BFBA Edward Martin MBE Cultural Exchange

I’d like to thank a few people who made this trip possible.
First of all, thanks to BFBA for choosing me to represent them and for giving me an opportunity of a lifetime. I’d like to thank my parents, my ATF Alistair Smith DipWCF (Hons), the AFA, Vern Powell, Jason Harmeson,
Kenny Lyons, Kasey Kinkade,
Eddie Palacios, Travis Koons and to the late great Richard Ellis for giving me the idea and the drive to apply for the trip.
Ollie Connolly

When I left Scotland where there was still some snow on the ground in places. On my 10 and a half hour flight I was feeling excited and a bit nervous. I was picked up by Jason Harmeson and we went back to his place in Alpine. San Diego is a beautiful city, but it didn’t take a lot of driving to get out into the country. The landscape is awesome, completely different to what i am used to back home. It’s what they call High Desert, the kind of countryside you would see in a western.
Jason was previously on the USA Farriery team in 2005 so it was enlightening to work with him. Mid-week I met Juan, who is from Puerto Rico. He is working toward his certification, which is a qualification similar to our Diploma. This is completely optional in the States, however, as there is no registration and anyone can legally shoe a horse. We first went to the local horse shoeing supply shop where Jason’s wife works. Then the three of us went to a yard to shoe a couple of heavy driving horses. Later in the day we shod about six or seven Reining Quarter horses. These all had flat ‘sliding plates’, which Jason made up as we went. These are wide-webbed plain stamps which allow the horses to do a sliding stop. I started to feel the pace pretty early due to the heat (60-70 degrees) and the serious jet lag.
Jason told me a lot about the area, how wild fires occur every three to four years which pretty much decimate everything. The wildlife can pretty hostile also, with rattle snakes, Kyotes and the occasional Mountain Lion. The coyotes were easily heard at night.
Friday, me and Jason went to Mt Laguna to shoe a couple of Barrel Racers. There was far more greenery in the hills, with beautiful and massive trees. We did some sightseeing on the beach, which was pretty awesome. We went to a food place and I had a ‘Lobster Taco’. Yes it was real good. The food in the area has a big Mexican influence as obviously it is near the border.
On Sunday Kenny Lyon came to pick me up and took me up to Ramona. Kenny is a Journeyman farrier, which is the highest American qualification in farriery. The next step up from this is to take the British Associate test and become AWCF. This test has become available in the US in recent years due to many American farriers wishing to take it. Kenny has a Horseshoeing school, and runs about two classes a year. The classes usually run for about two to three months and students learn the basics of shoeing horses. Unfortunately he didn’t have a class in session when I was there, so I didn’t get to see how an American horse shoeing school is run in comparison with the apprenticeship I had.
The heat was definitely getting to me by midday on Monday as it was well above 70 degrees. I got to shoe some breeds of horses that were a bit alien to me, like a Missouri Foxtrotter. I also only saw one horse with laminitis, which is far less common (as there is no grass). Tuesday we went to Rancho Santa Fe, which has properties worth over four million dollars. Since it was due to rain on the Wednesday, we drove to Palm Springs and played a round of golf with Jason and two other farriers, Eddie and Josh Dittmer. Josh stays and works in the Palm Springs area, so we spent the night at his place. The following day, me and Kenny went out with Josh to give him a hand with his days’ work. We went to a beautiful yard to shoe some dressage horses in the desert where we were surrounded by palm trees.
Saturday, I went to Wal-Mart where they were selling Levi jeans for $21!! Needless to say, I bought a few pairs. I had a good time at Kenny’s and learnt a bunch about shoeing horses….and golf.
On the last Sunday we shod some horses then went to a veterinary clinic and watched a horse being gelded. It was interesting, but I couldn’t stomach watching it all. In the afternoon I was collected by Kasey Kinkade who took me to his place to work for him for a week.
Kasey is a Certified Journeyman farrier and is a committee member of the San Diego County Farriers Association. He has an ambition of being on the USA farriery team and so hand makes all his own shoes. We shod several horses with a variety of problems, that we made a range of different shoes for. Kasey gave me tips on ways to make and fit egg bars, straight bars, heart bars and whip-across bar shoes. I also got to fit and modify pads. We worked with a vet on a horse that was severely foundered by taking x-rays and shoeing with heart bars and pads.
On Thursday, we went to shoe horses at the Marine Corps base. I had to be escorted in by the yard manager because of the security clearance needed. She told me that the base was one of the few places left in the country with horses owned by the US government.
That night, Kasey and his partner Paisley took me to my first Baseball game in San Diego. I had the conventional beer and a foot long hotdog. Unfortunately, ‘our’ team lost, but the atmosphere was great and I had an awesome time. After that, I got to experience a piano bar downtown which was a good laugh.
Saturday was an eventful day of firsts. We practised making some shoes in the morning, then Paisley tacked up a paint horse and I got to have a go at western riding. In the afternoon I got to shoot some of Kasey’s guns. We shot a few targets with rifles then shot some clays with the shotguns. It was great fun even though I was left with a hell of a bruise on my shoulder! In the evening we went to a western club, where I had a go at line dancing (I was unsuccessful).
Once my time with Kasey was up, I went to Yucaipa CA to work with Eddie Palacios CF. Eddie is a certified farrier working towards his Journeyman, which he was due to take the very week I came to him. Fitting a bar shoe to a pattern is a third of the whole Journeyman test, so that’s what we practiced after work hours. Eddie shod a lot of ‘Gaited Arab horses’. The people who show these horses desire an exaggerated toe flick in the trot. This is achieved by fitting toe weighted shoes with the addition of one or sometimes two pads! This kind of shoeing seemed alien to me as I am used to dealing with soft, low heeled and flat footed Warmblood types. Yet these feet, after they were modified, were sometimes over six inches long!
Mid-week me and Eddie drove up to Disneyland in Los Angeles to help out the Theme parks Farrier, Tim Shannon CJF. Disney has a collection of Draft horses, which they use to pull carts carrying visitors around the park. Including a horse called ‘Sully’, a 19 hh Belgian which we shod. It was great walking round the park and seeing what happens behind the scenes.
At the end of the week we set off for Las Vegas, Nevada, for Eddies Certification Exam. Saturday was spent at the certification. I kept myself busy by scribing for one of the provisional AFA examiners. Everyone, including myself, was interested in the differences between the AFA certification process and the WCF Diploma exam. The practical test used the same marking system as for the Diploma. For the certification they had to fit two machine made shoes and for the Journeyman they had to fit a set of handmade plain-stamped shoes and fit one bar shoe to a pattern. The biggest difference was in the theory test. For the theory they had a multiple choice written paper with no time limit.
Obviously, you can’t go to sin city without having a night out on the Vegas Strip. As you can guess, I had a blast.
From Nevada, I went back to California to stay with Jason Harmeson once again. At the end of the week me, Jason and Kasey Kinkade drove up to Placerville for the Northern Californian Classic horseshoeing competition (NCC). It took us 10 hours to get there, and we had only travelled a part the way up California State. I found out that you can fit England into California three and a half times! The scenery on the way up was incredible.
The NCC competition and clinic this year was dedicated to the legacy of Jay Sharp. Jay is an American horseshoeing legend who passed away in August 2011. The classes where based upon shoes Jay had made in his career. There was also a museum showcasing many of his finest pieces. There was a selection of shoes, bits, spurs and various pieces of artwork. All made from steel, rasps, and some from Damascas. The detail and craftsmanship was unbelievable.
The clinician and judge was Mr Shayne Carter. Shayne was one of Jays protégés and was the first person from the USA to win the World Blacksmithing Championship in Calgary. He was also the youngest ever winner at the age of 23. Plus, he judged the WBC most recently in 2012. It was a real privilege to have him judge my work and give me a few pointers. At the end of the completion I came away with two 1sts, two 2nds and a 3rd in the eagle eye.
I headed back down to Hemet, South California to stay with Travis Koons CJF. Travis is one of the country’s top competitors, having previously been on the American Farriers Team several times and now currently on the WCB team. Travis shoes horses in Orange County and LA and works for a couple of celebrities. It was a change working in very fancy ranches with not a bit of mud in sight. While I was with Travis we made me a pair of tongs, a fuller, clipping hammer and a top tool.
After a few weeks we drove to Edgewood, New Mexico for a WCB competition. The WCB is run by Craig Trnka and his family. They put on several of these competitions all over the country throughout the year. The judge was Mark Evans, all the over from Wales. Craig makes the contests about education, so the judging was all open and scores were displayed at all times. He keeps everything to a tight schedule yet creating a fun atmosphere with music playing all the time. The shoemaking was tough for a Brit in the desert environment of New Mexico. The temperature over the three days was usually over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and Edgewood is at over 7000ft above sea level, so it was pretty difficult to get enough oxygen when hammering hot steel!
Once the contest was over, me and Travis stayed with Chris Madrid who happened to live close by. Chris is also on the WCB team. We stayed a few days at his with the other two members of the team, Dusty Franklin and Trey Green, so they could practice for the WBC in Calgary.
We drove through Arizona State on the way back to California and stopped off at the Grand Canyon National park. Even pictures of the Grand Canyon don’t compare to seeing it with your own eyes. The whole place is unbelievable.
I spent the following week working with Travis back in Hemet, CA before heading down to San Diego to stay with Jason Harmeson one last time before heading home. Jason took me to shoe some Saddlebreds with Tom Trosin and Gordon Haight. Tom is the current President of the American Farriers Association and Gordon is a living legend of American Farriery. Gordon, with people such as Jay Sharpe set up the first competitions in the States. It was an honour to work with him. I learnt a few gaited horseshoeing tips such as double nailing.
My last week was spent chilling out at barbeques and soccer games with some horseshoeing in-between. It was a relaxed end to an amazing trip.
I was extremely sad to leave America. The food, the weather and most of all the people, were amazing. This is why I am heading back there shortly.

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