CALGARY – When Welshman Billy Crothers heard he’d won the world champion blacksmiths’ competition in Calgary, his only response was, “I’m shagged.”
That bone-weary reply didn’t need translating for Canadian ears as Crothers and four other exhausted farriers laid down their tools in the final round of the annual contest held at the Calgary Stampede last week.
Offering a purse of $10,000, the event lures top blacksmiths from around the world for a grueling three days of forging perfect horseshoes in timed events.
Not only is the job of shoeing a horse physically demanding in a race with the clock, the pressure is intense because of the high level of skill at this event.
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“The standard is so high, it’s nip and tuck all the way,” said Crothers.
Judge Shayne Carter of Draper, Utah, a former champion at this event, said the standards set by the competitors improves every year. In this 15th year of competition, 43 people entered from 13 countries.
Judges look for balance of the horse when it’s shod, quality and symmetry of shoes, as well as a good finish that will be safe for the horse to wear. They also look for consistent work among the smithies, said Carter.
Practice makes perfect
For Crothers, who won the grand championship in 1993 after edging out six-time champion Grant Moon by a stroke of the hammer, preparation starts a month before the competition. Practice makes perfect on the 13 different shoes that must be shaped from a bar of iron with no models or samples allowed during the event.
A blacksmith for 16 years, the 34-year-old Crothers competed at Calgary this year for the sixth time. He has always finished in the top five.
Shoeing horses five days a week at his own shop in Wales is not only his profession, “it’s my sport,” he said.
His next event will be an international team competition in England next month.
It is a skill that has remained largely unchanged over hundreds of years. Farriers are as busy as they want to be because the popularity of horses has never waned.
“Wherever there’s horses, there’s blacksmiths,” said Crothers.
Following Crothers in the top five was reserve champion Jim Poor of Texas, Grant Moon from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, James Blurton of Wales and Allan Ferrie of Scotland.
