In its 44 years of existence, our family-owned Lessiter Media company has always tried to take the high road when dealing with unpleasant, ugly or unfair matters. But when a situation goes too far, we aren’t afraid to defend ourselves, nor set the record straight (click here to read Frankly Speaking & Setting it Straight).

Numerous farriers, suppliers, speakers and IHCS Trade Show exhibitors continue to ask about Stockhoff’s apparent multi-year vendetta against the successful 22-year-old International Hoof-Care Summit (IHCS). Since this event has attracted 5,642 attendees from the U.S. and 22 other countries over the past half-dozen years alone, you should know why we’re no longer willing to allow our hard-earned reputation to be unnecessarily harmed.  

Headquartered in La Grange, Ky., Stockhoff’s operates farrier supply stores in Kentucky, Arizona and New Jersey.

Yes, I know America is a free country, and every business owner may run its enterprise however it wishes. But that doesn’t mean “running down” an industry-first business — or its hardworking team — should be allowed.

A Years Ago Mistake on My Part

Years ago, before the introduction of stricter privacy laws and European GDPR regulations, we provided IHCS trade show exhibitors with a post-event attendee list. As privacy protections emerged, we discontinued this practice.

I’ll start by admitting to a major mistake I made years ago. Sometime along the way, Stockhoff’s received a “one-time-only-use” list from us of pre-registered attendees several weeks before the event. They messaged the list encouraging farriers to order supplies and take them home from the Summit without having to pay for shipping. This gave them an unfair advantage over other trade exhibitors, even meaning some attendees likely didn’t bother to stop at other trade show booths.

I informed Stockhoff’s prior to the 2024 IHCS that they would no longer benefit from an unofficial pre-show list, which was also necessary due to the new customer privacy laws. Their explosive “take our ball and go home” reaction is well known, but was disappointing and surprising to us.

During the 2024 IHCS, the company refused several efforts from our staff to discuss the situation. Over the next few months, numerous attempts were made by us to contact them via phone, email and even a drive to their offices where we waited several hours in their parking lot. They refused to see us.

All of these efforts on our part were outright dismissed in an attempt to “exert” revenge against American Farriers Journal (AFJ) and the IHCS. 

They declined to participate — for the first time in 22 years — in the 2025 IHCS Trade Show and won’t be present at the 2026 Summit at our Cincinnati Metro location. They also stopped supporting AFJ, which is what makes it possible for our editors to provide the education and sharing that the trade has come to rely on for the past 5 decades.

Why Cincinnati Wasn’t Workable in 2025

We were forced to move the 2025 IHCS to Kansas City due to the 2-year long $240 million renovation of Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Convention Center that closed down this event site. 

Instead of continuing to support an internationally recognized hoof-care educational event, on July 29, 2024, Stockhoff’s announced its own farrier event to be held the same week as our 2025 IHCS dates in Kansas City. They planned to hold their own “version” of our Summit in one of the same downtown Cincinnati hotels we’d used for 22 years.

At that time, we remained silent, despite calls from farriers, farrier organizations, suppliers and IHCS Trade Show exhibitors. They were unhappy about being guilted into sponsoring a competitive event at the same time, feeling the company was trying to siphon off attendees from our international event. 

As it turned out, Stockhoff’s abruptly cancelled its 2025 event a couple of months later. Then on March 3 of this year, the company announced another short-distance-away competitive farrier event for next year — scheduled just days ahead of the Feb. 3-6, 2026, IHCS being held in the Cincinnati Metro area.

Back-To-Back Events Didn’t Work

In the hoof-care industry, history shows farriers and suppliers don’t want — and won’t support — back-to-back hoof-care events. Back in 1994, the American Farrier’s Association annual meeting in Lexington and the Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium in Louisville were scheduled back-to-back. The two groups promoted the idea that attendees could save on travel by attending these two back-to-back events that were 80 miles apart.

It didn’t work. Attendance for both events failed to reach attendance goals, as suppliers and farriers could not afford to be away from their horses and businesses for 10 or more days. Smartly, back-to-back scheduling of these two important farrier educational events was never tried again.

1-Time Only Farrier List Usage

While I made a mistake in trusting Stockhoff’s with the pre-show attendee list, it was always clear that it was for “one-time only use.” That means these farrier names could not be entered into their company’s database.

Such use was never granted, so if you’ve ever wondered how your name somehow got onto their mailing list, well, there you have it. For the record, we also “seed” such lists with our own names — and we monitor it.

We’re Not the Only Ones

This is not the only time the farrier industry has had to deal with this company’s unnecessary drama and tantrums. On March 4 of this year, Stockhoff’s scheduled — at the last minute — a farrier clinic on March 28-29 in the Phoenix area. This was the same weekend a new competitive farrier supply shop, Farrier Hub located in Cave Creek, hosted its long-planned inaugural educational clinic. 

This turf-protecting scheme irritated local farriers and suppliers who supported the new shop’s commitment and clinic. We’ve seen photos from the two events, and I’m glad to see the industry step up and support the new supplier’s clinic — which did things above board and the right way.

Our 33 Years of Hoof-Care Industry Experience

So now you know why I decided to address the rumor mill once and for all and to share what really happened. This industry does not need — and cannot afford — attempts to isolate, cause factions and draw up sides over petty arguments. 

Such behavior only thwarts the goodwill and commitments of those of you trying to advance the trade. We’ve seen enough of that over our 33 years in covering an otherwise special industry. And as a farrier industry leader recently told us, “Anything borne of anger is deemed to fail.” 

For more on the need for the industry to quit attacking its own farriers and suppliers, click here to read “Setting It Straight” that was published on June 4 of last year. And you might also be interested to hear that our “Farrier Supply Shop of the Year” award cited in the June 4 report was declared a regional gold medal winner from the national business press.

That’s all we intend to say for now about the matter. But as my son, Mike, and I like to joke, it’s not always smart to pick a fight with a company who buys ink by the barrel.