This year marks the 50th anniversary (and 32nd year at Lessiter Media) of American Farriers Journal covering the farrier trade. We’re asking hoof-care professionals for a few words to include in a “From the Audience” section of our coverage – in the December edition.

Bill Everitt, CJF, CET, of Midland, Ontario, shares his thoughts on the hoof-care milestones over the past half-century.

I started shoeing horses in 1975 after I graduated from three courses at the Nova Scotia Agriculture College Farrier/Blacksmith Program.

I achieved my CJF in 1988 wherein Randy Luikart, a future International Horseshoeing Hall of Famer, was my examiner. Randy was really impressed with my bar shoe and scored it 92%. I retired from shoeing in 2007 and started my career change to a professional mariner.

Bill Everitt is writing a book called Farrier Secrets Revealed in hopes of improving the attrition rate among new farriers. Pictured is the cover image. Image: Bill Everitt

I am writing a book on farriery that I started 2 years ago and hope to publish it next year. The title is Farrier Secrets Revealed. My target audience is newbies considering entering the farrier profession and horse owners. My objective is to help improve the attrition rate of new farriers as the numbers in the past have indicated that 85% of farriers are no longer practicing after 5 years in the business. One farrier school in the United States says that 95-97% of graduates are not practicing their craft after 6 months.

Q. When you look back at the last 50 years of new technologies, what were the biggest defining moments that forever changed farriery and equine health as we know it today?

A. One of the biggest defining moments was the establishment of farrier associations in Canada and the U.S. After I graduated from my courses, I joined the American Farrier’s Association (AFA) as soon as I found out about it. In fact, I still have the first American Farrier Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 1, March 1975.

After the AFA was started, the Ontario Farriers Association (OFA) was started in 1980, of which I was one of the founding members. I served on the OFA Board as a director, treasurer and past president. The farrier associations encouraged members to pursue continuous learning by taking part in clinics, annual conventions, symposiums, farrier certification and competitions. I availed myself to all such events and it made me a better farrier, which greatly helped me to achieve the CJF certification 12 years after I graduated from my advanced training class in 1976.

I believe my active involvement in farrier competitions improved my work so much that I was able to become a Certified Journeyman Farrier on my first attempt. I earned plenty of ribbons and trophies and the real beneficiaries of the winnings were my clientele.

Certification and competitions has helped Bill Everitt improve his hoof-care skills for the betterment of the horse. Pictured are ribbons and trophies Everitt has won in competitions. Image: Bill Everitt 

Q. For the newer generation, what are the biggest ways that farriery and equine health is totally different from that of 50 years ago?

A. The willingness by farriers to share what they know with other farriers has made a huge impact in helping budding farriers enter the profession. Fifty years ago, there wasn’t the open sharing of knowledge among farriers that we see today.

Farrier and equine health have greatly benefited over the years by the fact the relationships between farriers and veterinarians has improved immensely with both groups showing far more respect of one another, attending symposiums together and a willingness to work together for the betterment of the horses and the clients.

Q. What are some specific ways that American Farriers Journal magazine impacted your business and staff?

A. The American Farriers Journal magazine has helped me immensely in my farrier practice (from 1975 to 2007). I read every issue cover to cover and learned a lot from the technical articles and research reported on farrier science. It also covered a lot of articles on operating a successful farrier service business. In fact, I had a 5-page article I wrote titled, “Charging The Real Marketplace Value For Horseshoeing” that was published in the AFJ 22 years ago in the November 2002 issue. In that article, I stated that the fee charged for resetting a horse should have been $500 based on a close business analysis of operating a farrier service practice in the early 2000s. I argued that $500 for a shoeing job was not only fair, but necessary.