For the first time in the 6-year history of the mail-in forging exercise, the top shoe was forged by an overseas farrier. This lateral bar shoe with a masselotte clip was forged by Lars Andersen of Herning, Denmark.

Second place went to Gene Lieser of Elsa, Texas, and third plane honors were captured by Mike Miller of Huntsville, Ala.

The mail-in forging exercise is a once-a-year learning experience that offers unlimited opportunities to expand the forging skills of shoers around the world. Co-sponsored by the World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition at the Calgary Stampede and American Farriers Journal, this year’s learning experience included 61 entries from 11 countries and 21 states.

Shoers participating in the mail-in forging exercise split $23,284.38 in valuable tools and supplies provided by 41 leading farrier industry suppliers. Each participant received $109.85 in farrier supplies simply for testing their shoemaking skills in this extraordinary mail-in forging exercise. In addition, the 25 highest scoring participants split an additional $16,583.53 of products.

Each participant also received a detailed individual evaluation of their forging skills from the Calgary Stampede judges, David Duckett of Ambler, Pa., and Gerald Laverty of Langley, British Columbia.

Over the past 6 years, 403 participants in this extraordinary learning program have shared $165,602.16 in valuable farrier tools and supplies. But the real benefit…