Forging Brains Podcast

Riley and I were honored to be asked to judge a WCB event and took a lot of pride in trying to do the right thing to judge fair and honestly. In this episode we talked about our experience on how that event went for us to judge. Let me tell ya, it ain't as easy as you would think! There's a lot of shoes that get judged in three days as well as picking up a lot of horse's feet to be judged and scor...

Ft Worth WCB is dang near here! Riley and Gavine are judging this year and figured we should add some insight about the shoes before people are on their way to the contest. We went over each shoe on this and laid out things we'd like to see with each class but ultimately it's going to come down to the basics of horseshoeing. If you have the basic elements in your jobs, then you'll do well. Look fo...

We recently attended the American Farrier's Association annual convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee and while we were there we got to sit down with Kayla and Lyle Shepherd. Really cool story about how they met initially and then became to be husband and wife starting a multi-farrier practice of their own. Kayla was involved with the Culture Exchange program, getting to travel across the world to w...

Chad Chance is a man of many talents and is a great entrepreneur in our industry. It's safe to say that Chad paved the way for us here on Forging Brains Podcast in the sense of being one of the firsts in the farrier trade to publish content to the internet and YouTube. Through his channel, HoofWatch, Chad has provided so knowledge with the collaboration of Craig Trnka and the WCB and also Mustad w...

We sat down and talked about our experience at Spruce Meadows a few weeks ago from a competitors standpoint and as well as a spectator. Discussed some of the struggles and great things we experienced all week long. All in all, it was a great week! Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com Our Proud Sponsors of the Show www.farrierbox.com use code BRAINS for 25% off your first month's order!...

While up at the 2024 World Championships in Calgary at Spruce Meadows, Riley was able to sit down with competitors after they had their "go" on Saturday's, Pool of Shoes Class. It's really cool to hear everyone's input after they've had a go to hear their thoughts while it's fresh on their mind, because we always like to ask each other while we're at a contest &qu...

While up at the 2024 World Championships in Calgary at Spruce Meadows, we were able to sit down with guests we don't get to see often because they live across the world in England, so it was awesome to get to have a chat with Alex Collier and George Rogerson. What we find is really cool is that when we chatted, nobody knew who the new World Champion was going to be yet and now that we're r...

We had a great conversation with our guest, Mike Stone. Unfortunately the wifi coverage wasn't the greatest and had some lag time and made our conversation cut short. But we got a great introduction of how Mike got into this trade of farriery. It's always interesting to hear how people didn't intend on shoeing horses in the beginning but ended up finding it and falling in love with it...

We recently were able to head down to New Mexico to hang out at WCB headquarters and while we were there we wanted to sit down with Craig to hear what else is on his mind and is going on within the WCB. Craig's a fountain of knowledge and a man that can shoot inspiration into you, if you're willing to listen. I gained motivation throughout our conversation to become better and strive for m...

Man this was a great episode with our special guest, Robbie Mederos! You'll hear in this episode that Robbie worked in a different field for over a decade and then one day decided enough is enough, quit that job and decided to pursue a career that had meaning and can bring happiness. Robbie is a second generation farrier that was taught by his dad is Bob Mederos who has had lots of success as...

Bet you think it would be helpful to get an in depth look at the shoes on a shoe list before the contest happened? Well, in this episode you can! We sat down with Travis Buck to hear what inspired him to come up with this shoe list and what are going to be some key elements he'll be looking for when he's judging. Also, he broke down each shoe on how he went about making them! Travis has qu...

We sat down and thought it would be cool to talk about the shoe list for the next WCB in Edgewood as if we were to be getting ready to make the shoes for the first time. Consider it like if we were sitting down with each other and figuring out what steps we're going to be needing to do with each shoe before we even cut any steel. Getting a game plan together! Although we're not entered in...

This week's guest can school us on a lot of things to become a successful, professional farrier- Bob Pethick. Bob has shod horses professionally for over 50 years and not only just regular type horses, high dollar, high stress, top level sport horses that compete at the highest level for the United States Equestrian Team for nearly his whole career. He had it set in his mind from day 1 of star...

If you're listening to this episode, you probably already know Riley & Gavine are firm believers in continuing education by attending clinics or competing in contests. But in this episode we covered some key tips for you if you are looking to host a clinic or competition. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to put on a successful clinic or contest. It requires a fair bit of in...

You've heard it here first folks and heard that correctly, John Mcnerney (Yukon Forge) is taking over for Jim Poor's (Flatland Forge) driving hammer business! It's no secret that Jim Poor has built a strong empire of tools throughout his career over at Flatland Forge and couldn't be more fitting for a guy like John to take over that part of the business. Lot of the time what happen...

We know we've been absent with uploading consistent episodes the past few weeks but sometimes we get super busy in life and they supersede other objectives we do but we are trying our best to get episodes uploaded on a weekly basis! This week we have a great guest who a lot of you may know and love, Tyson Clark! As you'll hear in this episode, Tyson has been shoeing horses for many years a...

We've got another great episode coming to you live from the WCB Winter Clinic at Well-Shod in Amarillo, Texas with this week's guest, Mike Augenstein! Just like a lot of us, Mike had been introduced to horseshoeing through his dad as a necessity and then decided to pursue becoming great at it after meeting many top farriers throughout his early days. Even though Mike went to college and ea...

Coming in hot straight from the World Championship Blacksmiths Winter Clinic at Well-Shod, we got to sit down with a few cool guests and chat with them! This episode is with someone that most people know and respect because of how great a person he is, Hank Chisholm. Hank shared with us how he gained a passion for this trade and how he tries to share that passion with everyone through the American...

Kicking the year off right with what Nigel would refer to as a "belter!" of an episode! We had the privilege to sit down and chat with our first Englishman on the show, Nigel Fennell. It's amazing to hear about all the accomplishments and accolades Nigel has achieved throughout his career. He has achieved the highest level of certification in the Fellowship of Worshipful Company of F...

We were fortunate to be able to sit down with Todd Walker while we were competing in Ft. Worth at the 2023 World Championship Blacksmiths Season Finals. So you may hear the tune of hammers banging on anvils in the background and the occasional train passing by in the background. We got to learn so much more about Todd and what has drove him to succeed at all the great things he has achieved throug...

We were just in Ft. Worth, Texas for the 2023 World Championship Blacksmiths Season finals and thought it would be really cool to hear from some of the competitors that competed in the Novice Class. Either this was this their first one or they have competed in all three for the year and will be deciding to move up into the Categories next year. Little different style format podcast than we usually...

We have a great guest this episode with the one and only, Trey Green. Trey has shod horses at the top levels of their discipline, as well as, competed himself at the top level of farrier & blacksmithing competitions with great success. Like many of you, Trey has his own unique way of how he became interested in this trade of farriery. Throughout that journey. he had secured himself a place on...

If you've been around for a while in this trade you more than like have heard of this week's guest, Travis Koons! Travis has resided in Southern California for most his life and most his career shoeing high level sport horses. You'll hear in this episode how Travis got his start into shoeing horses, his introduction to farrier competitions, the ups & downs he has faced throughout h...

This past weekend I was at the FAWS (Farriers Association of Washington State) annual fall convention and contest, where Craig Trnka was our judge and clinician. So I figured what a perfect time to sit down with him and do a podcast to talk about their recent accomplishment with the World Championships at Spruce Meadows. We were also joined by Troy Wood, Jesse Wilson, Brian Strelow, Brandyn Davis,...

This marks the 1 year mark from when we dropped the first episode of Forging Brains Podcast! We want to thank all our guests and friends that have sat down with us to make the show happen. We certainly have enjoyed this journey getting to deep dive into people's lives and learn what it takes to become a successful farrier. This episode we talked about the highlights from this year, some of the...