15th Shoeing & Shoemaking Competition - biggest and busiest yet!
Herefordshire College of Technology’s specialist Rural Crafts Centre, at the Holme Lacy campus, was a hive of activity on Saturday 22nd November as Blacksmiths and Farriers from all over Britain gathered to test their skills against one another in a series of shoeing competitions.
The competition is in its fifteenth year, thanks to all those who take part, support and sponsor the event, with some teams travelling from as far as Scotland, South Wales, Kent and Essex to compete. All classes were full or over subscribed, the event being one of the biggest and busiest yet.
Competitions are divided into ‘Master and Apprentice Shoemaking’, for those apprentices in their 1st and 2nd years of training, ‘Master and Apprentice Live Shoeing’, for those Apprentices in their 3rd and 4th years of training, plus Student and Apprentice Blacksmithing competitions run alongside throughout the event.
Unless you are amongst the heat and noise of the teams meticulously working with lengths of steel bar, it would be easy to underestimate the level of craftsmanship that goes into producing horse shoes, both modern and those of past times that are still taught today in order to keep the skills of the craft alive.
There are strict regulations in Britain and the Farriery Apprenticeship programme, delivered at the Rural Crafts Centre, takes 4 years and 2 months to complete. Students then have to qualify in order to practice as Registered Farriers.
Students come to HCT’s specialist centre from all over the world and there are currently around 120 block-release students catered for over the space of a year on the Farriery course and approximately 100 full-time Blacksmithing students.
Results of the 15th Master and Apprentice Shoeing and Shoemaking Competition
