Farrier of the week: Barney Cummings

A Farrier for over 45 years Barney Is a trusted advisor to
veternarians, elite equine athletes and their support teams. His
extensive knowledge and commitment  to positively impact both equine
health and performance has taken him from the operating room floor to the Athens Olympics and the Toronto Pan American games.

Barney has lectured on laminitis, shoeing in relationship to saddle fit,
and static and dynamic balance as it relates soundness, performance and
the health of the equine back.

In serving his passion for ongoing education Barney has created and
produced a series of web hosted educational videos to inform the horse
enthusiast. He also contributed the topic of The Influence of Farriery  on Saddle  Fit for the highly regarded book by Master Saddler and Saddle Orgonomist Jochen Schleese, " Suffering In Silence".

Barney maintains membership in the OFA, AFA the NEAEP and the IAPF and
pursues the many opportunites these associations provide to maintain his
interest in further education.

I chose this profession as a career change. I made list of wishes and
wants for a new start that included things like being self employed,
working with animals and being outside.

I was remembering how fascintated I was watching my girlfriends Farrier
work on her horse when I was in high school.

After and stint at the Michigan School of Horseshoeing and four years in
the blacksmith shop at an historic site the rest as they say.....is history.

My favourite part of the job is a difficult one to answer. I will say
the the part that brings the most satisfaction is working with a medical
team of Vets and Techs with the common  goal of achieving favourable outcomes in injury and pathology.

I would say the highlights have been many but I have to look to the
Athens Olympic experience  as being among the best. Shoeing the silver
metal winner for the Colombian dressage team for the Winnipeg Pan Am games,

and of course the Toronto Pan Am games. I am most proud of the more than
a dozen Farriers I have trained who have gone on to build successfull 
careers of their own and have remained friends and collegues for many years.