“I wanted to compete more than I wanted to breathe,” says California farrier Raleigh Desiato. “I don’t know where I would be without horseshoeing competitions. They changed my life.” 

Desiato has been shoeing horses for 26 years and competed heavily for 15 of them, landing a spot on the World Championship Blacksmiths (WCB) team in 2013 and again as an alternate in 2015. In that time, competition taught her valuable lessons about shoeing, humility, the importance of surrounding herself with diverse perspectives and of building a network of trusted farriers to rely on. And they are values she works to pass on to the next generation of horseshoers. 

“I don’t specialize in anything. I shoe all kinds of different horses — hunter/jumpers, dressage horses, cow horses, reiners, backyard horses, trail horses. I’m like an ER doctor. I can do any of it. And competition has been a great thing because it’s given me the skills to do anything,” she says. 

Staying Knowledgeable & Accountable

Since Desiato started shoeing, she’s noticed that knowledge is now shared much more readily between farriers than before…