Based on recent telephone calls, a number of American Farriers Journal readers have already been hard at work trying to forge the Scottish hind preventer shoe for next summer’s mail-in forging exercise.

For the fourth year, this highly educational event will be part of the World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition that is held during the early July Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta.

Co-sponsored by the Calgary Stampede and American Farriers Journal, this mail-in forging exercise drew an astounding 124 shoers last summer. They saw this as a great educational opportunity to expand their shoemaking skills, while seeing how they measured up skill-wise against other farriers from around the world.

Each of the shoers in last year’s mail-in forging exercise received $261 in valuable farrier products from industry suppliers. The top 26 finishers split another $11,908.14 in products, resulting in $44,272.24 of valuable farrier products that were provided to the mail-in forging exercise participants.

The total value of products offered in this year’s worldwide mail-in forging exercise will depend on the specific number of participants. Look for a complete listing of all of the mail-in forging exercise products in the all-new “Farrier Products Issue” coming in April.

Marshall Iles, a farrier from Calgary, Alberta, and chairman of the 2003 World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition, says the Scottish hind preventer shoe is one that he watched veteran Scotland farrier Edward Martin forge at a clinic a few years ago. “At the time, I thought it would make a great contest shoe and we decided…