NORTHEAST DRAFTHORSE SHOEING, LLC
Just a quick comment on Bruce's DVD.
Excellent. Extremely well done. For those of you that haven't seen it yet I highly recommend you buy one.
George Geist
Race track farrier/ Pennsylvania
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Re: Clinic with Bruce Matthews!
Thanks Mark, both you and your wife were wonderful hosts. I feel fortunate that I was able to attend, and look forward to the next one. If I may be so bold as to offer just one bit of advice to you,Mark, it would be......."knife buffer".
For those of you who have not witnessed Bruce training these "big guys" to stand quietly for the farrier, please take the opportunity. At the same time, Bruce's style of trimming these "big guys" will blow you away.
He gets under these horses, so quickly and trims so efficently that it appears that they don't even know that they have been trimmed until the last foot falls. Bruce. You da man!
Mark Sullivan
Ohio
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(Ohio Clinic) We did come up a horse short for our clinic demonstrators. No problem. A quick trip to a local arabian farm and Bruce was able to pick out a 10 year old arab gelding that had NEVER been broke. I'm not talking about saddle broke.. I mean not EVEN HALTER BROKE!
There was no way we were going to get this animal into a trailer in time for the clinic. Not a problem for Bruce. The king of the drafts wasn't about to be stymied by a mere arabian. He caught the horse then literally walked this animal to the training facility for some up close and personal hands on training.
It wouldn't have surprised me if Bruce had walked into the barn carrying the horse over his shoulder. Fortunately, the little arab must have decided to do things Bruce's way and walked in under his own steam.
While not 100% successful in getting the arab trimmed, Bruce made amazing progress in a very short time and did get the horses feet up on a trimming stand and some of the work accomplished. He felt confident that one or two more sessions would see the horse standing as a farrier intends!
The Paso Fino mare scheduled for this clinic arrived and was led into the arena. While the concerned and gracious owner stood by, she watched as Bruce completed his training in about 15 minutes and the trim job took little more. You could hear the phrase 'horse whisperer' coming from members of the audience as Bruce worked. Mark Sullivan did much(all?) of the hoof work after Bruce did his thing. It looked like Mark had been trimming this horse all his life with no problems.
The second Belgain of the show was little concern for Bruce, contrary to the fears expressed by the owner. Bruce's characterization was simply "well, that was easy".
Day two of the clinic was an incredible experience and I am grateful to all who attended and so willingly shared their experience, their knowledge and their time.
I'll try to get more photos posted in the next few days and am sure that others will do the same.
In the meantime, a huge, hearty and most sincere thank you to the clinicians, the farriers and horseman who attended, from both myself and Katie.
We can only hope that you enjoyed the experience as much as we did.
To those of you who have asked, "will you do it again next year"... Kate and I can only say, "Yep, we can do that."
See ya next year!
Respectfully,
Mark
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Hello to all!
Well, we've got day one of the Farriers and Horseman's clinic behind us. The response so far has been incredible. The belgians owner was still talking late into the night about the amazing job that Bruce did.
Above Photos- "Bruce instructs Danvers in his handling techniques"
"Bruce supervises as Rick Burton tries his hand on Katie the mule"
Bruce spent about 40 minutes working with this animal, describing his methods step-by-step. The results were better than positive. When Bruce fniished the intial training we put the big mare back in a stall while Danvers shared some of his experiences with us.
Bruce then brought out the mule and went to work on her. I'll get back to her in a moment.
Now here's the amazing part. Well after Bruce finished working on the mule, we brought the belgian back into the arena to perform the actual trim. Everyone, including the owner, was wondering and asking, "are you going to have to start over with the training now?".
The answer was a startling NO! The belgian walked quietly into the arena. Bruce picked up her huge feet and immediatly went to work. Next, Danvers and Rick assisted, working each in turn on the mares other feet. Within a few minutes the mare had freshly trimmed hooves.
She didn't pull away; didn't try to run off. In fact, when the trimming was done, Bruce dropped the lead rope and the mare stood there for another 10 minutes while Bruce finished his Q/A session with the audience. The big belgian stood next to Bruce, her lead rope on laying on the ground in front of her, until a handler finally led her back to the stall.
The owner expressed amazement at the transformation and was immensely grateful. On leaving, this owner asked for business cards so he could engage other horse owners in his own area, encouraging them to attend Sundays clinic.
The mule was more challenging and everyone had doubts that we'd get her feet done. It took a few minutes longer but the net results were the same. Before the hour was up, the mule was standing quietly next to Bruce, her feet all neatly trimmed, patiently waiting for Bruce to finish his discussion with the audience. Bruce even had several others come out and work on the mules feet. While she fussed a bit once or twice, those working on her were still able to get all four feet trimmed without any serious problems. An incredible transformation for this very difficult to trim mule.
The clinic was intended to last for three hours. The last of the audience didn't leave until a full 6 hours had passed! Most were anxious to return tomorrow to work on even more challenging horses.
If you're close enough to make the trip, I would encourage anyone with an interest in continuing education to join Bruce, Danvers, Rick Burton and all the others for this incredible opportunity.
The second day of the clinic starts Sunday at 1:00 PM. We'll have another belgian the owner claims is more difficult than the one used today. Another belgian cross with 'serious' behavioral challenges will be in attendance and Paso Fino mare will round out the training portion.
Danvers will again open the forum to his 'soapbox' discussion points, engaging and challenging the audience on farrier/owner relationships, common farriery related myths and general good horsemanship and farrier principles.
Bruce will again take center stage with "Edie", the belgian mare that started out life as a 'stud colt'??!!?
Your host at the clinic presented a particularly difficult shoeing challenge for anyone willing to 'give it a go'. Danvers and Rick Burton were quick to accept that challenge as part of tomorrows clinic.
While we aren't expecting as big a crowd on Sunday, those who do attend should find the experience personally engaging and rewarding. Wear your 'combat gear', come dressed for barn work and be prepared for Bruce and Danvers to invite you into the arena for some hands-on, up-close-and-personal work with these horses.
Thanks to all who attended and supported todays event and I hope to see you tomorrow!
See you at the clinic!
Cheers,
Mark
