Heat, metal, skill and pure force was the order for day for farriers — those who shoe horses — on Saturday.

Participants honed the skill of forging horseshoes the “old-fashioned way” during a three-day clinic held for beginners and weathered farriers alike.

The clinic culminated with the 27th annual Texas Professional Farriers Association Forging and Shoeing Contest Saturday at the North Texas State Fairgrounds cattle barn.

DRC/Gary Payne

Mark Leiser and Glenn Spradling work on shaping a horseshoe during the Eagle Eye Runoff competition Friday at the North Texas State Fairgrounds. Leiser had to run to one end of the arena, look at a pattern, run back and describe to Spradling how to shape the horseshoe as closely to the pattern as possible.

This was the first year for this contest to be in Denton, said Collinsville  resident Doyle Blagg, who was raised in Denton.

He has been in the business for 51 years and is a fourth-generation farrier, he said. 

He said making horseshoes the same way as 100 years ago — with an anvil, a forge and hand tools — is an important skill that helps farriers assist veterinarians when needed.

For example, farriers would be able to make therapeutic shoes.

Each horse’s hooves are different, and shoes vary depending on the horse’s job, said contest coordinator David Edens of Graham.

To fire the forge, farriers use propane gas or coal. Blagg said when he started, coal was all there was to use.

Edens said a benefit and possible disadvantage to using coal it that it gets hotter quicker, but it takes a lot more skill to forge a steel horseshoe with coal.

“If you leave your steel in too long, it will burn up,” he said.

But before a horseshoe can be fitted, the horse’s hooves need to be trimmed, Edens said.

Contestants are judged and awarded points on how flat and neat the hooves are without being overdone — too far down to the sensitive part of the horse’s hooves.

They then measure the size of the hoof to determine how much steel to cut and essentially shape the horseshoe with their forge, anvil, tools and sweat.

Farriers will spend hours practicing before a competition, Edens said, because they do not use handmade shoes in everyday work, and in a competition, they have a time limit to construct a well-made shoe.

Taking part in competitions can be a hobby, said Edens. There are regional and national levels, and the top four competitors in the nation go as a team to an international competition, he said.

There were about the 30 competitors in this week’s event, Edens said, and the level of experience varied.

“Anybody can shoe a horse. They have all these schools that can teach you the basics,” Edens said, but “these guys are striving to be better” by working with other farriers and learning new trade methods from them.

The association sponsors clinics throughout the year.

 “We’re just trying to help them get a leg up … so they can get better at their trade,” Edens said.

He said even those who have shoed horses for years learn things in return. It used to be that farriers would not share their knowledge, but that’s not the case now, Edens said.

The TPFA has about 140 members throughout the state. Contest competitors came from all over and did not have to be members.

In England, farriers train for at least four years, and that kind of training does not exist in the U.S. at this time, Edens said.

Sarah Brown of Glasgow, Scotland, who won her division in Saturday’s competition, trained in England and passed the required exams to be a farrier last year. She said the tests are a lot of pressure because around 10 percent of test-takers do not pass.

She has been doing an exchange program for the past two months in Canada and the United States and will head back to England on her birthday, Wednesday.

“I wanted to work with horses,” Brown said about becoming a farrier. “It’s interesting. It’s a good job.”

Professional farriers have to be mobile.

A farrier’s rig, which can carry all their heavy and possibly dangerous equipment, can cost around $20,000, Edens said, and that doesn’t include the cost of the vehicle or equipment.

A farrier’s hammer costs about $160, for example, and tools can cost anywhere between $8,000 to $12,000, said Glenn Spradling of Campbell, a full-time farrier since 1991.

He said knowing how to hand-make horseshoes gives those in the trade a better understanding of horses’ variety of needs.

“If we’re not thoroughly educated, we all kind of handicap ourselves,” Spradling said.

“We’ve worked hard to overcome the image that the guy with the strong back, a weak mind and a dirty T-shirt is the guy who shoes the horses,” said Michael Chance of Pilot Point, who has worked full time in the trade for 24 years.

AMY DODD THOMPSON can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is athompson@dentonrc.com.

CONTEST WINNERS

27th annual Texas Professional Farriers Association Forging and Shoeing Contest winners:

Division I: Henry Vera of Pipe Creek

Division II: Sarah Brown of Glasgow, Scotland

Division III: Mark Milster of Oklahoma