British teams top international shoeing contest
BRITISH farriers fended off hot competition to file, hammer and nail their way to first and second places in last month’s international team horseshoeing competition at Stoneleigh.
The Welsh quartet of Jim Blurton, Grant Moon, Andy Martin and Billy Crothers snatched the title back by a tiny margin from the Pro Feet-sponsored English team of Steve Beane, David P Smith, Andrew Casserly and Gavin Golby who came second.
“The margins between first, second and third were tiny,” said Amanda Hill, of the National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers, which organised the annual contest on 22-24 August.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.