The 2023 International Hoof-Care Summit celebrates its 20th anniversary at this January’s event. This is also the ninth Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise, so I wanted to create a good challenge of solid forging elements for you. But as much as I want to push you out of your comfort zone with this exercise, I also want to create a practical shoe that you might find useful under the right circumstances. This is the perfect marriage: challenging your skill set and a finished product that can help a horse with a specific problem. Of course, we never want to apply a shoe that isn’t suitable for the horse or its needs.
The 2023 International Hoof-Care Summit celebrates its 20th anniversary at this January’s event. This is also the ninth Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise, so I wanted to create a good challenge of solid forging elements for you. But as much as I want to push you out of your comfort zone with this exercise, I also want to create a practical shoe that you might find useful under the right circumstances.
For the 2022 Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise, I wanted to try something we haven’t used in this contest before. It is a practical shoe that uses a jump weld.
The extended deadlined for the 2021 International Hoof-Care Summit Mail-In Shoe contest is fast approaching. American Farriers Journal is accepting mail submissions through Aug. 1. Shoe specimens can also be entered in-person at the World Championship Blacksmiths contest on Aug. 4. in Fitchburg, Wis. Without a live event in Cincinnati, Ohio, judging twill take place at the WCB event this year.
Although the International Hoof-Care will be virtual this year, the 2021 Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise is still here to challenge your skills and you have more time to enter. International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame farrier Craig Trnka of Edgewood, N.M., brings back concave for 2021 with the diamond toe hind shoe. This is a beneficial shoe for a horse that might grab a shoe on the diagonal, without taking foot length.
For the 2021 Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise, I wanted to bring back concave as part of the challenge. When I choose a shoe for this contest, I want something that will test skill, but also something that is practical. The overall steps should have lessons practical for your everyday work, and hopefully have a shoe that can benefit some horses on your books.
A frequent criticism of contest shoes is that they often lack practical use in everyday shoeing. Although I will argue that the lessons learned in making any shoe are transferable to your work, this criticism remains.
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).
Greg Martin, CJF, of Boerne, Texas, takes the unique approach of marketing his hoof-care practice with a Christmas parade float in Boerne and Comfort, Texas. The award-winning float boasts a variety of surprising features.
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