Page 207 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
24 hours a day. Senior farriers were required to carry out continuation training of junior farriers and to ride on ceremonial parades in addition to providing manpower and assistance to the RVO in the Veterinary Aid Post. This would cover both normal and ceremonial duties and outside normal working hours.
Courses held by the DAC in Cyprus were sponsored by the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH). In 1995 the Centre received a request from the ILPH and the Department of Veterinary Services in Cyprus to assist with the improvement of the standard of farriery and equine management on the Island. A course was soon adopted giving the basic principles of good shoeing and then corrective shoeing. Seeing that Cypriots, then, had a different attitude to horses – more as beasts of burden – the students were exposed to new ideas and came to understand good practice and the benefits of good horse management and farriery. They understood all of this ahead of the horse owners.19
Going for gongs!
During the summer of 1999, a small team of farriers attended an international farrier competition in Switzerland. The RAVC team, comprising Captain Pippa V Hughes MRCVS, Sergeant Neil Madden, and Lance Corporal Danny Bennett, hired a mini bus for the long trip which, according to Pippa Hughes’ account in Chiron Calling of summer 1999, managed to include a spell of sightseeing after the registration procedures had been completed. The competition was truly international with competitors from the host nation, the UK, Austria, Germany, Portugal and South Africa.
The first event on day one of the competition for Madden and Bennett was to forge a shoe in fifty minutes while the second event demanded they each shoe a horse, all round, and forge a slippery shoe. They were ready for the free time in the evening when there was a chance to socialise with farriers from the other Army teams from the other countries before they got stuck into the competition for the National Cup the following day. Taking second place overall20 gave the RAVC contingent plenty to celebrate there and on the way home!
More recognition for the Farriery School came in the 2001 New Year Honours list when Master Farrier WO1 Ivan Bell received the MBE. This
award recognised his contribution to both military and civilian farriery during his 22 years’ service with the Corps. During this time his constructive and valuable contribution to the education and training of farriers was outstanding and he was instrumental in introducing NVQs into the farriery profession.21
Three years later on 5th and 6th March 2004, another farriery competition was held at the DAC Army School of Farriery where teams from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and the British Army came together to showcase the skills of their trade. The Army teams consisted of contingents from the RAVC, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and the Household Cavalry Mounted Troop. The RAVC team comprising, Corporal Bennett and Lance Corporal Fawcett took an overall third-place in five teams. The Army overall provided twenty-seven farriers, which included apprentices, while the four home nations were able to draw on three thousand! Despite being somewhat outnumbered, the Army came top in Class 2 – Apprentice Team Shoemaking.22
From 1st to 5th July 200923 three Army farriers, WO1 Mark Watson – Farrier Sergeant Major at Army School of Farriery DAC, Staff Sergeant Nicholas Cooper – Master Farrier at the King’s Troop RHA and Sergeant Alec Mercer – Senior Instructor at Army School of Farriery partici- pated in the World Championship Blacksmiths Competition in Alberta, Canada. The competition, which took place at the ‘Calgary Stampede,’ was in its thirtieth year and only twice before had the long list of participants included Army Teams. To give some perspective on the scale of the competition – 600 tonnes of coke and 1300 feet of steel bar stock was provided! The various events included: Shoe and tong class, four-man team draft horse shoeing, all very complex procedures involving great skill and stamina.24 The Army team didn’t leave anything to chance. They dedicated themselves to two months solid training which also included the normal routine of changing the horses’ shoes every four or five – weeks – that’s fifty horses being shod at the DAC every week.
Once at Calgary, practice sessions were conducted to acclimatise the competitors using different types of fires and anvils. And to focus training, clinics were held by the judges to inform competitors of the required expectations for the competition. On the first day of the event, WO1
19 ‘Farriery in Cyprus’ by WO2 (FSM) Ivan T Bell RAVC FWCF, Chiron Calling Summer 1997.
20 ‘RAVC Farriers show off their wares in Switzerland’ by Captain Pippa Hughes RAVC Chiron Calling Summer 1999.
21 MBE for the Master Farrier Chiron Calling Winter 2000/01.
22 ‘National Farriery Competition 2004’ by WO1 (FSM) Nick Lane RAVC Chiron Calling Summer 2004.
23 ‘World Championship Blacksmith’s Competition, Calgary 2009’ by WO1 Mark Watson Chiron Calling Winter 2009/Spring 2010.
24 http://www.forgeandfarrier.co.uk/wcbc2009.htm as 30th June 2018.
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