For the third straight 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.

Aluminum stock remains a popular choice for a variety of horses, primarily due to its lighter weight. Another advantage is that aluminum can be shaped hot or cold. While the typical thinking might be that racing plates and lighter shoes will be shaped cold, and heavier aluminum shoes like those used for hunters and jumpers will be put in the forge, that also proves to be a matter of personal preference.

Growing up in a family that bred Quarter Horses, there was no doubt that Sonny Pistilli was going to make a career in the equine industry. It was through the need to tack on a shoe that he became a farrier. In 1965, his farrier couldn't make it out to put a shoe back on a prized show horse. The judge disqualified the horse for only wearing three shoes. He began riding with his mentor, the legendary Seamus Brady, to learn the basics in case he found himself in a pinch again. After 5 months, he was hooked on the trade.