Doyle Forge & Farrier

08/27/2024

My goal for this competition was to have shoes to hand in, and I managed to accomplish that. Ran out of time on my live shoeing but still happy with the work that I put in! You’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you put yourself out there and open yourself up to learning from those around you, and I sure learned a lot this weekend. Thank you to the Empire State Farrier's Association for hosting the contest and to for judging and putting on the clinic

08/03/2024

Practicing competition shoes at a horse show. 12” of 3/8 x 3/4 hind suspensory shoe. Getting ready for the Empire State Farrier's Association competition! Last year this competition was my first time competing and I did well in the novice. Jumping up to the next class this year and looking forward to the challenge!

07/30/2024

New shoes for a new horse today. Found this pair on the floor of the shop that looked about the right size for this horse out of my CJF practice shoes. Plenty to critique and tear apart but proud of the work done!

05/17/2024

Be your own worst critic and aim to be better than you were yesterday. Catch yourself cheating and fix it because it is a lot easier to fall into bad habits than it is to get out of them.

05/15/2024

11 1/2” of 3/8x3/4

05/11/2024

Some horse show practice

05/08/2024

They’re not perfect but they’re better than what I was doing! Spent the day at with a bunch of other farriers embracing the suck and learning from Craig Trnka. Thank you for hosting an awesome clinic and thank you Craig for helping us all fix and improve upon our problem areas with forging, it was a great time!

04/27/2024

Went into this weekends CJF exam with zero expectations of passing anything on my first go, and really didn’t put a lot of pressure on myself because of it. Much to my surprise, I ended up walking away today with a win and passed my horse!! It’s definitely a crazy feat to be able to shoe a horse in two hours with a full set of handmade shoes and somehow I got it done. Thank you Patrick Doyle for the guidance and continually pushing me to be better and thank you to the examiner Mike Poe and all the other testers that were out this weekend! Now I have to put my head in the book, practice my bar shoe and get this done!

03/04/2024

Passed my AFA CF exam this weekend! Now the work really begins. Not taking any time off and jumping straight into CJF practice. Did my first timed run at making and fitting a full set. My time was around 35 minutes a pair made and fit which I know I am going to have to cut down and my measurements came up just short (not the first time that’s happened). Have to figure out a measurement system that will work well for how I forge!

02/28/2024

New one from today! He came wearing rim pads on the front and frog support pads behind, so I left him in a similar setup with just a bigger shoe to support him

02/09/2024

Spending the week in Texas at the Winter Clinic. Trying my best to absorb all of the information this group has to give! Had a chance to get in the trailer and give it a go at working in a coke forge for the first time today, definitely a learning experience. I had a halfway decent shoe until I tried to put my toe clip on 😅

01/30/2024

Not many people will understand how much this photo means to me, because there aren’t many people out there who have a dad quite like mine. At a low point in college almost 9 years ago now he took me under his wing and taught me a trade and skill that I have since fallen in love with. To be able to take what he taught me and compete both against and alongside him this weekend is something very few people are able to experience in their lives. I appreciate everything you’ve taught me Patrick Doyle and am looking forward to what I can learn and where I can go next on this journey!

Thanks Josh Jafar for the picture!

01/28/2024

Decided to give myself a challenge this weekend and enter another competition, but this time made the jump up to the intermediate division! Overall out of 10 competitors I consistently placed around middle of the pack in all of the classes which I am pretty happy with all things considered. This competition was also special because there was a two man shoeing class which I was able to compete alongside my dad. Some things that I learned are that I can make a pretty decent plain stamped, toe clip, hind shoe in 20 minutes which was part of a surprise shoe class. Something I have never done or practiced for! This was also my first time in a live shoeing class and ever making a shoe at the horse to begin with, and I learned when the pressure is on I can do a halfway decent job at shoeing a horse. Also that I need to cut more steel when I measure my feet so I don’t have to iron out my shoes quite as much just to get them to come to length 😅

Thank you to the Southern New England Farrier's Association for the opportunity to learn and putting on the competition!

12/19/2023

Reverse shoe to help a laminitic horse 🙃

12/15/2023

Snow shoe season ☃️❄️

12/14/2023

Time to move some steel! New sledge to practice two man shoe building with my dad and start building some tools. Thank you for building these hammers!

12/06/2023

I’ve been trialing some different types of shoes with some of the horses in my book. So far I am happy with the results!

12/01/2023

Tonight’s practice! My first attempt at a side bone shoe and the corrected version of the last bar shoe I made 😂 Side bone is 12” 3/8x3/4 and the bar shoe is 14” 3/8x3/4. Feels good to be back practicing in the forge again

11/29/2023

After a couple of weeks out of the forge being under the weather, I decided to hop back in with a challenge! Tried one off of the Southern New England Farrier's Association competition list, an inverted whip across bar shoe. Plenty of room to improve but happy with how my first attempt came out! 14” 3/8x3/4

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11/21/2023

Before and after, over a year in the making. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but we have the tools to set change in motion!

11/14/2023

I’m honestly not a fan of working with aluminum, but it does look nice when the job is done!

11/03/2023

Two halves of a whole ☯️

09/29/2023

6 weeks of growth! Wish this horse would share some hoof with some others on my book.

09/25/2023

Saw someone else use this angle from above the foot. It really exposes how your shoe is fit! You can see if you have both your toe fit and expansion in check.

09/20/2023

09/17/2023

“Tell me, and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me, and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

Took some time this weekend to go for my AFA Certified Farrier exam. I managed to pass 2 out of 3 parts with my written exam and my live shoeing but didn’t get the pass on my shoe board! Now the goal is to touch up my shoe board and get the pass at the next certification I can get to!

Thank you to the Southern New England Farrier's Association for hosting the certification and to all of the examiners. Shout to for the help, tips, and tricks throughout the process! And of course thank you to my dad Patrick Doyle for motivating me to pursue certification and teach me all I know! It was great to meet and learn from some other great farriers and I’m looking forward to the next certification!

09/11/2023

There is a lot to improve on, but proud of where I am in my shoe building journey.

09/06/2023

A little help from .edens Plexus Pads to help support this horse with a negative plantar angle!

09/01/2023

Getting that good fit to get a good nail line! Happy Friday!

08/28/2023

Thank you to Empire State Farrier's Association for hosting their annual clinic and competition!

Last year I was only able to watch my dad Patrick Doyle compete while I was recovering from my broken hand, and after my recovery this competition was a huge goal of mine to get me back up to strength. Thank you to my dad for teaching me along the way and my wife Julia Doyle for putting up with me while I spent hours every week practicing. It paid off!

Novice Group
Eagle eye: 1st
Class 2: 3rd (buggered up a nail hole 🤦🏻‍♂️)
Class 3: 1st
Class 4: 1st
Overall: Champion!! 🏆
Got myself a belt buckle!