The Flying Anvil Foundation (FAF), founded by Swiss farrier Bernard Duvernay in 2010, is committed to farrier education worldwide and provides education opportunities for farriers in developing countries where work with horses for agricultural and transportation are still a daily part of life.

This fall, the FAF has begun its Solidarity Shoeing Campaign to encourage international knowledge and education for the farrier profession. The campaign aims to save horses suffering from unsatisfactory hoof-care as a direct result of a lack of knowledge due to the underdevelopment of farriery in certain areas of the world.

The current focus of the FAF is its farriery institute in Rajasthan, India, where they have been training qualified farriers since 2013, making a major difference in their lives as well as the equines’ they now properly treat.

Previous and current students of the institute are now working across India improving the state of farriery, promoting the profession and sharing their knowledge with their surrounding communities.

“I have my own horses, but no proper farrier to look after them,” says Mukesh Kumarp. He joined the FAF farriery institute in India with encouragements from his father who had thought it appropriate to combine farriery with his son’s equine interest. He continues, “I will forward my knowledge on to the other residents of my community so they too can learn the importance of farriery.”

The Solidarity Shoeing Campaign supports projects like this and allows farriers and equine professionals from around the world to come together to encourage international cooperation and promote the development of a highly skilled farriery workforce that takes pride in their profession. The collected funds will keep the school running and help develop similar projects in other parts of the world.

The Solidarity Shoeing Campaign asks farriers to contribute the proceeds of one shoeing to help the FAF continue its work fostering farrier knowledge worldwide. In addition, the FAF asks that farriers post a photo of their shoeing on Facebook tagged with the hash tag #SolidatiryShoeing to help raise awareness for the cause.

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