American Farrier's Association appoints Martha Jones new executive director to replace Beth Daniels

On June 18th, the American Farrier's Association (AFA) Board of Directors announced the selection of a new executive director for the association.

Jones will be stepping into the position held by Beth Daniels for the past five years.

Virginia Farrier Travis Burns Elected American Farrier's Association President

American Farrier's Association Past President Donnie Perkinson passes the symbolic presidential gavel to incoming president Travis Burns at last week's AFA Convention in Reno, Nevada.

Veterinary college farrier Travis Burns, CJF, TE, EE, FWCF of Virginia has been elected president of the American Farrier’s Association. The results of the 2018 election were announced on Friday during the AFA's 47th annual convention in Reno, Nevada.

Farrier Product Distribution is now an American Farrier’s Association Educational Communications Partner

Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) has become the latest company to join forces with the American Farrier’s Association (AFA) as an educational communications partner. 

American Farrier's Association Funds Equine Stem Cell Research

Today the American Farrier’s Association (AFA) announced a donation of $10,000 through its Equine Research Fund to the Morris Animal Foundation in support of research being conducted by Morris Animal Foundation Fellow Dr. Alix Berglund at North Carolina State University.

American Farrier’s Association and Life Data Labs, Inc., Makers of Farriers Formula Hoof Supplement, Announce Partnership

The following information is an edited excerpt from a news release supplied by the AFA. Photos and and media added by Hoofcare Publishing:

The American Farrier’s Association (AFA) and Life Data Labs, Inc. have entered into an educational communications partnership designed to bring Life Data Labs’ considerable expertise in the area of equine nutrition to the Association’s membership through various communications channels managed by the AFA. This includes the AFA's bi-monthly newsletter No Foot, No Horse and the recently redesigned AFA website, among other plans.

American Farrier’s Association and Purina Animal Nutrition announce educational partnership

via press release

The American Farrier’s Association (AFA) and Purina Animal Nutrition, LLC ("Purina") have entered into an agreement that will lend support for the educational goals AFA stresses for its members. It will also offer Purina researchers an opportunity to share results of their considerable body of work in equine nutrition while engaging farriers in discussions about the impact that they observe nutrition having on hoof integrity.

American Farrier’s Association Team Heads to England for 35th International Team Horse Shoeing Championships

The American Farriers Team was named at the 2014 American Farrier's Association Convention. From left to right: Immediate Past President John Blombach, CJF; Jake Engler, CJF; Josh Stanley, CJF; Rusty Wells, CJF; Ben Mangan, CJF; Robbie Mederos, CJF; and Tom Petersen, CJF. Photo courtesy of the AFA.

via press release:

The American Farrier’s Association (AFA) is pleased to announce that the 2014 American Farrier’s Team (AFT) has been in England for several days preparing for the International Team Horseshoeing Championships which will get underway at Stoneleigh Park on Saturday, September 27th.

Silent Anvil: Elvis's Horseshoer Has Left the Building, But Not Our Lives

Mississippi/Tennessee horseshoer Lim Couch died this week. He was Elvis's horseshoer and a longtime officer of the American Farrier's Association. "Give me an Elvis look," I remember saying when I took this photo. And he obliged.

Lots of horseshoers have famous clients. Some like to brag about them. Some keep quiet about them. And some keep them very close to their hearts and, if you ask, will share their memories. When that happens, it's special.

That's how it was with Lim Couch. Lim died on Saturday at the age of 75. Most people in the farrier industry know him as a past president of the American Farrier's Association, a quiet and dignified southern gentlemen who probably served more time and in more capacities to that organization than almost anyone.

Favorite Photo: A Hand-Forged Reflection

4 March 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

This is my favorite photo, so far, from the 2010 American Farrier's Association Convention, which was held last week in Portland, Oregon.

The gentleman reflected in the mirror looks somber, but I can assure you, he is probably just either a) stunned by the artistry of the mirror (as was I) or b) humbled by the fact that, when this photo was taken, he had less than 24 hours left in his term as president of the American Farrier's Association. With luck, he'd make it after all. The man in the mirror is Dick Fanguy, who survived a heart attack and several personal tragedies during his year as AFA president, and probably did need a moment to reflect.

And what a mirror to catch anyone's gaze! It was made, leaf by leaf and twig by twig, by our friend Mike Chisham of Petaluma, California. The mirror design was inspired by the late Edward Martin's iconic "Nessie" Loch Ness monster, which you can see clinging to the mid-left of the mirror frame. Mike donated the mirror to the American Farrier's Association's annual fundraising auction, held on Friday night during the convention. The annual auction is a showplace for the talented members of the association, who donate their most beautiful creative work.

Thanks to April Raine for the loan of her great photo. If you double-click on the photo, you should be able to see the mirror frame (and Dick) in greater detail.

PS Happy Birthday, Dick!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

When Art and Craft Combined in One Tool: Steve Teichman's Hoof Nippers

by Fran Jurga | 23 June 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Back in the depths of winter, I was at the American Farrier's Association Convention in Tennessee. The annual fundraising auction there is a special treat because it is a collection of work by farriers, for the most part, or by artists who have painted or sculpted farriers or hooves or horses. From the tiniest, most delicate ring to a huge, rough-hewn coffee table or a towering wine rack, each treasure is one of a kind and somehow bears the indelible stamp of farrierism on it. Unmistakably. Undeniably. The prices that these items usually bring are as impressive as the workmanship.

This year, I was knocked out the most by this pair of GE nippers. Yes, this is a standard out-of-the-pouch pair of GE nippers. But they have been transformed by farrier Steve Teichman of Pennsylvania, who is also a master at artistic engraving. Steve's work is subtle and very fine, and the fact that he would choose to engrave a tool that has reins that are edged in different ways is testimony to his confidence in his art. Surely these are the nippers that would have manicured the hoof walls of the horses in some fantasy kingdom faraway. They looked enchanted.

What are nippers?

For those readers who are not in or around the farrier world, nippers are sort of long-handled toe-nail clippers for horses. The three main cutting tools used in trimming horses are the nippers for the wall, the sole knife, and the rasp for flattening the foot and dressing the wall. Nippers come first and there's no going back if you nip too much. They are used to clip the edge of the hoof wall and come in different lengths, and there are racetrack nippers and saddlehorse nippers. The cutting edges of the blades, where they meet, are very sharp, so that a farrier can nip accurately and get a clean cut on a hard, dry hoof wall as well as a soggy, soft one. Farriers take very good care of all their tools, but are especially careful of their nippers. The nippers in this photo are made from a high grade of steel by the GE Forge and Tool Company of Arroyo Grande, California. I've always wondered when riveted or hinged nippers first came into use and where. Does anyone know?

I admired Steve's nippers all week but when the auction started, they were one of the first items to go. The room was only half full and they sold for far less than their real value, many of us thought. I was crushed, and glad Steve wasn't there. The buyer got a real bargain. And he knew it, too.

As much time as Steve spent engraving the nippers, I think I have spent trying to get a good Photoshop image of them. My friends Liz and Garnet Oetjens took great photos, but they always look different on the computer screen and I've been afraid to post a photo because I want to do Steve's work justice. But enough time has passed: suffice to say, the dark areas are just shadows, not any artifact of the engraving or manufacturing the nippers.

The next AFA auction will be at their 2010 convention in Portland, Oregon February 24-27. I'm sure all the artists are busy working on their masterpieces now. Enchantments are underway in studios, forges, basements, garages and through camera lens across the USA. I'll be amazed, all over again.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

AFA Convention: FIA Trade Show Faces

by Fran Jurga | 1 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Here's a quick tour of most of the booths at last week's AFA/FIA trade show in Chattanooga, Tennessee. These are the faces behind the products that farriers and veterinarians and horse owners use every day--products that help keep horses on their feet and performing their best. These faces also represent many of the companies that support continuing education events around the country and also make Hoofcare and Lameness publishing projects possible through their advertising and sponsorships.

Two things I know for sure: 1) These people don't get thanked often enough and 2) There is no nicer group of people assembled at any trade show, anywhere.

Quarter Horse Web Horseshoe Poll, Certification Article Published

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) has been working with the American Farrier's Association (AFA) lately; the two organizations have an educational partnership exchange.

To that end, the December issue of America's Horse, the AQHA's promotional magazine, has an article about the conduct of an AFA Certification Testing Day in Oklahoma earlier this year.

I highly recommend that anyone who reads this blog find a copy of that magazine (it's not posted online, I checked) and read it. Pay particular attention to the last page, which shows a finished shod foot as presented to the examiner, who then reviews the clinches and explains what is wrong or right with each.

If you know anything about nailing horseshoes, it's interesting to see if you saw what the examiner saw.

My guess is that the nailing shown, imperfect though it may have looked to the examiner's eyes, is of a higher standard than most readers of that magazine would normally see. They might miss the whole point.

What I did find on the AQHA site was a poll of site visitors on the types of shoes their horses wear.

Barefoot was given as a choice, of course, but with the comment "barefoot is better" embedded in the survey question; roughly one-third of the site visitors agreed and said their horses were not shod. If that percentage is indicative of Quarter horse owners in America, then one-third will really disconnect from the AFA's nailing critique in the magazine.

More interesting, though, is that the AQHA listed Natural Balance as a separate category of shoes (bar/therapeutic? normal? sliders? Natural Balance?) To me, Natural Balance is a "normal" shoe.

I wonder how many owners are truly conscious that their horses wear Natural Balance shoes. Apparently five percent of the total is savvy to their brand name shoes, but the actual total might be higher. There are also Natural Balance lookalike shoes sold, and regular shoes can be re-shaped that way. And just to confuse matters, a horse could be shod with sliders made by Natural Balance or therapeutic shoes based on the Natural Balance pattern, as well!

Hoof boots were not listed as a choice. I've just heard about a sliding plate hoof boot that is coming to market; that should be interesting!

The poll is ongoing; check it out here. Results showed that only roughly 52 percent of the total horses were shod with normal shoes; 32 percent were barefoot, 5 percent wore Natural Balance, 7 percent had sliding plates, and 4 percent wore therapeutic or bar shoes.

Thanks to the AQHA for the educational initiative. It's a jungle out here, isn't it?

American Farrier's Association Forges into a New Era

Greetings from the 36th Annual American Farrier's Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A sizeable group of farriers, estimated at 600 or so, has gathered here for educational and business enrichment under the southwestern skies. A heart-warming number of veteran AFA members and old friends are in the crowd, and the trade show is packed with (as usual) with a lot of new products and new companies, as well as the stalwarts of the industry.

The big news so far in the convention has been the vote in the Board of Directors meeting to re-organize the AFA's governance system. The decision making team is currently made up of a slate of officers elected by dues-paying members. They in turn answer to a large board of directors representing 60 or so chapter associations, which are made up of farriers who may or may not be dues-paying AFA members.

On Tuesday this week, the Board voted to replace itself with a team of regional representatives elected by dues-paying AFA members. The chapters will no longer each send a representative to vote on AFA affairs, and the new board members and officers will act as a governing body. I believe that the new system will be put in place by 2008.

In other news, AFA President Dave Ferguson continues to lead the association. Support from the office staff is headed by the new education director, John Bonci.

The education program at the convention was much stronger than I think many attendees expected. The lectures were very well attended. Lecturers included Gene Ovnicek, Bob Racich DVM, Steve Teichman, Mark Caldwell FWCF, Noel Muller DVM, and many more.

The most controversial issue at the convention seems to be the takeover of the AFA competitions by the group known as World Championship Blacksmiths. This group plans to run a regional series of farriers competitions and would host a national championship at the AFA convention. The sides drawn up on this issue are unusual. Many people who are not competition supporters think it is a great idea for the AFA to separate itself from the "sport" aspect of the convention and concentrate on education. Others worry that the AFA is giving away a potential profit center. Still others base their opinions on personalities involved. I believe that the Board endorsed the WCB management plan in spirit but sent it to committee for more study, so this may be an ongoing story.

The Albuquerque Tribune has a nice article about the convention at this url:
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/mar/02/convention-horseshoers-forges-albuquerque/

And a clip of video from the competition at this url:
http://www.abqtrib.com/videos/2007/mar/02/44/

The AFA next heads to Lexington, Kentucky for its 2008 convention in February of next year.

Thanks to everyone who visited the Hoofcare & Lameness booth to renew their subscriptions, order books, or just to say hello. I enjoyed seeing everyone very much. It was also very gratifying to hear people mention that they check this blog often and enjoy reading it. That's great news!

American Farriers Association Posts Update on Regulatory Campaign and Farrier Education

The American Farrier's Association published a blast of documents today on its members' web site, www.americanfarriers.org, and AFA Executive Director Bryan Quinsey "went public" in a forum on the web site www.horseshoes.com, where he candidly discussed the recent controversy between the AFA and a vocal group of offended members.

At the same time, the AFA published the first edition of a new members-only newsletter, No Foot No Horse, which will be published from the AFA's Kentucky office. According to the newsletter, the AFA's once-secret task force on farrier regulation and education has been disbanded, and a new group is being formed with the sole function of studying farrier education in the United States.

The news came as a great relief to many AFA members who were confused about the AFA's new direction and political agenda and felt that they had not been informed of major policy initiatives by the executive board.

Unfortunately, rumors are flying through the farrier world and even in the horse industry that farrier licensing is an imminent threat to the profession in the United States and that the AFA has betrayed its members, many of whom joined the AFA because they felt it offered an alternative to external governance of the trade and would act as an advocate. Other members would like to see licensing become a reality.

All farriers say that they want full disclosure from the AFA on this important matter that affects their livelihoods. Today's steps by the AFA are hopefully the first of many in that direction.