In December of 1993, the American Farriers Journal staff started the “International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame” to recognize outstanding members of your profession.

In the last 9 years, 75 shoers have been inducted in this “Hall Of Fame” that’s co-sponsored by the Kentucky Derby Museum. There have been as many as 275 nominations for this prestigious farrier award in some years.

Should We Honor Vets?

As a compliment to the farrier recognition program, we established the “International Equine Veterinarians Hall Of Fame” in 1997. Ten outstanding equine vets involved in daily practice, research and teaching have been inducted in the past 4 years.

Since it’s not everyday that farriers honor vets for their dedication to foot care, you know these equine veterinarians are really something special. 

Who Makes Nominations?

This question of who makes nominations has been asked many times in recent weeks due to the nomination of a highly controversial foot care specialist.

For nominations for both award programs, we’ve relied on farriers, equine veterinarians and others in the horse industry. We’ve run announcements in this magazine asking readers to nominate individuals, although farriers haven’t done a very good job of sending in nominations for these awards.

Each year, we also mail news releases for both awards programs to 487 horse publications around the world asking their readers to send in nominations. 

Regardless of whether we think someone is a viable candidate or not, we still accept all nominations and leave it up to the judges to select the…