Jeff Ridley made at least 47 new friends in Brazil recently.The farrier from Leighton, Iowa, made a trip to the South American nation to conduct a clinic for horseshoers in conjunction with Fabio Furquim, a Brazilian veterinarian.

Ridley was suggested as a clinician by Dick Becker, the Michigan farrier who had put on a clinic in Brazil with Furquim last year.

Ridley found an audience hungry for knowledge and thirsting after any advice he could give them.

“We get started around 7 in the morning and were still going at 8 or 8:30 at night,” said Ridley, who is an American Farrier’s Association certified journeyman farrier and also holds the organization’s Therapeutic Shoeing endorsement.

“They don’t have the resources we do, and are just so eager to get their hands on anything that will help them,” he said.

Among the resources those in attendance were eager to get their hands on were issues of American Farriers Journal donated by the magazine for Ridley to take along on his trip.

“They were a huge hit,” Ridley said. “We put them out so people could look them over, then at the end of the clinic, held a drawing for people to get an issue to take with them.”

Guild Annual Meeting To Focus On New Strategic Plan, Benefit Package

The Guild Of Professional Farriers will hold its annual membership meeting during the International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 30 to Feb. 2.

The focus of the meeting will be the roll…