FEI Taps AAPF/IAPF As Farriers For 2018 World Equestrian Games The American and International Associa­tions of Professional Farriers (AAPF/IAPF) will serve as the emergency farrier service providers for the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) Tryon 2018 at Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, N.C.

Scott Lampert, a farrier with 30 years of experience, remembers an important, long-ago shoeing lesson as if it happened yesterday. At the time, Lampert served a high-profile client with one of the top hunters in the country who had qualified for the indoor finals in Washington and New York.

The sport of polo wasn’t always a sport. The oldest game using a ball and some sort of stick on a horse, is thought to have originated thousands of years ago in ancient Persia or China.

When a well-clipped shoe is applied correctly, it sure looks sharp on a horse’s hoof. Some farriers will even go so far as to call them sexy. Proclivities aside, they serve an important function. “Clips are mainly used to improve the security of the shoe on the foot and relieve stress on the nails,” says Tucumcari, N.M., farrier Jim Keith. “They can be applied anywhere around the wall perimeter, but usually only in the anterior half due to their ability to constrict wall movement. They may be used to contain wall flares.”