EDMONTON – There’s nothing like a little competitive horseshoeing to improve your skills, says a member of the Canadian farrier team.
“It pushes you to increase your skill level,” said Adam Degenstein of Abbotsford, B.C., during a break in the international horseshoeing competition at Farmfair International in Edmonton.
During the competition the eight farriers had to prepare a horse’s front and hind foot for a shoe, build a specialized shoe and put the shoe on the horse in less than 70 minutes.
“It’s all based on quality of work in a set time period,” said Degenstein, who began trimming his own horse’s hoofs at age 14 on the farm in Shellbrook, Sask.
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Degenstein said the skill and speed needed in competition help during his regular farrier work.
“It helps develop a better eye.”
During this round of competition judge Derek Gardner of Cumbria, England, required the farriers to build a hunter fit shoe with the proper fit for a left and right foot.
Before the competition Gardner examined the horse’s feet to know how the farriers should shape the hoof before shoeing it.
Each competitor started with a set amount of points and the judge deducted points for each error he saw in the shaping of the hoof, building of the shoe and fitting it to the horses.
Deductions at this level of competition are mostly minor, said Gardner.
“To reach this standard they have to be pushing to do that standard in their everyday work,” he said.
“The work they produce here is the same they do every day,” said Gardner, who estimates about three-quarters of the horseshoes in England are still hand made to fit each animal.
The work of a farrier is physical, said Gardner, who increased the level of work required to build each shoe throughout the three-day horseshoeing competition.
The farriers had to shoe six hoofs before the final event with each type of shoe becoming increasingly difficult to make.
“As the weekend progresses, the tougher the shoe and the more forge work.”
Dan Lybbert of Glenwood, Alta., said he didn’t like shoeing horses until he began entering competitions.
“I hated it until I got to college. Before it was a job I had to do because my dad wanted me to. Now I like it,” said Lybbert, a fifth generation farrier.
“It does improve your skills,” said Gardner, who was on the Canadian farrier team last year.
