Badminton Horse Trials Farriers Prize 2009: Photos of New Zealand's Winning Best Shod Horse

We've been halfway around the world and back again this week to catch up with New Zealand team farrier Andrew Nickalls, who in turn has been celebrating his victory in one of the world's most understated and underrated competitions for farriers, the "best shod horse" trophy at the 60th running of the four-star Badminton Horse Trials on May 7-10 in Gloucestershire, England. Andrew (photo at left) is the sort of fellow you'd want in your life boat when the ocean liner is sinking. 

He simply shot pictures of the horse's feet with his cellphone and emailed them. Mission accomplished. Of course, you can't see much, but he got the job done.

 

The shoe, first: Vortex is a 15-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred that is at the four-star ("Olympic") level. He finished 20th at Badminton, and the only things on his feet are shoes, nails and studs. That's quite something in itself. The shoes are handmade 3/4 x 3/8" concave, with side clips. 

I asked about the double stud holes, sure that it was some Kiwi trick but Andrew said: "I put two studs in the outside branch due to the fact that it's such a major competition where they are being taken in and out so often and therefore the extra is a spare one in case the thread goes!"

Side view shows the fit and the positioning and relative size and height of the clips. 

While the shoe is set back under the toe a bit, it's fit with some fullness at the heel and quarter, perhaps more than you'd expect for a horse that is going to be scrambling through a cross-country course. Andrew obviously knows this horse and knew what he could and couldn't do there. Some horses are more careful jumpers than others.

 
This is part 2 of this article; for more about Badminton's Farrier Prize, Andrew Nickalls, please read part 1 of this article, showing the horse's front end conformation and the rider's action. Click here to go there. The competition was judged by James Blurton, who has himself won the award three times with three different horses for three different riders. Jim evaluated the horses both before the competition and on the final day, to see how the shoes and feet had held up...and which horses were still sound. 

© 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). 

Kiwis Trot Off with Badminton's Farriers Prize for 2009

by Fran Jurga | 16 May 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

New Zealand rider Tim Price with Vortex, shod by Andrew Nickalls, was judged Best Shod at the 60th Badminton Horse Trials in England last weekend. (Nico Morgan Photography)

By now, Hoof Blog readers know how it works. A shoeing judge observes all the horses entered in the venerable four-star Badminton Horse Trials on Wednesday of the event, as they "trot up" for the first presentation to the ground jury, where they are judged on soundness. The hoof judge is also looking at soundness and can look at their shoes.

The foot judge can have a second look on Sunday morning, when the field has narrowed down to the survivors of Saturday's cross-country, and those survivors are presented to the ground jury again, to be judged fit to continue in the show jumping. So the foot judge sees what the feet look like after dressage and cross-country, sees which shoes stayed on, and sees which horses are still in the competition and, most importantly, which are still sound.

In 2009, the judge awarded the prize to a New Zealand Thoroughbred, Vortex, ridden to Tim Price and shod by Andrew Nickalls, the team farrier for New Zealand's eventing team.

More about Vortex: A 15-year-old Thoroughbred, Vortex had a lot working against him in the competition. By that age, an eventer has a lot of wear and tear on his legs and hooves. This horse is a veteran. Andrew said, "Vortex has good feet, and is lovely to shoe. Janelle (Richards), his co-owner and groom, simply put some oil on his hooves, nothing special."

Other horses had their hooves highly polished and buffed with coatings so that the nail heads and clips, if they were there, were barely visible. Nickalls and Price chose the opposite tack for Vortex and let his true hooves show.

Compare Vortex's hooves with these highly polished hoof capsules.

It is interesting to note that Tim Price owned this horse in New Zealand, sold him to Sweden, then bought him back after he moved to England. Reunited, they finished 20th at Badminton, where it is a great accomplishment just to finish at all.

More about Andrew Nickalls: Andrew has been in the UK for ten years. He apprenticed at home in New Zealand, and is originally from Tutaruru on the North Island; he took his Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (DipWCF) exam after some additional training in England.

Andrew has traveled with the New Zealand team to two Olympics now, and has competed himself at the international level of farriery at the Calgary Stampede World Championships four times since 2004, and was in the Top Ten there three years in a row. He married last year and bought a house in Dorset, on the west coast of England.

More about the shoes: We are waiting for more photos so you can see at least one of the shoes, and these will be posted as soon as they get here. Vortex wears handmade shoes made from 3/4 x 3/8" concave, with side clips, and with quarter clips behind, and is done every five weeks.

About the judge: Judge for the competition was Welsh farrier James Blurton, who himself has won the best-shod award three times.


Thanks to the Badminton event office for looking up all the previous winners. If you have trouble reading the list, double-click on the image and you should be able to see it at a much larger view size. James Blurton and Bernie Tidmarsh are tied for the most wins, with three each. Notice that all three of Bernie's wins were with New Zealand horses! I think it is interesting that no horse and only one rider (Andrew Bennie of New Zealand) has ever won twice.

Andrew said he made the trip to Badminton on Saturday to be on hand for cross-country, but Vortex had no problems after the long test. "So we just hung out and had a beer and I drove home," he said in his matter-of-fact Kiwi way. Tim called him on Sunday when the announcement of the trophy was made.

Congratulations, all the way around the world.

(Note: cover at left features Bernie Tidmarsh, resident farrier at Badminton; if you ever have a chance to meet him, don't miss it!)

© 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.