Mullins Farrier Podcast

Today's episode comes out on the eve of the AFA convention, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is a PSA of sorts and will be available to paid and unpaid members of the podcast. I've had this thought for years that people don't appreciate or aren't aware of how much goes on behind the scenes of their associations to make these important entities run as smoothly and efficiently as they do. The two women...

For this episode, I've come to realize that after years of interviewing fellow farriers, I struggle at interviewing the suppliers in our business. I think it's because I don't know enough of the background of that world to ask the right questions. Due to these struggles, this interview ended up being a shorter format than my typical long form. But in the end, I hope I was able to do Steve and his...

Today's guest has played a large role in helping a group of super keen Mexican farriers to better themselves and pursue the AFA exam.  I met Ellie-May Buckland on my first trip to England. She introduced herself and said, I hear you're joining us in Puerto Vallarta this year. I was indeed and got to spend a lot of time getting to know her on that trip.  I tried multiple times to get her to do an i...

Welcome, everyone.   Well, I'm about at the midpoint of my English farrier tour, had a great time at Focus and The International, and got a lot of fantastic interviews done. Stay tuned for those. As it goes at that type of event, I had a lot of fun and interesting conversations with fellow farriers, both on and off the mic. My esteemed tour guide, Danny Bennett, took me with him to Hereford Colleg...

Welcome everyone. Before we start today, I wanted to have a discussion about mental health.   Just this summer in Ontario, we had two farriers take their own lives. Over the relatively brief time that I've been a farrier,  t his has occurred far too many times.   I know from discussions I've had with many of my friends and peers that it does seem to be getting tougher out there.   My friend Mike M...

Welcome everyone! A little shopkeeping before we start.   The BFBA's Focus and the Stoneleigh International are coming up at the end of this month. If you haven't already heard my most recent episode on the 2022 Focus and International, give that one a listen and it'll give you a pretty good idea as to what you can expect over there. Both are truly world class events and definitely worth attending...

Welcome, everyone.  We are less than a month away from the BFBA's Focus Convention and the International at Stoneleigh. It's not too late to pre order your tickets online, and I highly recommend doing so after bearing witness to the record long queues last year for people who waited to purchase theirs at the event.  I've been told that protocols have been put in place to help shorten those queues....

Today's guest is a mover and shaker in the farrier world whose efforts have received a lot of well deserved attention this past year.  She's a brand ambassador for Mustad and recently had a feature article about her in the Equine Living in the Bluegrass magazine. Last year, Meghan traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as one of the clinicians in Vern Powell's crew. It was here that I was finally abl...

Today's guest, is another gentleman from across the pond. You probably heard Haydn mentioned before quite fondly by Ben Benson in his episode. Haydn has even been a guest as a panelist from a discussion I recorded at Focus a couple of years back. I've had several folks explain to me the influence that Hayden has had on the farrier trade in the UK. I believe our Tech Bro counterparts in the Silicon...

Welcome everyone. I met today's guest at Stoneleigh at the same time I met one of our previous guests, James Todd. As you will hear, James and Mark are great friends, and I was happy we managed to get both of them in for an interview. It was not planned, but I found it interesting that this guest and our last one both had hard learned lessons about listening to your body when it tells you to settl...

Welcome, everyone.   I first met today's guest at Spruce Meadows in Alberta. I had just arrived at the beautiful and expansive grounds and could not find a single staff member to direct me to Craig's competition tent. Always friendly and eager to help, Alan immediately stood up, and despite being sore from his recent back surgery, led me to where the competition was being held. We had a couple of...

Welcome everyone. Stephen Hill FWCF came highly recommended by many farriers in England while I was there for Stoneleigh. Thanks to an introduction from Jamie Hughes, I was able to sit down with him and do this interview.  You will notice this common theme from many of the interviews that I did there,  wherein the guests and I go into deep detail about certain shoeing concepts. While Stephen allud...

I have run into today's guest several times over the years and unfortunately, our exchanges have always been brief.  I was looking forward to getting to know Steffi better at Vern Powell's Puerto Vallarta clinic in Mexico, but I missed one trip and she missed the other. We finally connected at last year's Stoneleigh for long enough to be able to sit down and do this interview. As you will hear, St...

I met these two characters a couple of years back at my very first Stoneleigh.  They played a very key role in all aspects of the competition and Focus.  They helped set it up, run it, and tear it down and they stayed until the very last case had been packed up.  As you will hear, Sam has a family background in theater production. So he is the reason we could all see underneath that giant canopy....

Welcome everyone. As you will hear, I met Jim Hayter a few times by this point through my travels across the pond to Stoneleigh, as well as at the World Championships in Calgary. Each time he was accompanied by his son, George.  As will become quite clear during the interview, Jim is quite proud of his son and all that he has accomplished. When you speak to George, the endearing thing is, that str...

I was introduced to this gentleman under the big competition marquee at Stoneleigh. I had just run into one of my friends, Ellie-May Buckland, whose interview is also in the pipeline, and she said, you should meet James. He would make a great interview.  So she made the introduction and without hesitation, James agreed to sit down and have a chat. As you will hear, James's career spans many decade...

I first met Douwe and his wife Naomi on my first trip to Stoneleigh.  He was one of the judges that year and understandably quite busy. So while we made plans to do the interview then, it didn't work out. Last year, however, Douwe was back, but this time as part of the Dutch team and he had a little bit more time, so he made it happen. You'll hear us briefly allude to it in the conversation, but t...

Welcome everyone.  I'm trying to recall the first time I met this gentleman. I've known him by reputation for years and unfortunately missed a clinic he had put on up in Ontario here a few years back. Everyone who attended had great things to say, so I suffered a sufficient dose of FOMO from missing that one. I finally managed to catch up with Derek Poupard at Stoneleigh last year, and with the he...

Today's guest has played an important role in having me over to Stoneleigh the past couple of years, so I could interview farriers from across the pond, promote the BFBA's   Focus Convention, and of course, spend some quality time with my podcast bro, Danny Bennett. As you will hear, Ben is a busy man with a lot of irons in the fire. From his position as a consultant for Team GB and one of the lea...

I finally got to meet the legendary Sarah-Mary Brown at this year's International at Stoneleigh. Because he was so busy being the chief steward, Danny Bennett left me in the capable hands of Jamie Hughes to arrange guests and keep the interviews coming. I was listing off my wish list of potential guests to Jamie and when I said Sarah Brown, he stopped me instantly and walked away. Seconds later, h...

Today's episode is another one that came out of my visit to the World Championship Blacksmiths competition in Calgary, Alberta. I got to meet Todd for the first time in person while we were both in the periphery of the WCB tent watching as the competitors had their goes. Todd agreed to do an interview and we found a quiet spot up on the balcony of the farrier's lounge and as soon as I pressed reco...

Welcome, everyone. This interview comes to you once again from Calgary, Alberta at the World Championship Blacksmith's Competition.  As I'm sure you've already gathered, I collected a lot of great interviews from my short visit there.  I came home with a memory card full of them and this one is no exception.  It is unique, however, in that this is the first interview I've done with a blacksmith an...

This episode comes out one week after the HoofCare Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio was held.  I spent all four days there and it was great getting to catch up with old friends and meeting new ones. This episode, however, was recorded at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta, during the Blacksmith World Championships. Alex was there with a couple of his fellow countrymen from Switzerland, competing as indi...

Today's interview comes from the World Championships in Calgary, Alberta. I had heard about Chad Lausen for years and was happy to finally meet him in England a couple of years back, preparing for Stoneleigh. He was busy with the team prepping, so we didn't have a chance to do the interview there. After his go in Calgary though, we had some time to chat.   I enjoyed hearing Chad's personal and uni...

In this podcast, our guest, James Findler of Langley, British Columbia, shares his expansive career as a farrier with us. From his early days of finding passion in horseshoeing, honing his skills, and competing at world-class levels to mentoring future farriers, James shares his experiences, challenges, and achievements. He also discusses the importance of continuous learning, the mental aspects o...