You work hard to make a living with your farrier rig. Perhaps it’s time to allow your rig to do some of the heavy lifting. There are a number of ways to let your rig shoulder the economic load including charging for your time behind the wheel, advertising and selling products.

Attention is often paid to forging temperatures, hammer blows and anvils, and rightly so. There are other aspects of forging that are equally important, yet don’t get as much consideration. “A lot of people have problems because they’re just all over the place,” Sacramento, Calif., farrier John Williams told attendees at a late summer forging clinic at The Horseshoe Barn. “They’re just spread out all over their anvil. They throw their stock up there, any old place, and then they just take their hammer to the stock.”

I like to surround myself with people in the industry who have the same passion, loyalty and integrity as I do. When it comes to buying supplies, it baffles me that farriers don’t buy from the same shop each time simply because of the tremendous advantages that you can reap.

A record number of footcare professionals invaded Cincinnati, Ohio, for the 13th annual International Hoof-Care Summit for the sole purpose of “Working Together For Healthy Hooves.”