Farriers from Great Britain and Ireland proved their worth recently when they took home the top four placings in the European Farriers Championship.
Held every two years, this year the competition was in Hamburg, Germany from 17-19 April.
Yorkshire-based farrier Steven Beane won the 2006 championship for England in Finland and retained his title for the second time in Germany.
He fought off competition from 55 other farriers from 16 different countries to do so.
Steven told H&H: “ It’s just brilliant. There was a lot more pressure this year to win again so I’m really pleased. And it’s great for British farriery that the top four in the championship are from Great Britain. I’m now looking forward to going to the next championship, which is in Sweden in 2010.”
Derek Gardner from Penrith, Cumbria, came second while Paul Robinson took third place for Ireland and Wales’s Jim Blurton was fourth.
In the team competition Great Britain came first, Ireland second and France third.
Made up of four classes, the farriery championship included making and fitting a shoe in a set amount of time.
