having to worry about someone holding a horse, or the chance that the horse will snatch a foot or lean or kick.
Sometimes with a new product, you're surprised at the niche it fills--often where no need had been seen before, because no one ever imagined we'd get beyond cadaver limbs. But here we are.
Blacksmith Buddy was designed with vet schools, farrier schools and hoof trimming programs in mind, as well as for single students like Wes's own son to be able to practice. It is being empowered by the input of so many people in the industry and Wes and the rest of the farriers and vets and trimmers aren't done imagining yet.
Congratulations to Wes Champagne and his team at Blacksmith Buddy for putting a new tool in people's hands...and for making them think!
Have you tried it?
Have you tried it?
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Contact Blacksmith Buddy and learn more:
Tel 800.856.SHOE (7463)
Email wes@blacksmithbuddy.com
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| Farrier Darby Holden debuted the Blacksmith Buddy at farrier trade shows this winter. And it's a good thing she did; a wordy description doesn't do the tool justice. You have to see it in action. It allows students to practice holding a hoof between their legs with a lifelike tension from a horse who isn't there. Moreover, they can rasp a removable hoof capsule or nail/glue a shoe onto it. (Blacksmith Buddy photo) |