International Horseshoeing Hall of Famer Randy Luikart says American Farriers Journal set the high bar for hoof-care content. Image: Jeff Cota

Editor’s Note: American Farriers Journal is celebrating its 50th anniversary and we’re reflecting on the relationships and partnerships we’ve forged, the milestones and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. In the famed Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” protagonist George Bailey gets to see, via a dramatic intervention by an angel named Clarence Oddbody, what the world might have been like had he never been born. International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame member Randy Luikart, past president of the American Farrier’s Association, offers his thoughts on what the farrier industry would be like if it never existed.

There were farrier magazines out there you could get, but Henry Heymering isolated it down a little bit. The Anvil’s Ring is the artist blacksmith’s magazine. The Illinois Licensed Horseshoers Association had its publication, too. So, somebody would’ve come up with something for a newsletter.

Frank Lessiter made American Farriers Journal the leading magazine. Dean Laux did a good job, with good covers and some good articles, but Frank elevated it a notch higher than anything else. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. When you set the bar that high, everybody either has to catch up or drop off. That’s what happened. It still has the high bar.

There’s so much content on platforms like YouTube that’s questionable. It’s difficult for people to isolate the good from the bad. There’s probably 10% good and 90% bad. If I were a manufacturer, I don’t think I’d be selling it on YouTube.

When we started running the hands-on events at the American Farrier’s Association convention, we set up 20 stations or so. We had a half-hour for people to work with somebody and then we’d swap them out for the next group. You’re limited by space and time, particularly when there is a significant demand. It’s not beneficial for learning.

When Frank started the International Hoof-Care Summit, he used a lot of the experiences we struggled with at the AFA and smoothed them out or altered them a bit.