The centuries-old art of blacksmithing will be on full display at next month’s Wānaka A&P Show, with a brand-new farrier competition entering the line-up.

For the first time in the Show’s 86-year history, Show-goers will be able to watch horseshoes being made from scratch and fitted to Clydesdale horses, combining traditional blacksmithing craftsmanship and equine foot health expertise.

Four teams of professional farriers from around New Zealand and Australia will be judged by world-renowned English farrier Dave Duckett.

Competition organiser and Selwyn Forge farrier Gareth Griffiths says the competition is a unique opportunity for crowds to see the process and allows farriers to learn from one another.

“It’s getting fellow guys who are in the industry together and learning off of each other,” Griffiths explains. “In my opinion, it’s a knowledge-gaining opportunity and competition is the best way to do that, because you’re getting these people who do it all the time, but no one ever sees it.”

The newly introduced competition spans the Show’s two days.

On Friday morning (March 10) the four timed-trialled teams will construct the tongs and bar needed to make a horseshoe from straight steel, within two and half hours.

The following day, the teams must correctly shoe two feet of an assigned Clydesdale – from straight bar – within an hour and fifteen minutes.

Judge Dave Duckett has worked in the industry for more than four decades, but the Wānaka A&P Show event marks his first trip to NZ. His theory ‘Duckett’s Dot’ – a specific anatomically recognised point in a horse’s hoof – is well-known within farrier and vetting circles across the globe.

Wanaka A&P Show livestock coordinator Fe Howie says Show visitors will have a front row seat to all the action.

“It’s really neat that we can have them here and shows people just how much of a skilled profession this is,” she says.

Show-goers can witness the craftsmanship in action at Pembroke Park (town side of Pembroke Park) on Friday morning and Saturday afternoon.

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