The Olympic Hoof: FEI salutes farriers as crucial to equine performance in Tokyo

Note: This story was provided to Hoofcare Publishing by the media relations service of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports, and was not written by Hoofcare Publishing. Some statements from the original article have been omitted.

The Olympic Games are all about the coming together of the best of the best. The human and equine athletes have been meticulously prepared for the occasion. An essential part of that preparation is shoeing. Just as with human athletes, a horse can only perform at its best if the shoes fit perfectly.

For Auld Lang Syne: New York's forgotten landmarks of hoof history

I have always wanted to organize a tour of New York City for horse and hoof history, but this might be as close as I can come until life gets back to normal.  Consider this a warmup, inspired by the New Year's Eve traditional celebration in Times Square. 

This article will cover midtown landmarks -- or "hoofmarks", as I call them -- around Times Square and Central Park.

Black History Month: Was Huntsman/Slave William Lee the Black Smith in George Washington's Forge?

"American Cincinnatus" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris depicts George Washington at work at the anvil. But who is the smiling black man in the background?  The artist likely added Washington's slave valet, Will Lee, who rarely left the President's side.

Black History Month on The Hoof Blog begins with the father of our country, George Washington. As most readers already know, Washington owned more than 100 slaves. Sadly, many are only names on paper but several are well-documented and one who stood out.

Today we will meet William Lee. He probably wasn't a farrier or a blacksmith, but he was never far from Washington's side, and if Washington was working in the forge, Will would have been there, too. 

Hoofcare Holocaust History: Jan Liwacz, the Blacksmith of Auschwitz, and the Smell of Burning Hooves

"Work will make you free" promises the sign above the gate at the entrance of Auschwitz in Poland, the site of one of the worst disasters in human history. It's one of the most famous signs, and symbols of suffering and evil, anywhere in the world. Did you ever wonder who forged it? Have you ever heard of Jan Liwacz, the blacksmith of Auschwitz? And did you know there is a touch of irony forged into the letters by a prisoner blacksmith? (Photo by "Neil" courtesy of Wikimedia.)

Scotland Wins 36th International Team Farrier Competition at Stoneleigh

It takes teamwork, as well as superb skill, to shoe horses all day in the world's stiffest team competition and emerge the winners. But the Scottish team did that this weekend at the 36th International Team Competition at the showgrounds in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. From left: Wayne Balfour (alternate), Lewis Balfour, David Varini, Team Manager (and proud father) James Balfour holds the trophy, Derek Gardner, Devin Crerar. (Thanks to Steve Cave photography and Jonathan Nunn for this photo, used with permission)

The early report from England is that the fires are cooling in the massive forges on the showgrounds in Stoneleigh, England tonight. Now, instead of hammers on anvils, you might hear bagpipes fading into the distance.

The grounds were the setting of one of the most legendary events in farrier competition. The 36th International Team Championships attracts teams from as far away as the United States and Canada. Climbing up a mere place on the ladder from one year to the next can be a victory for some nations, who watch the teams representing the home soil of the British Isles fending off challengers at the top of the scoreboard, year after year.

England won in 2012, 2013, and 2014. British farrier Jonathan Nunn sent over the photo from Stoneleigh and quoted Scottish team manager Jim Balfour as saying that this was Scotland's first win since 1997.

Team Scotland was followed by the English, with Ireland in third place, and the USA in fourth, followed by Sweden. Other nations' placings are not known at this early date.

US readers will be happy to know that the "Best Shod Foot" on Sunday was won by Victor Frisco of Team USA. This is second-hand information via British Farriers and Blacksmiths Association President Cliff Barnes.

Top five team placings: 

1 Scotland

2 England

3 Ireland

4 USA

5 Sweden

In 2014, Scotland was fourth.

It was a big day for the Balfour family of Dundee, Scotland. It wasn't long ago that Jim, now the manager, was competing at Stoneleigh himself, and now there's a new generation of his family. But the farrier world is like that: you blink and it's all changed, but you look closer and some of the faces look familiar...

Competing at Stoneleigh is one of the most unforgettable experiences a competition farrier can have. Just getting there is a superb accomplishment. Safe home to all, and enjoy your memories from the top of the world.

Many thanks to Gill Harris and Jonathan Nunn for their assistance with details today. 

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© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is the news service for Hoofcare and Lameness Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a headlines-link email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

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Disclosure of Material Connection: The Hoof Blog (Hoofcare Publishing) has not received any direct compensation for writing this post. Hoofcare Publishing has no material connection to the brands, products, or services mentioned, other than products and services of Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

World Equestrian Games Farriers: What's Inside WEG's Pop-Up Forge?

In a village of pop-up horse stables and instant schooling arenas sits the World Equestrian Games' pop-up vet clinic with its dedicated forge. Each of the five venues of the World Equestrian Games had its own forge. Don't blink, they will soon be gone!

British team farrier Haydn Price stopped by the forge at the main arena in Caen, where the dressage and show jumping took place, to take a few photos during the show jumping days at the end of the Games. Things were quiet, but you can see the way the forge was set up to handle the needs of horses during the event.

Video: The Hammer of God: A Classic Blacksmith Detective Mystery, Courtesy of "Father Brown" on the Hoof Blog

In this mystery of riddles, a man lies dead in the churchyard. The blacksmith's hammer is found nearby. Surely he committed the murder.

But not so fast...

Ireland Lists 49 Farrier Forges and Smithies on "Registered Buildings" List

Remnants of an old forge near Castle Dermot in Kildare, Ireland.

"Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience 
and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." 
- James Joyce, 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'

There's no place like Ireland when it comes to poetry from the forge. Whether it's a list of references from Joyce, or the brooding Nobel Prize winning "Door into the Dark" poem about the farrier by Seamus Heaney, or the tragic classic folksong "The Blacksmith's Letter", the Irish arts seem right at home in the forge.

The Gaelic word for forge or smithy is "cérdcha", pronounced "cartha", and the forge was important not just to the horsemen and the smith himself, but to the whole community, so the architecture naturally had stature. But does anyone remember that today, when farriers show up in vans and trucks?

St Patrick's Day seems like a perfect time to share some good news for history and architecture fans, as well as art and poetry and mythology fans. The government workers of Ireland may have taken today off to celebrate the holiday, but they have been very hard at work in recent years, and have some interesting information to share.

Yes, the famous Enniskerry forge in Kilgarran, County Wicklow is in the survey; it tells us that it was built in 1855.

Ireland has a project called the National Survey of Architectural Heritage, and one of the many types of buildings that they have selected to survey and document is the classic Irish smithy: they have selected 49 still-standing smithies, forges, and shoeing shops scattered around the Emerald Isle.

Another forge in County Wicklow.

The stated purpose of the survey is to "identify, record, and evaluate the post-1700 architectural heritage of Ireland, uniformly and consistently as an aid in the protection and conservation of the built heritage."

Unlike other national architectural surveys, Ireland's considers smithies worthy of cataloging. 

Imagine, if you will, van-loads of surveyors and photographers and historians driving around the countryside collecting the measurements and histories of each of these buildings. And then compiling all that information into a database that can be searched and referenced.

The forges don't all have horseshoe doors, but they all do
seem to be a bit magical. This one is in County Westmeath.

For years, I've talked about organizing a van-load of my own. I'd fill it with people who appreciate the old forges with horseshoe doorways. Wouldn't you like to see some of them before they all disappear or are eagerly converted by architects into homes for people who have never stood in a real forge?

Unfortunately, many of the oldest shoeing shops were situated so that ever-widening roads spelled their inevitable demolition. If there are this many left in the tiny country, can you imagine how many there once were?

Fewer seem to be left in Great Britain, but Ireland has plenty to see. The problem is that many are described in the survey as "derelict". In the photos, they may lack a roof, or a wall, or a couple of walls. But something still stands to let you know that these places mattered, back in the day.

Forges were built to last, as if the smiths who constructed them had no reason not to believe that they would be needed forever. For many fathers, they were rock-solid legacies to pass on to their sons. While many are similar, no two are exactly alike.

This lovely forge near Antrim Castle still stands; notice the heel calks on the doorframe's shoe. It is not in the Survey, however,  because it is in Northern Ireland.

I wonder if there are some Americans who will read this article and head for Ireland to buy one (or more) of these old landmarks so they can re-erect them in America. Some Irish buildings have crossed the Atlantic, though I haven't heard of any forges doing that--yet. I don't think that is what the Irish government or I have in mind. Better to head to Ireland and go into the files of the Survey, get dimensions and proportions and details, and build one of your own here.

Make no mistake: smithies are just one of dozens of categories of common and uncommon buildings listed in the survey. The government has located and identified and surveyed the forges, but they are not protected from demolition or development or conversion.

A page from the survey; this is the result of a search for survyed smithies in County Meath. There may well be more that were not in the survey, or that haven't been found yet because they are on private property.

Do you speak architecture? Here's a sample listing of one forge:

Detached three-bay single-story rubble stone former forge, c.1850, with single-bay single-story side elevation to west having horse shoe-shaped integral carriageway. Reroofed, c.1930. Now disused. Gable-ended roof. Replacement corrugated-iron, c.1930. Iron ridge tiles. Rendered coping to gables. No rainwater goods. Rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings. Cut-stone lintels. Timber paneled doors. Horse shoe-shaped integral carriageway to side elevation to west. Cut-granite surround with 'nail holes'. Inscribed benchmark to surround. Set back from road perpendicular to road in own grounds with side (west) elevation fronting on to road.

Appraisal: This forge is a fine, small-scale building that is testament to the small-scale industry of County Kildare and which is therefore of considerable social and historic importance - the building is also testament to an age before the automobile when the local community relied on horse power for transport and farming activities. Although now disused and in poor repair, the building retains some of its original character, features and materials. The construction of the building is of interest and combines rubble stone with more refined cut-granite dressings. Important surviving early salient features include the cut-stone dressings to the openings, in particular the appropriate surround to the integral carriageway that is also furnished with nail holes. The inscribed benchmark to the surround is also of scientific and social interest, having been used by the Ordnance Survey in the early preparation of maps. The forge is attractively located perpendicular to the road side and is a pleasant and prominent landmark in the locality.

-----------------------------------------

Not all forges were built to last. This thatched one in County Limerick might not be standing. It looks like everyone in this photo is packed up and leaving the farrier behind. Maybe he was ready to leave and someone showed up with that donkey to trim.

They're just sitting there. The ones in use rarely, if ever, have a horse inside; many have become gas stations or homes or shops or tearooms.

I know there are people who go to Ireland to see the castles, or the foxhunts, or the wolfounds or the Galway hooker sailboats. People have come to the defense of these bits of history and tradition, and they want to experience them, preserve them, and treasure them.

Now the government has, almost by accident, created a treasure map for anyone who wants to experience a very special type of old building that (almost) no one would dream of constructing any more. But there they are, waiting to be photographed and visited and appreciated for what they were. And still are.

To learn more, you can sift through the entire log of smithies and forges on the website: http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/.

Read also:
The Blacksmith and His Forge in Ancient Ireland

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Disclosure of Material Connection: No direct compensation was paid for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

A Farrier's Christmas Tale, World Champion Style, in Video and Poem

There are many tales about Christmas in the forge, but Santa Claus knows exactly where to go when he needs help. He seeks out three World Champions: Grant Moon (Wales), David Varini (Scotland), and Paul Robinson (Ireland) who just happen to be working late on Christmas Eve. But have your read the poem?

Heavy Hooves: Farrier Work Transformed with Tony Golding's Artistic Vision

No words are needed for this video, and none were supplied. This is the work of one of my favorite British photographers, Tony Golding, who normally is photographing British heavy horses in all their glory.

But this time he turned to the bottom of those same horses' feet and zoomed in on the hands of the farriers at a shoeing contest at one of the big shows in England. He got very close and followed a couple of the contestants through to nailing on.

It's nine minutes of sweet jazz riffs and very tight closeups, artistic transitions, fades and dissolves.

Click on the little "HD" icon at the bottom to initiate High Definition mode if your monitor will allow it. Then go to "full screen" mode by clicking of the four-arrowed box next to "HD". Sit back and enjoy it.

And if you do, click on the little "like" heart at the top right of the screen and let Tony know.

Watch more Tony Golding video slide shows of heavy horses.

Need a copy? If you want to understand lame horses, you do. Call 978 281 3222 to order.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

London 2012 Farriers: Meet James Blurton, Lead Farrier

Jim Blurton of Wales is one of those farriers who has more than one claim to fame. But his most recent is the one that might stick the longest.

Jim is a former world champion at the Calgary Stampede. He’s a veteran of countless Welsh national horseshoeing teams. He’s a successful farrier with a burgeoning group practice employing ten or so farriers, and a manufacturing entrepreneur whose name is on the farrier supply map for manufacturing farrier hand tools and pre-made bar shoes.

But as of yesterday--and forever more--he’ll be remembered as the “Lead Farrier”. His position is attached to the veterinary services department of the London Olympic Games’ organizing committee, a.k.a. LOCOG.

Jim said that his day begins at 5:30 a.m. and that, on the day we first spoke, it ended at 10:30 p.m. There were horses to be attended to: if not shod, they still may need to be adjusted, clenches looked at and maintenance provided. He was waiting for his team of volunteers to arrive the next day (Saturday) when the official duties would begin.

Jim Blurton, NTO Lead Farrier for the London 2012 Olympic Games

Jim’s plan is to spread the farrier team throughout the park and station farriers wherever horses are competing or training. The crew of British farriers has been through a training program, and understands what is expected of them.

There are five positions in the training center area; one farrier is needed at each of five warmup arena. A farrier also needs to be in the forge at the stables and one at the competition venue itself. For the cross-country on Monday, farriers will be at the start and the finish of the course.

Another farrier is on duty at the receiving station, about five miles away. Peden Bloodstock is there, facilitating the processing of any arriving horses. They are all checked for their proper permits and transferred from their vans to official LOCOG transports that carry the horses into the park. Everything that has been sent with a horse is x-rayed at this receiving station, and the farrier is on hand to make sure the horses didn’t have any shoe problems during transport to London.

And the forge itself? It's important to know that it's up in the air. It's built on stilts, just like all the stables and buildings at the equestrian center--even the stadium and the arena itself are built on platforms on stilts. Horses go up and down ramps to get where they're going, and back again.

This morning I spoke with Jay Tovey, an Olympic farrier from Bedfordshire, England who was one of several assisting Jim Blurton on this second day of eventing dressage. Jay has been in the Park with Jim since last Monday and spent today minding hooves at a warmup arena. The sun was shining when we spoke, but they had been through thunder and lightning and a downpour during the dressage.

“Brilliant!” was Jay Tovey’s comment on the farrier scheme. He said that people at the staging center and the park were aware of the farriers and what they were assigned to do.

One of Jim Blurton's business accomplishments has been the mass production of heart bar shoes;
this photo is a still from his video on fitting heart bars.

In the meantime, Jay and Jim are having a few encounters with farriers from other countries. As Jay looked across the arena where he was stationed, he said he could see Nigel Perrott from Somerset, England, who is the farrier for the Irish eventing team, and Dieter Krohnert, the long-time farrier for the German National Federation teams.

I asked Jim Blurton what qualified him to be selected for the job and he had to stop and think a minute. Then he reasoned it out: they needed someone who could be away from his or her business for a month--which jim can be only because of the staff he has at home to take up the slack.

They needed someone who could manage people, he added slowly, which the size of his shoeing and manufacturing business obviously proves.

“And they needed someone who’d know what they’re doing,” he ended.

Coming up: More about the forge, farriers from other countries, and a salute to some of the farriers whose hard work helped their horses get to London.

Thanks to Team Thailand's farrier, David Watson, for taking the photo of Jim in the Olympic forge.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

London 2012 Farriers: Tending the Other Olympic Flame

Once there was a peaceful park on the edge of London...

The Opening Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games were pretty spectacular. I’m sure that the highlight for many was when the Queen parachuted out of a helicopter and into the stadium with James Bond at her side and her handbag in place.

But for me, the highlight came before that.

Director Danny Boyle’s timeline portrayal began with a bucolic rural England, complete with (real) giant Shire horses. It got even better when smokestacks rose among the meadows and the Industrial Revolution reshaped the land into mills, waterwheels and massive gears. Smoke filled the air. The pastoral farmers turned into millworkers with soot on their faces.

And then it happened.

The smiths leaned on their hammers and watched the rings they'd forged rise in the sky over the stadium

The center of the stadium glowed with fire and a single giant Olympic ring formed in the earth. And it kept forming because 100 or so hammer-wielding smith-types pounded it into shape. Ok, so their sledges were undoubtedly made of foam. But it was pretty realistic, an Olympic-sized exercise of traditional iron wheel-making in a forge.

The ring rose in the night sky and four others joined it, forming the iconic Olympic rings.

The peaceful park was transformed into an equestrian village, with a smithy, of course.

Across the river in London’s Greenwich Park, the equestrian events were set to begin 12 hours later and the Olympic forge was open for business. The flame burning there is encased in a gas forge, but it is being tended by a group of British farriers who are also sharing it with team farriers from around the world.

If there is a place at the Olympic equestrian venue where the world meets, it will be here. The Olympic forge amidst the sprawling stable area should be a re-creation of the village smithy on a town green.

During the Games, the Hoof Blog will do its best to connect you with the people who are sharing the Olympic Forge’s Flame.

You won’t hear gossip about horses or riders, but you might learn something about how the FEI and individual nations approach farriery and veterinary care as essential parts of equine welfare, how the forge came to be, who the farriers are, and which nations sent a farrier along with the horses to keep things straight.

We’ll end the beginning by saying thank you to all the farriers who have already generously provided interviews and sent over photos of their time in Greenwich Park. Keep it coming...and keep the Olympic forge flame burning for us all.

Call 978 281 3222 for US orders of this crucial reference book; supplies are limited!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

War Horse Hoofcare: Don't Come Between a Farrier and His Horse

Photographers talk about the "point of infinity" in an image. There's a horizon or a focal point that draws your eye to the defined distance. Or lack of a defined distance.

This photo of farriers at work at a British horse stables in France during World War I is a study in efficiency, 1915-style. You see one man (on far left) in charge of the bellows for the little portable forge. One farrier at the anvil. And one farrier with the horse, holding the hoof up, ready for the shoe to be hot-fit.

Noticed there is a top-anvil tool lying on the ground by the first anvil, and the striker's hammer is set to go. 

The question is whether the striker was also the forge cranker. That would mean he had to dance back and forth around the anvil without getting in the way. 

The photo begs the question as to whether the official looking military figure at the second anvil was also keeping time.

The stables and farriers stretch to infinity. How many farriers do you think are in this photo?

This image was provided by the Royal Library of Scotland, and there is very little information available about where it was taken, other than in France during the First World War.

Can you add any information?

Call to order your copy of this amazing reference book

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

War Horse Hoofcare: Holy Horseshoeing at an Anvil Altar in France, 1918

Today we salute some holy horseshoeing. During the long battle in World War I to take (or defend) the Argonne Forest, American transport horses were stabled inside the ruins of a church in Consenvoye, in northeastern France. A corner of the once-grand church became the smithy where American farriers worked to keep the horses shod. 

Standing In A Giant's Hoofprints: Bob McCarthy's Anvil Dedication Saturday

There's a saying that gets tossed around a lot in leadership-by-design books. It's often spouted from the stage by commencement speakers. The words, attributed to Sir Issac Newton, appear on the edge of every British two-pound coin. Newton is said to have said, "If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

I'm sure you understand precisely what this saying means. We have progressed further than those who came before us, because of their tremendous height--height in humanity, height in perseverance, height in sacrifice or bravery or intelligence or ability. And, in some way, the giants gained their height too by the act of lifting up the next generation, sometimes by not even acknowledging that that is what they were doing, even as they did it.

British two-pound coin

For the most part, these giants exist in people's memories. Each of us knows who the giants are--or were--in our lives. But sometimes we see the ghosts of the giants, or I do.

I remember being at farrier Eddie Watson's funeral in Virginia, at an overflowing funeral home with three chapels--all three filled with the three F's of Mr. Watson's life: friends, family and farriers. At the Hunt Club reception afterwards, there was a tiny lamp; he had forged the beautiful base. It burned brightly, though it was the middle of the afternoon, and the paper shade was a warm color. As people jostled around, that little light kept burning. I think I know why it was there, and why it was turned on.

A tree was planted in Saratoga.

Another time was when the horseshoers at Saratoga lost several members of their fraternity in one year. To commemorate the loss, they set up an anvil and planted a tree as a little memorial garden outside the blacksmith shop behind the Oklahoma Training Track. A lot of people came to the dedication ceremony, all for different reasons, and in memory of different people. We stood and stared at a little sapling tree, and beyond.

I felt that way in 2008, when Cornell's vet school farrier shop was remodeled and then-resident farrier Michael Wildenstein sank into the concrete of the floor shoes made by the instructors who had come before him.  And he made sure that Buster Conklin, the only one still living (at the time), came in to have his photo taken in the new shop with his shoe in the floor.

A giant named Buster Conklin posed with Cornell farrier school students in 2008.

We all have ways of remembering people who've made a difference in our lives, and we carry them around in and with us in different ways. But sometimes people care enough, and are creative enough, to make an extra effort, to call out for a gathering or a photo session or a special place to set up a little lamp, because it's important.

Saturday afternoon will be one of those times. The senior statesman of Massachusetts horseshoers, Mr. Bob McCarthy, died last year. His wonderful blacksmith shop in his little town of Medfield has been torn down. A forge stood in that spot for almost 200 years but now there's a parking lot. But someone cared enough to do something to mark the spot where Bob spent his days--spent his life, in fact.

We all had to start somewhere, even Myron McLane, and he was lucky enough to start with Bob McCarthy. Myron bought Bob's 225-pound Eagle anvil years ago when the shop closed, and now has prepared it as a monument on a special granite base, surrounded with a mosaic of inlaid horseshoes made by farriers who were influenced by Bob, and who cared enough to make a shoe in his memory. There will be a few of Bob's shoes in there as well. The town has approved the monument and the dedication.

Allen Smith and Bob McCarthy, two giants of New England farriery.

Bob's anvil will be dedicated at 12:30 on September 17 on Janes Avenue in Medfield, Massachusetts. Everyone is welcome. Just ask anyone where Bob's blacksmith shop used to be. It's the kind of place that, even though it's gone, is still there in a lot of people's memories, and now an anvil will mark the spot.

It doesn't seem so long ago that a giant stood in that very spot, and behind that very anvil, the one that Bob's father bought in 1931. If Bob stood there on Saturday and looked down, he'd see the beautiful workmanship of the farriers who stand today on his shoulders, farriers who haven't forgotten who helped lift them to where--and who--they are today.

The Universal Farrier Apprentice

by Fran Jurga | 2 September 2009 | Fran Jurga Hoof Blog



I had an idea for this blog post: Everyone turn the sound off when you watch this video, and then you won't be influenced by the location. Because for nine minutes and thirty seconds, this video takes you into a universal setting. This shoeing forge could be in Colorado or Sweden or Turkey or Japan or New Zealand, with few changes. It's a pretty universal scene.

However, the sound is very nicely recorded and adds a lot; after a while, the apprentice's voice comes on and you'll hear what it's like to train as a second-year apprentice farrier in remote Donegal, on the northwestern edge of Ireland.

I play a lot of games when I watch farrier videos (and I watch a lot of them). I love to watch the background activity (and give bonus points for multiple dogs) and in this case, the shoe pile jumps out of the background and dominates the whole forge. Obviously they aren't worried about earthquakes in Donegal or else John and Heather will be buried in old shoes some day.

A game I like to play with non-US videos is to try to pick out the countries where tools and clothing and shop decor were made. In this video we see Kevin Keegan's ubiquitous Hoof Jack--is there a country on earth that the Hoof Jack hasn't conquered? I'm staring at one in my office right now as I write this.

Readers: send in photos of your Hoof Jacks in a native setting showing what it's like in your part of the world where you live and work. Just make sure the Hoof Jack is in the photo somewhere. I'll post them on the blog.

I wondered where the loop knife came from: Canada? Australia? Montana? Germany? and John's apron has a made-in-the-USA look to it. The "w" on the shoes is the forge is a giveaway that they are by Werkman and from Holland.

That's just a start, you can take it from there. Many thanks to the gentle director and editor who refrained from a voiceover narration, intro music and splashy graphics. They had the good sense to just let this scene speak for itself so those of us who know what to listen and look for, can. And I hope you will.

It's just ten minutes out there in the farrier universe.

© 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).

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Don't stand too close! Hot Competition for Farriers in England

by Fran Jurga | 26 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Don't stand too close!, originally uploaded by Lid Licker!

The wrath of Hephaestus Himself seems to be spewing from this Damascus forge put to its test at yesterday's Handmade Horseshoes farrier competition in Leighton Buzzard, England. Photographer Gary Huston has mounted a wonderful photo recording of the day on his Flickr photo gallery.

Gary is a terrific farrier/photographer who knows where to point the camera and experiments with color saturation for unusual and remarkable effects. I'm a big fan of his and I bet you will be, too!

I just hope his Canon didn't melt...

For any non-farrier readers: this contraption is a propane forge used by farriers to heat steel for shoemaking or reshaping/altering of existing shoes. It works much like your gas grill but heats the steel quickly and efficiently to a very high heat so the steel is malleable.

Working with one of these all day may be why farriers are such good hands at summer barbecues...and many of them are also great chefs, possibly because they have an innate understanding of the effects of heat on matter. Think about it.

At this competition, farriers working in teams or alone would have been competing for perfection in craftmanship of a prescribed shoe design in a particular dimension from a supplied length, width and thickness of raw steel material. Think: Iron Chef with hammer and tongs. Realize: Hephestus lives, and he lives well.

Independence Day in the USA

Happy Fourth of July to all the Hoof Blog's USA readers!

Illustration: "American Cincinnatus 1783" appeared on the cover of Literary Digest on March 21, 1931; it later appeared several times on the cover of the Horseshoers Journal, also in the 1930s. Jean Leon Gerome Ferris was an American painter who created a series of 78 paintings called "An American Pageant". He died before this painting was publishing on the magazine covers. Perhaps that is why this painting is not very well known. It's terrific!

Ireland's Fine Horses Once Passed Through This Arch

County Carlow in Ireland is home to this skeleton of a once proud forge. Double-click on the image for a larger view. Photo kindly loaned by Paddy Martin.

Throughout the lifetime of this blog, I have periodically shared evidence of a few special remaining buildings that are scattered around the globe. These buildings are usually in the British Isles. They are special in that they employ the simplest and most elegant form in nature, the arch, to emulate a horseshoe as the supporting doorway of a smithy or shoeing forge.

True to form, as soon as you publish one, another one pops up. Or, in today's case, two pop up.

We have Paddy Martin from Ireland to thank for these, and I do thank him heartily.

The top photo is my favorite. The arch of the old forge may soon be all that is left. It was definitely the strongest form. Notice there is also an arch in the fence gate. And even the ivy on the cottage is attempting to imitate the form of an arch. This must be a magical place.

I can't help but notice that the scale of this arch is more powerful than many of the horseshoe doorways seen in other smithies from days gone by. You could drive a truck through there, or a loaded wagon. Surely either this farrier was a proud man, or a prosperous one, or both, and that must have meant that the horses in the area enjoyed visiting a fine smithy, back in the day.

But why hasn't it been preserved? There's certainly something beautiful in the neglectful state, but how long before it crumbles?

Paddy writes, "I'm now 60 years old and the first time that I saw this old forge was when I was walking or 'driving' cattle from a farm near Castledermot to another farm near Rathvilly in County Carlow...a distance of about seven miles. I was helping my father and I must have been about 10 at the time. I seem to remember the name Cummins or Cummings being associated with this old forge. At about 18 I moved away from the area and I have only become reacquainted since my daughter moved into a house two minutes away a couple of years ago.

"The forge is located at Corballis Cross Roads which is on the 'back road' from Castledermot to Baltinglass through Crop Hill in South Kildare. The building itself seems not to be past restoration...must have a closer look when I'm there again."

Note to Paddy: Find out if it is for sale....

And this slightly different rendition on the arched doorway is in County Kildare. Photo kindly loaned by Paddy Martin.

Paddy's second forge photo is one that I believe I have seen pictured before; he says it is on the road from Kildare Town to Rathangan in County Kildare. It is very similar to others found in Ireland but it doesn't have the single window above the keystone--or maybe it did and it has been bricked over.

I need to make some sort of a Google Map with all these great old forges marked on it so someone (maybe even me, someday) could go on tour and visit them all. We could have some sort of a smithy architecture road rally up and down the British Isles. In order to win you'd have to have a picture of yourself in front of each forge. That's the sort of farrier competition I might be able to win.