Calgary Stampede Farriers: Steve Beane Victory Video and Official Re-Cap

The Calgary Stampede has provided a short video interview with British farrier Steven Beane, AWCF of Yorkshire, England. Steven won the World Championship Blacksmiths Competition at the Stampede last weekend for the fourth consecutive year.

Here's the official press release from the Stampede about the final day of the competition and the last Hoof Blog post on Calgary (for this year):

Calgary Stampede Farriers: Potluck Forging Class Showcases the "Art" of Shoeing Horses (And Why That Matters)

People throw around the term "the art and science of farriery" a lot. What does that mean?

Professional hoofcare requires that the farrier use both sides of his or her brain. While they have to learn the anatomy of the horse and the mechanics of the job, they also have to be able to "right brain" the creation, adjustment or placement of the shoe or appliance being attached to the foot.

I

New Shoes: Calgary Stampede 2012 Farrier Slide Show

Love farrier competitions? Then enjoy these photos from the first day at the Calgary Stampede farrier events by Vicki Kaiser. These were the last photos she took before her backpack was stolen with her laptop, wallet, car keys and everything she needed for her trip.

Click on the full-screen button at the bottom right for a better view.

You'd probably enjoy Vicki's blog: Read about her

FEI Grant Funds World Horse Welfare's Cambodian Farrier Education

British farrier Tom Burch (far left, kneeling)


With the Olympics looming on the calendar, the FEI is prominent in the news. But today's story is not about dressage star Totilas or Kiwi eventers or even showjumpers in Rome. The FEI is entering the international horse welfare arena with a farrier education project.



World Horse Welfare (WHW) reports that the organization will be working in

Calgary Stampede: AAPF Member Farriers Will Receive CE Credit for Competing or Spectating at 2012 World Championship Blacksmiths' Competition

The following text was received today in the form of an announcement from the American Association of Professional Farriers and is re-published as received: 



In recognition of the American Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF) commitment to the farrier industry, the Calgary Stampede’s World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition (WCBC) has named the AAPF as the permanent sponsor for the

War Horse Hoofcare: Puncture Wounds Then and Now

While collecting photos of farriers during World War I, I passed over this photo several times without realizing how interesting it was. It took a magnifying glass to appreciate this one.

The sign reads, "'Kindness to animals, 500 horses lamed weekly by nails dropped on roads and horse lines by cookers carrying firewood with nails left in. Please remove nails."

As if the war horses didn't

War Horse Hoofcare: Don't Come Between a Farrier and His Horse

Photographers talk about the "point of infinity" in an image. There's a horizon or a focal point that draws your eye to the defined distance. Or lack of a defined distance.



This photo of farriers at work at a British horse stables in France during World War I is a study in efficiency, 1915-style. You see one man (on far left) in charge of the bellows for the little portable forge. One

Spielberg's War Horse Movie Television Commercial: Here Comes a Great Film!

It doesn't open in theaters until Christmas, but the television commercial is ready to roll. We all know Santa Claus is coming to town, but so is War Horse; Mr. Spielberg's epic story of what war looks like through the eyes of a horse opens on Christmas Day. Two tickets and a promise to buy the popcorn will make a great gift for anyone you know.

Back to the commercial: Hoof Blog readers will

Urban Search and Rescue Dogs: Barefoot or Booted, They Did Their Job and Lived to See Their Story Told

Watch me first.

Some of the most unforgettable photos from the rescue effort at the World Trade Center in New York showed the hardworking urban search and rescue dogs at work...or in this case, temporarily at rest. Photo courtesy of US Navy, taken by Journalist 1st Class Preston Keres.


Dogs at Ground Zero: No, we'll never forget. Especially with images like this one to remind us of the

World Horse Welfare Launches Inaugural Farriery Education Program in Saudi Arabia

The King Abdul Aziz Arabian Horse Centre, where the first World Horse Welfare farrier training program in Saudi Arabia will take place (photo courtesy of the charity)

The British-based charity World Horse Welfare has been called upon to share its expertise in farriery and hoof care for the first time in Saudi Arabia.

Two British farrier representatives, Tom Burch and Mark Watson, have been

Calgary Stampede: Steven Beane Three-peats as World Champion

Steven Beane of North Allerton in Yorkshire, England captured his third consecutive global title at the Calgary Stampede’s 32nd Annual World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition on Sunday. Beane is the first competitor to win back-to-back-to-back world crowns at Calgary since Welshman Grant Moon snared his fifth straight WCBC title back in 1992.

And Beane’s competition in Sunday’s

Calgary Stampede: Farriers at the World Champion Blacksmiths Competition

They call it the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. There's no event quite like Canada's Calgary Stampede, held each July in Calgary, Alberta. It's the world's biggest rodeo melded into the world's biggest country fair and a world cultural fair, to boot. You can learn a lot, or just have fun. It has to be one of the world's largest volunteer-run events of any kind. The World Championship

Calgary Stampede World Championship Blacksmiths: View the Live Video Feed on the Hoof Blog

(videostream disabled because event is over)
There is some sort of a scoring problem and, as of Saturday night, the top ten for the live shoeing had not been announced. The competitors don't even know how they're doing!
England's Steven Beane, World Champion of 2009 and 2010 was off to a good start, winning two of the first three classes and finishing second in the other, before the scoring

Shoes of the Stars: CHIO Aachen Creates a Walk Paved with History and Hoofwear

CHIO Aachen Show Director Frank Kemperman stands in the show's new starwalk
CHIO Aachen now has its own “Walk of Fame”. And just as the stars put their hand prints in the concrete on Hollywood Boulevard, it would have to be the horses who leave an imprint at CHIO Aachen, site of the World Equestrian Festival and what is widely regarded as the largest--and grandest--horse event in the world.

Isabell Werth's Satchmo Follows in Totilas' Heart-Bar Hoofprints at FEI World Cup Finals

Satchmo's left front shoe worn at the 2008 Olympics when he and Isabell Werth helped win the team gold medal in dressage for Germany. (provided by Satchmo's farrier, Franz Helmke)
As the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Finals begin in Leipzig, Germany today, the smooth surface of the arena has a special imprint. It's a heart.

Perhaps many horses at the Finals today are shod with heart bar