Three generations of blacksmith skills helped an Okotoks ferrier hammer out a win at the Calgary Stampede over the weekend.
Colain Duret was named champion of the Calgary Stampede’s Blacksmith Classic on July 14-16 with 214.1 points, winning $7,500 in prize money.
The competition wasn’t much different from a regular day on the job, he said, but there was a lot more pressure to get things done quickly and to get the judges’ approval. There isn’t much time to make up for errors at the Stampede.
“This is pretty much what you would do on an every-day scale, but you have to be faster,” said Duret.
He won two classes on the first day of competition on Friday, the Saddle-horse class on Saturday and he came in third in the draft horse class.
Duret was feeling pretty good after two days.
“I think it went pretty smooth,” he said after the saddle horse portion of the competition. “The feet were a little tough to fit, but it went alright.”
On the first day of competition, the blacksmiths had to build three shoes in three separate events. For one, Duret had 15 minutes to jump weld two pieces of metal together and make a horseshoe – essentially hammering two red hot pieces of metal together to then form into a shoe.
On Saturday, the blacksmiths had one hour to make two horseshoes to put on two feet on a saddle horse. On the final day, they had 60 minutes to make one shoe and put it on a draft horse.
Duret said there isn’t much difference to shoeing a draft horses, but the larger animals require bigger shoes made with heavier steel.
“There’s definitely more slugging, that’s for sure,” he said.
The third generation ferrier attended Olds College and apprenticed with a ferrier from Calgary.
“I just like working with metal and I liked horses,” he said.
Duret has competed at the Stampede in the past, but hasn’t ranked as high in previous years because the competition was open to more seasoned international opponents. This year’s competition was an all-Canadian affair for Canada’s 150th birthday.
Duret won the Alberta championships earlier this year. The Stampede completion was a test of skills for High River ferrier Lynn Fleury. It’s only her first time at the Stampede after one year of competitions.
“It’s my first time competing against guys who have this much experience,” said Fleury.
Her goal at the Stampede was to finish – she made it.
It’s a family trade, Fleury’s father was a ferrier.
“I always enjoyed being around horses, I always enjoyed working with horses and it just seemed like a natural path,” she said.
Competing is about learning and improving as a blacksmith and ferrier, said Fleury.
“For a lot of us, it’s mostly about continuing education,” she said. “It’s easy to get in your own world, get set in your ways and you never learn anything.”
