Show Notes
This week's guest is one a lot of people know, Conrad Trow! Conrad set out to horseshoeing school when he was 18 in Kentucky, coming from South Africa, when back home for an apprenticeship for a few years before making the decision to move back to the States for good. He's living proof of the American Dream and taking advantage of every opportunity he was offered along the way! He's been on the American Farrier's Team, won the Draft Class at Convention 5 times, been the AFT's Team Manager for almost a decade, took over the Grand Circuit farrier products business, and eventually becoming partners with John Harshbarger into the Well-Shod business and Grand Circuit. He's a busy guy and we appreciate him sharing with us on the podcast! Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com
Our Proud Sponsors of the Show
www.farrierbox.com use code BRAINS for 25% off your first month's order!
www.well-shod.com use code BRAINS for a surprise product in your order!
www.worldchampionshipblacksmiths.com use code BRAINS for 10% off in their online store! (not including membership/contest entry fees)
www.yukonforge.com use code BRAINS for 10% off your order!
More from Forging Brains Podcast
We're honored to have had a conversation with Sam Gooding on the podcast. Sam's been a guest we've wanted to have on the podcast for quite a while now and we've finally got to make it happen! Perfect timing, too. Next week we'll drop the shop video of Gooding Ironworks and what they're fabricating out of their little shop on the Forging Brains Podcast YouTube Channel. It was great to learn about Sam's history and how he became the man he is today and all the hard work he's put in through the years. He's worked many "tours" with the Kentucky Horseshoeing School in a teaching role for Mitch, did a couple "tours" working for Jim Poor at Flatland Forge, and also throughout those years built up a shoeing business either in Kentucky briefly or in West Texas where he resides now. Currently Sam and his family are building high quality barrel racing bits for Troy Flaherty and also varying horse tack items like cinches, bits, spurs and rings that you can find on their website www.goodingironworks99.com. Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com
We just wrapped up with the Blacksmith World Championships held up at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta and caught up with Chris Madrid who finished 3rd this year to talk about how his week went and the preparation that led up to the biggest farrier competition we have each year. This years Top Ten placings for the World Championships were 1: Troy Wood (USA) 2: Gavine Cooper (USA) 3: Chris Madrid (USA) 4: Vincent Lamaille (Belgium) 5: Matt Findler (Canada) 6: Matt Bilderbeck (Australia) 7: George Rogerson (England) 8: Sergio Perez Prieto (Spain) 9: Matt Randles (England) 10: Yoann Policard (France) Chris shared a lot of great knowledge about how he keeps his body and mind in top form so he can keep competing at a top level year after year. He told us that his first time competing at Calgary was 18 years ago, that's a long time to keep yourself in the game of competing at the highest level! We also covered our trip that we took to West Texas in May to Jim Poor's where we started working on a documentary type project and visited Sam Gooding's shop as well while we were down there. I should hopefully have Sam's video uploaded next week for people to see how he creates/builds some of the best barrel racing bits for consumers. Lot of cool content on the horizon to be on the lookout for! And that'll be posted on the Forging Brains Podcast YouTube channel. Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com
It's a busy time of the year and we're sorry for not uploading more podcasts consistently! Summertime is always a grind and for a lot of us we're preparing for the World Championships up at Spruce Meadows or getting through the hump of horses we have on our schedule. We recorded this podcast about two weeks ago when i was at Troy Wood's shop getting ready to practice for the weekend and we talked about how practice has been going for us so far. Also chatted about other things we've been up to like Riley had Will Stelter over to his place to make some content for Will's YouTube channel you can go check out. Also talked about some horseshoeing and the challenges we face in our book and to try and help some of those troubled horses or maintaining the good ones. This was just a good sit down and chat to catch up while we've been absent on the podcast for the past little bit to catch everyone up. Hope you guys enjoy! Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com
This was an exciting episode sitting down to learn about Travis Burn's role at the Virginia Tech College. He's had a number of different roles at the college there throughout his time teaching there for 16 years. Was also great to learn how he was able to push himself to earn those Masters Degrees, as well as, becoming an FWCF through the Fellowship. Lot's of dedication and priorities to make that happen. Hope you guys enjoy this episode!Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.comOur Proud Sponsors of the Showwww.farrierbox.com use code BRAINS for 25% off your first month's order!www.well-shod.com use code BRAINS for a surprise product in your order!www.worldchampionshipblacksmiths.com use code BRAINS for 10% off in their online store! (not including membership/contest entry fees)www.yukonforge.com use code BRAINS for 10% off your order!
Exciting things are in the works for Forging Brains! Recently we took a trip down to Jim Poor's shop, Flatland Forge, with Chris Madrid to document and tell Jim's story through some video series. We'll let you know soon when that'll be available to watch on the Forging Brains YouTube channel. We also caught up about what we've been up to for the past month with contests and clinics. And lastly this "Tool Time" episode pertains to shoeing rigs and shop setups. Just some tips for equipment that makes up a good shoeing rig and efficient shop. Hope you guys enjoy these episodes! Also check out our website-www.forgingbrains.com