2018 Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise Top Three Shoes

1. Stephen Stoltzfus, Narvon, Pa.
2. Udo Kunihiro, Hokkaido. Japan
3. Mike Garrett, Salida, Colo.

For the fourth year, VICTORY sponsored the Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise. This challenge was free to enter and participants each received a T-shirt for their efforts. The overall winner earned a belt buckle and free registration to the 2019 International Hoof-Care Summit (IHCS). Contestants could mail-in their entry to the American Farriers Journal office or drop it off in Cincinnati at the IHCS. Out of the 54 shoes entered, Stephen Stoltzfus of Narvon, Pa., won the challenge. His brother Raymond won the exercise the year prior.

The contest called for participants to make a bar shoe measuring 5 1/8 inches wide by 5 3/8 inches long. The bar is approximately 2 7/8 inches wide. The rocker or set toe goes from toe nail to toe nail. The frog plate is 1 3/16-inches from the back of the bar to the tip. The boxing is from heel nail to heel nail around the back of the shoe. The shoe is fitted up with six E3 nails, with just the crown of the nail head exposed. Craig Trnka made the specimen shoe and judged the contest with his son Bodie.

“I wanted to offer a shoe that would have plenty of lessons, as well as a practical use,” Trnka notes. “Some may think that this is an easy exercise. However, there are plenty of challenges in this shoe, especially with the toe.”…