Mullins Farrier Podcast

Welcome to the Mullins Farrier Podcast. Imparting wisdom forged over lifetimes of experience.

Douwe Dokter 04/22/2024

Douwe Dokter 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 there is a great story that exemplifies how tough and determined Douwe is as a competitor. Through Danny Bennett's military-like leadership as the chief steward, he might have even been in the military now that I think of it, the volunteers worked diligently to get the competition arena set up early on the afternoon before so the teams could practice. Team Holland was one of the first to arrive and take advantage of this. Douwe was building a shoe with a striker and something went wrong with the rhythm, causing his hammer to recoil off the sledgehammer and hit him right in the face below the eye. I just happened to be watching as it occurred. Everyone stopped and held their breath. Douwe's striker looked horrified. Douwe touched his face and asked, Is there blood? His partner shook his head and said no. And Douwe said, "Okay, good. Let's go" and carried on. Needless to say, if I ever end up in a bar fight, I hope this man is on my side. During our conversation, we touched on several topics, including how he and his wife Naomi run two separate shoeing businesses, where they specialize in different areas and use different shoeing techniques. We talk about their bad run of luck after the previous year's Stoneleigh with a house fire, and we talk about his unique side hustle that brought him to North America long before he started competing on this side of the pond. Anyway, it's always a pleasure to run into this man and I'm glad we were able to do this. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/30930253

Derek Poupard 04/08/2024

Ben Benson AWCF 03/25/2024

Sarah-Mary Brown FWCF 03/11/2024

Todd Walker CJF 02/26/2024

Dustin Small 02/12/2024

Alex Würsch 01/29/2024

Chad Lausen AJFC 01/15/2024

Chad Lausen AJFC 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 unique philosophies on a lot of topics including business, marketing, and competition. As you will hear, he is also someone who likes to get involved in making the trade better. And in that spirit, since this recording, he became the president of the Western Canadian Farriers Association. I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes there. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: 00:00 Introduction and Background 00:04 The Importance of Mental Game in Horse Care 00:39 The Art of Pricing in Horse Care 00:54 The Role of the Western Canadian Farriers Association 01:18 The Importance of Continuous Learning in Horse Care 01:44 Interview with Chad Lausen 02:36 Chad's Journey in the Horse Care Industry 03:03 The Importance of Community in the Horse Care Industry 04:33 Chad's Apprenticeship Program 08:56 The Importance of Being Coachable 10:05 Chad's Approach to Business and Work-Life Balance 12:17 Chad's Journey in the Horse Care Industry 15:33 Chad's Approach to Teaching and Apprenticeship 17:28 Chad's Experience in Rodeo and its Influence on His Career 26:12 Chad's Approach to Avoiding Burnout 27:15 Chad's Experience in Competitions 31:50 Chad's Tool Making Business 33:59 The Art of Knife Making 34:43 Balancing Craftsmanship and Podcasts 35:08 The Business Side of Farriery 36:32 The Importance of Profitable Business 37:37 The Value of Quality Work and Marketing 39:04 Promoting the Farrier Industry 39:17 The Journey Towards Certification 40:31 The Importance of Competitions and Certifications 41:54 The Impact of Apprenticeships 44:26 The Importance of Business Knowledge 46:36 The Stratum Tectorium: Short Answer Questions 47:33 The Importance of Sponsors and Competitions 01:03:11 The Importance of Stretching and Exercise 01:03:29 The Importance of Passion in Your Career /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/29469193

James Findler 01/02/2024

Bob Marshall 12/18/2023

Adam Fahr CJF 12/04/2023

Tom Smith FWCF – GradDIP ELR (Dist.) (RVC) - Master Farrier – ATF 11/21/2023

Tom Smith FWCF – GradDIP ELR (Dist.) (RVC) - Master Farrier – ATF Welcome everyone. A little shopkeeping before we start. Dr. Simon Curtis is hosting his last webinar of the year on December 6th. It's called the Hough Rehab Webinar with Marty Sala and Paige Posse. For tickets to this event, go to and look up the Hoof Rehab Webinar with Dr. Simon Curtis. And don't forget to enter Mullins as the discount code at checkout. This episode is being released just after hosting my good friend Cody Gregory for a one-day forging clinic at Andrew DeVisser's shop in Paris, Ontario and then a two-day whole horse dissection at the McKee-Pownall Clinic in Schomburg, Ontario. As usual, Cody knocked it out of the park with both clinics. Cody is the king of full immersion, and Equine Anatomy has been one of his deep dives. About 40 whole horse dissections later, he has teaching it down to an art. If you're interested in setting up one for your own association or group, I would highly recommend reaching out to him. Go to and send him a message through his site. Today's interview comes from my time spent at Stoneleigh this year, and we've released it first in the queue of many interviews I did there because of its topical nature. You may recognize Tom Smith's voice from the episode I did with the Farriers Registration Council last year. As the chair of the council, Tom has a unique perspective on the controversy surrounding the diploma and higher-level exams in England through the Worshipful Company of Farriers. I would highly recommend that you listen to both the FRC and the Worshipful Company episodes. If you're not familiar with the organizations and the jobs that they fulfill for farriery in England, then to make you do even more homework, I would point you to the BFBA's website at and search for the press releases on the farriery endpoint assessment updates under the latest news tab. I feel like with this little bit of leg work, you will have a much better understanding of the situation. Ever since meeting Tom last year, I wanted to sit down with him and understand why he took the often thankless position he has with the FRC and what his journey to become an FWCF was like. After our relatively brief first encounter, my instincts told me that he was going to be an inspiring guest and as you will hear, he did not disappoint. Thoughtful, driven, and not afraid to tackle the hard things, Tom has accomplished many impressive goals. You'll even hear us get a little choked up about our respective truck dogs who recently passed. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/28737228

Johannes Sandsten Atlason DipWCF 11/06/2023

Marc Jerram BSc (Hons) Grad Dip ELR CJF AWCF Master Farrier and Dr. David Marlin BSc (Hons), PhD 10/23/2023

The Farriers Foundation 10/09/2023

Mike Bagley JIICF, APF-I 09/25/2023

Jack Ketel CJF 09/11/2023

Jack Ketel CJF Welcome, everyone. Well, at this point, the fires have all cooled and the winners have gone home with their medals from the World Championships at Spruce Meadows Masters Tournament in Calgary, Alberta. Today's interview was recorded back at the beginning of the year at the Hoof Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, and you will hear Jack say that competing at the World Championships blacksmith competition was on his bucket list. I'm happy to report that he did make the list. As I'm recording this before heading out there, and before the competition, I apologize, but I can't tell you how he did. Speaking of international farrier competitions, do you have your flights booked yet for the International at Stoneleigh in England? It's coming up quickly and you might as well attend the focus convention while you're there. Visit www.forgeandfarrier.co.uk for more details. Today's episode is proudly sponsored by Spencer and his team at Outwest Design and Fabrication, where they build farrier bodies, custom interiors, vet boxes and just about anything else you can come up with. I have seen many of their finished products and spoken to many of their happy clients. So happy in fact that it inspired me to use them for my next project. Check them out on Facebook at Outwest Design and Fabrication. As you listen to today's guest, you may think that you accidentally changed your podcast app's speed to double time but that's just the speed that Jack Ketel’s mind works. I had only known this man by reputation for the many years that he had been on the Canadian team and it was a true pleasure to finally get to meet him in person and have this conversation. As you will quickly come to realize, dust does not settle on this man and he has a very unique ability to always make life an adventure. I found him quite inspiring, and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Outwest Design and Fabrication Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/27993594

Connor and Ashley Sloman 08/28/2023

Connor and Ashley Sloman I ran into today's guests at the Hoof Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, where whenever possible they have attended every year as they find continuing education extremely important in their practice. I had first met Connor at this very convention many years before where he introduced me to his father Lance. Those of you who are avid listeners of the podcast will be familiar with Lance's episode from several years back. Unfortunately, we lost Lance just over a year ago, very suddenly and as you will hear, Connor was left with a very large and successful business that he had helped his father to build up over the years. Connor's wife, Ashley joined in to help and now they are a husband and wife team carrying the torch of EquiTerra Ferrier services. For some context, you will hear me mention a horse park and the horse park we're talking about is the infamous Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta, where Connor and his father Lance, had been the horse show farriers for many years. While Connor and Ashley have decided to focus their efforts more on their private practice and are no longer working for the horse show, you will hear how their unique experience of working there for so many years has really shaped their practice. They have seen some of the best jumper shoeing from all over the world and sometimes not the best, and they got to see that shoeing in practice at one of the most prestigious horse shows in the world. As with many of the incredible guests I've been fortunate enough to have on the podcast, Ashley Connor and I have become quite good friends. I always look forward to running into them at the various farrier events that bring us from across the country to the same locale. They are incredibly kind, thoughtful, and always yearning for more knowledge. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Promo Code MULLINS Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/27862464

Tyler Joos CJF 08/14/2023

Tyler Joos CJF Welcome everyone. I've got a few items in the shopkeeping portion for you here. First of all, the BFBA Focus 2023 tickets are now available for sale. There are live demonstrations as well as a very large trade show. Go to For more details, just click on the BFBA Focus 2023 link. I hope to see you there. The folks at the Canadian Equine Hoof Care Association wanted me to let you know that they have an event going on September 30th to October 2nd called The Evolution in Whole Horse Soundness. This is a conference for all hoof care professionals, equine industry professionals, students and owners. On October 2nd there's a bonus wet lab for members only. For more information, go to The end of September is a busy time. There is also the Ontario Farriers Association's Convention, September 28th to the 30th. Riley Kirkpatrick is the keynote speaker and the judge for the contest. As I'm sure you saw on our social media feeds, we had an auction last week. Today's guest farrier and toolmaker extraordinaire, Tyler Joos donated one of his handmade hammers for us to raise money for the podcast. Thank you to everybody who bid on the hammer. A special thank you goes out to Payden Underwood who had the highest bid. My good friend Andrew DeVisser, who you know from several episodes on this podcast, gave me a call and he said, you need to talk to Tyler Joos. As you'll hear in the interview. Tyler reached out to Andrew for some business advice. They have corresponded many times since, and Andrew hasn't led me astray yet. So I put Tyler on the hit list and low and behold, Tyler reached out to me. I wasn't aware, but he's an avid listener of the podcast and he wanted to support the podcast in his own unique way, hence the auction for the hammer. Now, Tyler is one of those people where anytime his name comes up, everyone has nothing but nice things to say about him. Salt of the earth is actually a term I've heard used to describe him several times. At one point in the interview, you're going to hear Tyler talk about a time where a customer wasn't happy with one of his hammers. So Tyler made a new one and sent it off to him, and he mentioned that gentleman by name, Connor Sloman. At the end of the interview, he was actually concerned Connor might not want that story told, but I reached out to Connor and asked him if he would be okay with it, and as I already suspected, he was. Tyler and I had a great candid chat. I. And I think there are a lot of great takeaways from it. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/27744897

Hailey Harrington, Doctor of occupational therapy 07/31/2023

Mike Nale CJF 07/17/2023

Alex Norsworthy 07/03/2023

Alex Norsworthy Welcome everyone. I hope you're all doing well this busy time of the year. I have a lot to cover today in the shopkeeping portion, but the interview is actually quite short, so I feel like the two will even out in the end. As I said just a few seconds ago, it is a busy time of the year for us and as we grind it out and do as many horses as our clients put upon us, sometimes it's hard to remember why we're doing the job we do in the first place. It's easy to get lost in the never ending sea of horses and suddenly this very cool career that we have starts to feel more like a job. As you've heard me and several of my guests say over the years, two of the very good remedies for this problem are competition and certification. But sometimes you need to take a break from horses and horseshoeing altogether, and that's what I have attempted to do this summer by taking up mountain biking. For years, I have told myself that I didn't have time for a hobby, so I didn't make time. But this summer I've started to, and the results have been pretty cool. I've even been able to go for a ride with Kathy Lesperance who, as you know, is a former guest on the podcast. During one of our many discussions on that ride, we both commented on how much better we felt horse horseshoeing because of the physical activity we were doing in our off time. Many of the other guests have also shared their off-duty pastimes, like Kenny Hoyle with his dirt biking, Riley Kirkpatrick with his hunting, and of course, Danny Bennett with his mountain biking, although I'm pretty sure he prefers to take a lift to the top of the big hills. So I was thinking in an effort to show your fellow farriers that it's okay to not shoe horses 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and to have a pastime after work, that we would do a little social media exercise. Post a picture of yourself doing your favorite after work pastime, and post it to your social media and tag the Mullens Farrier podcast in your post, along with the hashtag off-duty farrier. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with. For the next item, I'd like to thank the following folks for supporting the podcast by buying us a virtual coffee, Alexander Werner and Kendall Black, thank you so much for your support. If you'd like to support the podcast by buying some swag, this is the time to do it until July 4th. You can receive 15% off everything with a $79 purchase. In both the Canadian and the American stores, use the Code Canada 15 to get the discount or you can always buy the podcast a coffee. Please see the links in the show notes. The folks at the Ontario Farriers Association wanted me to let you know that their convention is from September 28th to 30th, 2023. Riley Kirkpatrick is coming down and he's the keynote speaker and the judge for the contest. Keep an eye out on their Facebook page or go to to get more details on this event. Exactly one month after that convention I'm heading across the pond to watch the International Horseshoeing Competition at Stoneleigh and hang out with the cool folks at the British Farriers and Blacksmiths Association for their Focus convention. You too can come and I highly recommend that you do. As always, the International will host the best teams the world has to offer, and there's a pretty stellar list of keynote speakers for Focus as well. Look at all the details online at . Now for today's guest, Alex was another member of Vern Powell's crew of clinicians for the Puerto Vallarta clinic last December, like me, this was Alex's first trip down to Puerto Vallarta, and she fit in perfectly with the group. So well, I think she stole the heart of one of the veteran clinicians. I would refer you to her Facebook page for more of an explanation. As in any situation when a group of farriers spend too much time together, there becomes a plethora of inside jokes and farriers being farriers. Some of them can be inappropriate or dark. One of those jokes found its way into this interview, and I couldn't let it be omitted. You'll hear Alex mention an embalming table that she purchased from a scrap yard, and the joke was that that embalming table had come from the local funeral home where Alex's late grandmother may have spent some time on it. For the rest of the trip, it was always brought up as Memaw's table. Well, folks buckle up as I'm sure you can already tell you're in for a wild ride. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/27353931

Brad Snyder CJF ASF DipWCF 06/19/2023

Brad Snyder CJF ASF DipWCF Welcome everyone! A little shopkeeping before we start. What are you doing at the end of October this year?I highly recommend that you attend the International Horseshoeing Competition and the British and Blacksmith's Associations Focus Convention at Stonleigh Park. As I am sure you've heard me brag about before I attended this event last year and had a fantastic time. What more could a farrier want in an event? You have the world's best competing as teams. You have the convention full of world-class speakers and every vendor represented that you could think of, as well as live shoeing demos by some of the best in the world. I realize that October seems quite a ways off right now, but plan ahead. Get yourself a ticket and hopefully, I'll see you over there. For more information, go to I'm also excited to announce the release of Chris Gregory's second installment in his series of memoirs titled . This book covers his time growing up as a child on his family's ranch in New Mexico and his time voluntarily spent at military school. That's right. He wasn't sent there. He asked to go. Anyway, as with his previous book, this one is full of anecdotal stories and humorous misadventures that all accumulate into the legendary man that we all know today. The book is available on Amazon or through the school's website. As well, if you'd like to hear some more from Chris. He started his own podcast and the first two episodes are out now. Have a listen. It's called , and it's available where all fine podcasts can be found. There have been a lot of listeners who kind of poke fun at the way that I talk. My Canadian accent is apparently more prevalent than I think but today's guest is going to top that. His Canadianness is next level, and I imagine that he'd be pretty proud to hear that. I met Brad down in Puerto Vallarta with the rest of Vern Powell's crew, and we got to know each other quite well during that trip. As a podcast first, this interview was recorded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while we were on a deep sea fishing excursion. Brad is humorous, humble, and handy, all attributes of many of the greats of our trade. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Buy The Show A Virtual Coffee: Swag Shop USA: Swag Shop Canada: Become a sponsor: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/27187080

La Clinica de Herraje Puerto Vallarta 2022 06/05/2023

Ward McGuire CJF 05/22/2023

Kenny Hoyle CJF 05/08/2023

Conrad Trow CJF 04/24/2023

Riley Gullion CJF 04/10/2023

Russell Jones DipWCF 03/27/2023

The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) 03/13/2023

The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) Welcome everyone. I'm coming to you from down in the Heartland where I just spent a week with my fellow farriers learning all we could from Chris and Cody and a special guest, Emilio Giannotti. As always, I met so many great folks down here, made some new friends, and got to hang out with some old ones. The blacksmith workshop that we just finished attending here is a very neat and unique course where you've got students who are just starting out on their farrier journey and have never used a forge or struck a piece of steel, and then you have seasoned farriers wanting to get better in their day to day or start their certification journey. It never ceases to amaze me how Chris and Cody can teach all of those skill levels in the same place and keep it interesting and challenging for all of us. It seems every time I speak to somebody who's come here after years of me recommending it, one of the first things they say just a few days in is "I've gotta come back here". The conversation you're about to hear took place once again across the pond on my trip over to Stoneleigh. If you're in North America, this particular organization might not be very familiar to you, and if you're from England, It might be familiar to you, but you might not completely understand what it is that they do. This was another conversation I recorded with Danny Bennett of the Lockdown Farriery Podcast, and ever since we recorded it, he has been pushing for me to release it so the folks over in his country could understand how integral the FRC is in the role of the farrier organizations over there. As you will hear, the three gentlemen that we interviewed representing The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) really take their jobs seriously and are passionate about what they do. I found it really informative and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) is a corporate body established under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975. Our vision is the "Prevention and avoidance of suffering by equines through ensuring that equine owners are able to access the equine hoof-care that best meets their needs in a timely and assured manner; this care will be delivered only by those capable and qualified to do so." Support the show: Become a sponsor: Become a Guest: /episode/index/show/mullinsfarrierpodcast/id/26199084

Mullins Farrier Podcast

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