Hi and welcome to our SimplyHorses blog at eq9vet, I hope to post regularly and to at least keep my mum and cat informed of my progress and change from being a partner to going back into the trenches 
For my first post I was going to produce an article on enhancing the relationship between vets and farriers a long standing interest of mine. Which it must be said has lead to many an evening spent horizontal while trying to maintain a drinking rate equivalent to most farriers post various evening and day meetings.
However I found a really good summary from the BEVA web site originally edited by R Stephenson summarising the Farriers Qualifications. In my opinion many horse owners do not realise how well qualified most farriers are and also the high standard required in obtaining further qualifications.
Look after your farrier as good ones are invaluable and with all of them being very busy, you are likely to loose their services if the trust is abused. So lots of cups of Tea and well handled horses in clean well lit conditions are mandatory;-). Please note I have not (yet) obtained any payments from our local farriers to write this article!!
Mystery Farrier shoeing a horse
Click on the image to see larger version and guess whom is the farrier??
The Farriery ProfessionL
For 650 years the Worshipful Company of Farriers (a city of London livery company) has nurtured the farriery trade. However its biggest achievement occurred more recently in 1975 when it proposed and sponsored the Farriers Registration Act. Since that date all civilian farriers have had to be registered.
Trainee farriers serve a four year and two month apprenticeship under an approved training farrier. During this time they have a number of block releases to one of the four colleges now offering farriery training and this culminates in a NVQ level 3 qualification.
The trainee may now attempt the Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers examination, the gateway to registration. The Diploma is examined independently of the colleges by an examination team consisting of two senior farriers and a veterinary surgeon appointed by the W.C.F.
It consists of three parts. A written theory paper. A practical exam requiring the candidate to forge from straight steel and correctly fit a front and a hind shoe within a strict time limit. Finally an oral examination serves to check the candidates theoretical knowledge.
It is a testament to the quality of the W.C.F. Diploma that farriers from all over the World travel to the UK to voluntarily take the exam. We are fortunate in the UK to have some of the best trained and regulated farriers in the World.
The Diploma is designed to be an entrance qualification and in veterinary terms it is very much like a registerable degree, farriers can go on to undertake continuing professional development and this is recognised by two further W.C.F. awards namely Associateship and Fellowship. These qualifications could roughly be compared to R.C.V.S. Certificate and Diploma levels.
The Associateship of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (AWCF) is particularly concerned with corrective farriery. To attain AWCF level the candidate sits a written exam, three oral examinations, a practical test requiring the fabrication from plain steel and correct fitting of two corrective shoes and a test in the use of modern materials (e.g. acrylics in repairing hoof defects etc.). The exam sets out to test forging and practical skills to the highest level possible. There is no equivalent exam in any other country so once again it is relatively common for farriers from others countries to attempt the AWCF.
The Fellowship of the WCF denotes the highest level of achievement in farriery. The candidate must prepare a written original thesis for consideration by the WCF examiners, if accepted he must give a lecture to the examiners on any subject they choose with only 60 minutes preparation time. The examiners will also require the forging of a corrective shoe from plain steel. Successful candidates may in due course be invited to become WCF examiners thus maintaining the high standards set by the Company.
Many DWCFs are greatly experienced and well able to perform corrective work, however it can be appreciated from the above that AWCFs have proved this ability by examination. In the ideal world all farriers involved in providing referral services at veterinary practices should be either AWCFs or FWCFs. In recent years more young and enthusiastic farriers having been undertaking CPD than in the past and the number of AWCFs and Fellows is slowly increasing. It is hoped that BEVA members will become more aware of the AWCF qualification and tactfully try to encourage more DWCFs to try to attain this level of master craftsmanship.
Veterinary Surgeons should appreciate that farriers have under gone a period of training only marginally shorter than a veterinary degree and have concentrated throughout on one subject. An apprentice farriers knowledge of the anatomy and structures of the foot and lower limb will be equivalent to that of a veterinary anatomy degree level examination.