Jeff Cota

1 week ago | americanfarriers.com | Jeff Cota

“The quality of shoeing is really good [in the San Francisco Bay area],” says Somerset, England, native Mike Hayward. “You have to bring something to the table that the others don’t. Everyone gets along pretty well. A lot of people try to come into the area because you can make a very good living.”Hayward primarily shoes performance horses and therapeutic cases in the Bay area with his team, Esteban Narez and Fernando Roman, on a 5 to 6-week schedule.

3 weeks ago | americanfarriers.com | Jeff Cota

A Kentucky circuit court dismisses a lawsuit alleging Hot Rod Charlie was wearing illegal horseshoes while winning the Lukas Classic by a head over Rich Strike. Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Annie O’Connell granted the defendants’ motion for dismissal after determining the alleged rule violation fails to warrant a private legal claim. In addition, O’Connell ruled the plaintiffs have not fully pursued relief through the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corp.

4 weeks ago | americanfarriers.com | Jeff Cota

After a day of shoeing, Henry Heymering huddled at his kitchen table in early 1975 putting together the first issue of American Farriers Journal. There was a resurgence in the horse population and farriers, yet there was a void in sharing knowledge. The Arcadia, Fla., farrier wanted to change that. Heymering filled 8 pages with a case involving a tunnel he found while trimming, product reviews, tire maintenance and a tool modification. AFJ collected 54 paid subscriptions in the first year.

1 month ago | americanfarriers.com | Jeff Cota

Mike Hayward, APF-I, demonstrates his patented magnetic broom. The San Jose, Calif., farrier modified a shop broom with a roller magnet to retrieve stray nails after shoeing a horse. “The roller magnet is on one side and the broom on the other so you can still sweep,” Hayward explains. “To remove the nails from the magnet, you just flip a switch that releases the magnetic face and the nails fall off.”Hayward’s magnetic broom was awarded a U.S. patent.

1 month ago | americanfarriers.com | Jeff Cota

The 2025 show season is moving forward under current regulations after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) is delaying implementation of the 2024 Horse Protection Act (HPA) Final Rule until Feb. 1, 2026. The final rule originally was scheduled to take effect March 21, 2025.