World Farriers Association Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the World Farriers Association was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Lexington, Kentucky on March 3.

President's report presented by WFA President, Walt Taylor

The past year has been somewhat uneventful for the WFA. There has been no contact from organisations or individuals that elicited a response or sought advice on farriery and foot care matters.
This is somewhat unusual, and is (I think) the first time this has happened since the WFA began in 1985.
Obviously, there are two opposite ways to look at it:
Many people have felt that the WFA has not been pro-active or aggressive enough in making contacts around the world and offering our advice and services, of whatever kind. The WFA has been around for 25 years now, and should be well enough known by world farriers, organised or not, for the help and service it can give. One can imagine many scenarios and various situations where we could help, IF we were asked for advice and counsel. The facts are that the WFA has not been asked nor has our help been solicited. Few things are as quickly rejected as unsolicited advice or interference by another entity into matters that are thought to be none of their concern. A parallel may be drawn here with several global social, economic, religious, and political events that are active currently. These are affairs of different cultures, different people, and different circumstances than those of most of us. I don’t believe that the WFA has any prerogatives other than to offer ‘help’. We have no remit to insist on tools, values, techniques, or processes that are foreign to those national interests or to initiatives that are not of their own making. This does not mean, obviously, that we should be unconcerned or disinterested in what is happening in our profession and with our peer groups. We can be sure that our ‘world’ is small enough that whatever affects any part of our profession anywhere in the world will have some impact on each of us; and vice versa.
During its 25 years, the WFA has been instrumental in helping to form educational and social associations/organisations for farriers at local, regional, and national levels in different parts of the world, as well as to develop and foster the beginnings of specialised, modern farrier education and training programmes. Most of these continue today, and are growing into the tasks before them. In one way or another, animal (equidae) welfare groups now have some kind of footcare and farriery outreach programme as part of their in-country work. In other cases, following the lead established by WFA-WTFE work over the years, some individual farriers/blacksmiths have taken advantage of the opportunity to work as consultant/training farriers in several countries.
WFA was part of the initial organisation of the World Equine Veterinary Association (WEVA) that has grown since the late 1980s into a world-force in management and welfare of equidae. It now included an emphasis on equine footcare in both its outreach programs and in its annual meeting/symposium. The American Association of Equine Practitioners now sponsors both national and international outreach programmes that include footcare and farriery, as well as veterinary student and farrier education and training in diverse places. Several AFA members have shared their knowledge and skills in these events. Farriers in Japan and the UK have participated too. There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of these exist now because of the impetus and work started by the WFA.
Although this last point is a product of the times, this is a very troubled world where we live and work. Severe conditions exist in many countries where working horses, donkeys, and mules need improved footcare and farriery. But the social and political factors that are extant exert so much pressure on owners and users of these animals that their interests and their need to survive far exceed their concerns for their animals. Individual farriers are in about the same situation. Their motivation is to survive, not be expansive, risking their livelihood by reaching out to others, or to be part of something that is beyond their reach.
Of these two choices, I think that the second one most closely defines or explains the juxtaposition of the WFA on the world scene of footcare and farriery. If this is the case, then we can relax a bit and stop being anxious about the facts that the phone doesn’t ring constantly, the computer message inbox is not full of emails, and the snail-mail box isn’t loaded to capacity every time it is checked. I am not suggesting that this is a time to rest on our laurels or to become complacent and indifferent to needs of farriers and equidae around the world. I believe that much remains to be done on the global scene, but its doing can’t be forced. Progress must and will come at its own pace, and probably will be achieved through the efforts of someone else that has been stimulated by our work, rather than by the WFA directly.
The members discussed ways of increasing interest and participation in its annual meeting. The President was to explore possible avenues during this year.
ASSOCIATION UPDATES
Huw Dyer, NAFBAE Past-President gave a brief report. Mr Dyer explained that NAFBAE had officially changed its name in 2010 to the British Farriers and Blacksmiths Association (BFBA), which better reflected its membership. He said that the horse industry in the UK was down overall, but that the ‘hunting ban’ that had been imposed a few years ago had had little practical effect and farriers still enjoyed good business from this activity. He also reported that the European Federation of Farrier Associations (EFFA) was working well in its aim to improve the welfare of the horse by encouraging the highest standards of trimming and shoeing. The EU parliament was helping to fund some of EFFA’s activities through grants from the DaVinci Project. Education continued to be the primary aim of EFFA.
At the meeting, the Asian Vice President, Teruyuki Imahara, President of the Japan Farriers Association presented the following report
(it was presented a week before Japan suffered the dreadful earthquake)
"I would like to take this opportunity to update you about the current status of Japan’s horseshoeing and horse industries. I would also like to report on the recent situation of the Asian region to the best of our knowledge.
In Japan, the annual turnover of horse racing has declined consecutively for the past 10 years, and there are no signs yet of recovery. This makes the financial situation of the Japan Farriers Association difficult, as the most part of our budget is financed by subsidy from the Japan Racing Association.
In 2010, 7,100 thoroughbred horses were produced in Japan. The total amount of the thoroughbred sales of all the markets was about 3% down from the year before. The sale of foals was not active, while the sale of one-year or two-year old horses in training increased.
Against the background of such financial difficulty, the number of applicants for JFA’s one-year education course has been down for the past two years, running short of the quota. We tried hard to increase the publicity of our education course through our homepage and mass media. Fortunately, the number of applicants for the course which will start in April this year increased enough to fulfill the quota of 16. There were also applicants from South Korea, Taiwan, and Inner Mongolia … one from each country. However, we could admit only the applicant from Taiwan, as he was able to obtain a proper visa to attend the course. He is a son of a horse-riding club owner in Taiwan. He will be engaged in shoeing riding horses when he goes back after the completion of the course. Those from South Korea and Inner Mongolia were not admitted, because they failed to obtain a long-term visa. Considering the expansion of economic exchanges among countries in Asia and the advancement of technical exchanges in the field of horse racing and riding, we are aware that the establishment of a system is urgently needed to facilitate trainees to obtain a proper visa by working more closely with horse racing associations of other countries in Asia.
❯❯ At the request of the Japan Bloodhorse Breeder’s Association, we organise courses to educate farriers, veterinarians, and producers about foot care. In November last year, we invited Mr Simon Curtis to the production area. His lectures and demonstrations had a great response from the participants
❯❯ In October last year, we successfully held the 63rd Japan Farriery Contests. We invited Mr. Todd Walker from the USA to the event. We could obtain satisfactory results from and educational point of view by his excellent technical demonstrations. The contest winners were dispatched to the farriery contests of the AFA as usual.
In Asia, sources say that China is becoming more active in the horse industry as a result of rapid economic development. A number of large-scale horse riding clubs have been established one after another in Beijing and Shanghai, targeted at an increasing number of wealthy people. Presently, no official horse races are organised yet. However, for the first time Chinese buyers have purchased and imported 81 born-in-Japan thoroughbred horses last year. They anticipated the establishment of a horse racing industry in the near future. We will try harder to obtain more information about the current status and future possibility of the local horse shoeing industry, by paying more attention to trends in the horse industry not only in China but also in other countries in Asia."

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