On September 20, Professional Farrier Supply Inc. held a clinic at the Orangeville Agricultural Society Event Centre in Orangeville, Ontario, with clinician Chris Gregory. The clinic drew close to 90 attendees and was sponsored by the Delta Mustad Hoofcare Center. 

Brad Davidson of Professional Farrier Supply says there was no formal agenda to the day, which began with a discussion of anatomy and ended with Gregory shoeing a horse and demonstrating how to make bar shoes. Davidson says, “Chris got right down to the very basics. It wasn’t all high-powered competition stuff.”

All of the attendees were tuned in to what Gregory had to say, Davidson continues. “People were very intent. Chris went wherever the crowd wanted to take him. He showed us what he does and then he made a bar shoe that would help people that were trying to pass certification. He stuck around afterward and answered each and everybody’s question until they didn’t have anymore.” 

Davidson, who has had the farrier supply business for 32 years, says he holds clinics like this one as a way to say thanks to all of his farrier customers. “For some of these young farriers, they need all the help they can get,” he says. “Elsewhere in the world it takes 4 or 5 years of apprenticeship to become a farrier. Here, in America or Canada, we’re trying to do it in a 2 or 3 month class. They need to get out to clinics and go see what’s really happening.”