USA NEWS - Edward Martin Cultural exchange
Click on the USA / UK flag to read about Oliver Roberts experience in the USA.
News and views from Chuck and Josh in 2009 and now with Mark Innes for 2010
Crossing the pond with the Cultural Exchange
Farriers flying to the UK from the USA within the Edward Martin MBE Cultural Exchange are always amazed that whoever is collecting them from the airport can spot them. But, as NAFBAE President, Craig D’Arcy (whose turn it was to meet them this year) explained, ‘when you consider that they are carrying their tools, three months’ luggage and often wear a stetson or baseball cap with a horseshoe logo – it’s not difficult to pick them out’! This year’s Certified Journeyman Farriers – who will spend three months with the UK’s top farriers – are Chuck Jones (Kentucky) and Josh Ramsey from Dallas, Texas.
19 July 2010 - Scott Inmon - USA - the latest Edward Martin Cultural Exchange Student
Scott Inmon is this year’s Edward Martin USA exchange student, he arrived on June 22 and will be in the UK for three months, returning home on September 23. When Forge caught up with him during the National Championships at Stoneleigh, at the beginning of July, Scott had already stayed with BFBA President Craig D’Arcy, Angus Wiseman, Huw Dyer and Donald Nicol in Aberdeen. He then flew to Birmingham to attend the ‘Royal’.
Scott hails from Texas, near Dallas, and is a Certified Journeyman Farrier, having qualified in 2008. He heard about the exchange programme through his membership of the American Farriers Association, and via Vern Powell.
At home in the USA, Scott shoes quarter horses and especially competition horses – cutting horses, reining horses, barrel horses and so on. He has been competing in English competitions but says the skill level is ‘through the roof’, so although he has not had any wins so far, he is having an ‘amazing trip and learning a lot’.
The main difference between competing in the USA and in the UK is that here in the UK the classes are either open or for apprentices, whereas in the USA they have skill level classes, often with three or four levels. The other appreciable difference must be the amount of travel involved. Getting to competitions in the USA usually means getting onto a flight and a 2000 mile round trip from, say Dallas to Madison, Wisconsin, would not be unusual.
Scott has only good things to say about his trip. After the Royal, he travelled back to Yorkshire for the Great Yorkshire Show, and then went on to Scotland to spend time with Lewis Balfour.
Scott is certainly an ambassador for farriery USA, and with the opportunity to spend time with and learn from the best UK farriers too, this opportunity is a priceless one, and he is making the most of it.
19 July 2010 - Mark Innes back in the UK - the latest Edward Martin Cultural Exchange Student
Well that's me back in the UK, Ive had such a great time in the US. I met so many nice people, friends and contacts for the future. In my third month I spent the week with Robert Whit. He and his family took me to Hunnington Beach the Kids were all really good fun. He and his wife also took me to Hollywood Race Park where I got to go back and check out one of his customers race horses. Robert and Genine were really good to me because they took me to Vegas as well as Hoover Dam.
I then went to Travis Koons where we made shoes and tongs, I feel I didn't have enough time with Travis but I extracted all the knowledge I was able because he is a hell of a good hand.
I then went to Colorado where I met up with Vern, he showed me a really good time. He took me white water rafting on the Arkansas river through the Royal Gorge. After rafting we ascended Pikes Peak where there are some spectacular views, Colorado is a beautiful state.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the Edward Martin Cultural exchange for giving me the opportunity to expand my knowledge of farriary and also for giving me all these amazing life experiences. A huge thanks to NAFBAE for keeping the Edward Martin Exchange going, I hope everyone else involved in the exchange has loved every second as much as I have.
7 June 2010 - Mark Innes in America - the latest Edward Martin Cultural Exchange Student
Hey there, its now two month in and I'm still having a blast everyone is real nice. Spent a week with David Edans and got to make myself a hoof knife. Texas is real pretty place well the parts that i was at anyway. Temperature is a lot diffrent though. All the ranches have big fans that makes work a little easier. There are a lot of quarter horses here that are different to what I'm used to, I can touch my toes now though because they cant bend there legs so high. I'm in Oklahoma just now with Dusty Franklin who has a horse shoeing school. Its hard to believe that people can come here for only six weeks and and then go out shoeing horses. I was still pulling and clenching at that point. I'm having fun here, Dusty has a really nice family and has good kids, they are a pleasure to be around. They also have a boat so we all go and hang out at the lake where I have been able to try out wake boarding, I think I have found my new hobby its so much fun. I'm going to be with Dusty till Thursday then we all drive to new mexico for a contest which will take place next weekend. After the contest I am heading out to California for two and a half weeks and I cant wait to go there, I've really been looking forword to that. Time is flying in here, its been two months already. I am so glad I have come on this exchange it has really opened my eyes to the rest of the world. Anyway I'm going to sign off and I'll be in touch.
Thanks, Mark.
4 May 2010 - Mark Innes in America - the latest Edward Martin Cultural Exchange Student
Here having a good time in America.
I stayed with Vern for the first week. We went to the Madison, WI for a WCB competition. I placed 4th overall in my division. I had lots of fun, and learned alot! From there I went home with Gene Lesier for a week. He took me to Padre Island, close to the border of Mexico. We practice making shoes and tongs, and I even got to milk a cow. I am up now staying with Scott Inmon, and his wife. He will be coming over from America on the exchange program as well. We went to the Oklahoma competition this weekend, where I got 3-1st, 1-2nd, and a 3th. We had a great time at the at the banquet, where I recieved a belt buckle for winning our 3 man draft team. This week I am heading down near Houston,Tx to work with Jake Engler.
Everyone has been very nice, and making me very welcomed! Here are random pictures that I've taken.
Click on the image below to see Chuck and Josh's Interview at the Royal Show 2009
Click on the image
23 August 2009 - An Update from Josh
Since the past update I've been to Peover and competed in the contest there. Afterwards went on to stay with Russell Jones and his family near Leek. Went up to Matthew Randles one night for a shop night. On Sunday headed to Les Armstrong's to spend a week with him.
30 July 2009 - An Update from Chuck
Hey Guys! Things have been going great!
I left David Wilson's on Fri July 31st and caught a train in Perth, Scotland to head up to Robin Pape in Lower Farley. The landscape is amazing!
I arrived at Robin's at the time of year he, his apprentice Robbie, and his colleague Sarah Fraser have to work two shows.
The first show was the Black Isle Show. We were one of the 2 groups of farriers that had to be on site for any hoof related problems. It was a good show but its very similar to the states at shows - you're either slammed busy or you have nothing. So during the down time we made double caulked concave fronts and hinds of different sizes for the stalking horses Robin has on the books.
The next show we did was the Highland Field Sports Fair. We had to be on site to do forging demos through out the day. At 11am the first day we had to do a demonstration shoeing a draft horse. Robin was on the microphone talking to the crowd describing what we were doing. Sarah shod the fronts, I shod the hinds, and Robbie clinched up!
After we finished I found out an artist was on the side of the arena painting a picture and it he put me in the middle of it while I was shoeing the hinds of the draft. It was a shocker because I've never been put in a painting!
After the shows were done, which took four days it was back to work. Robin and his team shoe a variety of horse and cover a large area in northern Scotland. I worked with Robin half the time and Sarah half the time.
What I found real interesting is how they shoe a stalking horse. They put handmade double caulked concave on them for maximum traction. They are fit tight like hunter shoeing because they can't afford a shoe to come off on top of a big ridge or mountain. The result of a shoe coming off could be a dead person or horse! I definitely didn't just get a great experience shoeing but a huge cultural experience!
I just left yesterday Fri Aug 14th on a train back down to Huw Dyer's for a day before I head down to Gary Darlow's competition in Over Peover.
Over all, things are going extremely well. I'll stay in touch.
Chuck
More images from Chuck are to the right.
11 August 2009 - An Update from Josh
Interestingly enough the mother of that foal came from Sterling Ranch in Pilot Point, Texas which is about a quarter mile down the road from me.
One of the neat things we did was tour the little museum that Doug Bradbury has put together. He has collected an immense amount of history from shoes and tools of years past to pictures of therapuetic work he's done to any odd bit that pertains to farriery work.
Martyn and I have been doing a bit of shooting and this past weekend we took a tour through Clumber Park. We also went to the races in Haydock Park as a guest of a client of Martyn's to watch a horse of hers run.
Josh
30 July 2009 - An Update from Chuck
Hey guys, hope you're well!
Since the Royal Show I've been with two guys. The first was Hugh Dyer!
Josh and I arrived at Hugh's back from the Royal at 2am on Sat morning! Lol fun fun!
On Sat and half day Sun Josh and I helped Hugh get ready for the Great Yorkshire Show! The other half of the day on Sunday we went shooting with Hugh and his son and shot his old guns! It was great fun! Monday Josh and I helped Hugh shoe at his forge he had quiet a few horses come in. Tuesday is when we left to go compete at the Great Yorkshire Show. The show lasted through Thursday and was great! I learned a bunch from the great competitors!
Thursday night I left Yorkshire with the judge David Wilson and rode with him back to Belmallow, Scotland! We didn't get there until 2:30am and had to shoe horse the next day! Lol again fun fun! Sat we went up to Aboyne, Scotland to a clinic the Scotland horseshoeing team put on to raise money at the World Horse Welfare farm. It was a great day! The next week I worked with David learning from him and his different ideas on shoeing horses! He is a great farrier and teacher!
That next Sat we went to a horseshoeing competition in Kelso called the Border Union Show and again just a great learning experience! Was not as big as the Great Yorkshire Show.
The following week this week I continued to work with David and now its Thurs night and tomorrow I catch a train to go north in Scotland and work with a guy Robin Pape!
To the right are some pictures from the last couple of weeks!
Cheers,
Chuck
27 July 2009 - An Update from Josh
Been with Huw Dyer since the Royal show.
Competed this past weekend at the Border Union Show in Kelso.
Was a nice change from the craziness of The Royal and The Great Yorkshire Shows.
This Saturday I'm heading to the Tockwith (sp) Show to compete and then on to stay with Martin Elliot. Most memorable part so far would have to be going to The Royal Armouries in Leeds this past Sunday. The fact that they were able to develop such weaponry with the technology available at the time is just impressive.
Pictures below from the Clay Pigeon Shoot, the Armouries and Shoeing in Kelso.
Josh
About Chuck and Josh - Also Oli Roberts, returning from the USA after three months
Chuck and Josh explained that they had met at the American Farriers Convention in February and had flown together to England on June 20. When they had a few spare minutes to speak to Forge during their duties at the Royal, they said that they had spent the majority of their time so far in Lancashire and Yorkshire, with a brief sojourn to Scotland for a competition.
Based in Kentucky, Chuck explained that he comes across a lot of foundered horses in his day to day work. Josh, on the other hand, said the main difference in horses in the UK was the size of their feet. Here in the UK, the horses’ feet were much larger. He also mentioned that the temperature was cooler than he was used to. In Texas in July he would expect temperatures to reach 100°F, which makes working a warm experience.
While they are in the UK, the lads expect to learn a lot from the farriers they will be staying with. Arrangements are fluid and flexible, adding an air of excitement to their trip.
They were kept busy during the Royal Show both competing and stewarding during the event. They will also be at the International Team Horseshoeing Competitions at the Forge from August 27 to 30, no doubt wishing the American team success.
Also at the Royal was Oli Roberts, DipWCF, who returned to the UK at the end of June after spending three months in the USA as part of the same exchange scheme. When he spoke to Forge during the competitions at the Royal, he was still fired up with enthusiasm for his trip and the scheme.
The Edward Martin CBE Cultural Exchange is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It provides newly qualified farriers with the chance to spend three months with the USA’s best horseshoers and experience a different culture. Travel is said to broaden the mind but this trip is unique; it relies on the goodwill and generosity of the ‘farrier family’ and they provide it by the bucket load.
Oli’s enthusiasm for the trip was fired by former NAFBAE President, Richard Hurcomb, during a seminar day at Warwickshire College shortly before his final exams in July 2008. He applied, was accepted for an interview and won a place. Oli left his Shropshire home and flew to Chicago in March this year to visit Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Colorado and New Mexico. He says that he learned a lot, worked hard and played hard, but what will never cease to amaze him, was the generosity of the people he stayed with, and their unfailing willingness to help him achieve whatever he had set his heart on doing. More than anything, Oli wanted to go hunting (coyote). It was suggested he should make contact with Melinda Haines in Florida, who subsequently not only arranged a horse and the correct hunting attire for him, but also arranged for him to hunt with the Palm Beach Foxhounds, as well as inviting him to the hunt ball, collecting him from the airport and putting him up. Now that’s hospitality.
So, what’s different about shoeing in the USA? Well, the terrain is different, State by State, the horses (and their feet) are different and the work the horses are required to do is different. Some of the horses Oli had to shoe had ‘feet like concrete’, and it would not be unusual for farriers to carry 30 to 40 trimming knives and to use a newly sharpened one each horse.
If you ask Oli what meant most to him about the trip as regards his work, he will tell you that it was toolmaking alongside John McNerny (hammers), Tony Kingery (Tosaky knives) and Jim Quick (tongs).
The final weekend of his trip was at a championship competition in Albuquerque in New Mexico. As many of the people he has stayed with during his trip attended, he was able to say goodbye but admits he doesn’t think he could ever thank them enough for the experience.
Oli will tell Forge about his trip in the October issue.
