Here is a topic that can be very controversial. It seems that the rules on how shoe displays are supposed to look have either changed or have just begun to be enforced.  

I agree completely with holding up a high standard and maintaining it. However, it would be nice if there were a concrete standard for candidates striving for American Farrier’s Association (AFA) certification to compare their work to.

Right now, we have a document provided by the AFA that describes the desired shoe modifications, but that document leaves a lot of room for  an individual examiner’s interpretation while inspecting the finished shoes.

This is supposed to be a requirement for the AFA Certified Farrier exam. It seems that these shoe displays are often judged to the more stringent Journeyman standards.

Shoe Display Blueprints

My hope with this series of articles is to provide a set of blueprints for making your Certified Farrier shoe display.  We will use five shoes to make the necessary modifications.  Each article will deal with a different shoe that will contain several of the requirements. While all of the shoes demonstrated will be handmade, many of the requirements can be met using keg shoes.

Now what about the person that doesn’t have any designs on achieving AFA Certified Farrier status? Why bother with a shoe display? First, the act of making a shoe display will improve your skills. Second, having a shoe display in your rig can be extremely handy when you are explaining a…