Conversation with Stephane Tournier

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009

Conversation with Stephane Tournier -- The Best of Both Worlds.

By Monique Craig The Epona Institute www.epona-institute.org

Stephane Tournier is a farrier with a busy practice in the San Diego county area of California. He shoes several of Akiko Yamazaki’s horses, both in San Diego and Woodside, California. One of her horses, Ravel, shod by Stephane, and ridden by Steffen Peters, recently won the World Cup in Dressage in Las Vegas. Stephane is a skilled farrier, and has an interesting background worth sharing.

Figure 1: Steffen Peters rides Ravel in training Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009

I met in Stephane in February of 2005. I was introduced by Dr. Adrienne Moore, a veterinarian in southern California who I had helped with her horses. She called me to tell me that she met a French farrier, and she thought that the two of us would get along quite well. I called Stephane and we started to chat. I knew that Stephane was a highly trained French farrier, and as we continued to chat, I was pleasantly surprised to find how open-minded he was. We had a lot in common in our views about the hoof. I decided to invite him to come to the Ranch, and there, we worked together for the first time in 2005. I noticed immediately that Stephane was not your usual well trained European farrier. He has a great understanding of the ‘natural’ hoof in addition to having solid background in farriery. This combination is truly the best of both worlds. Not all horses can be left barefoot, but it is important for farriers to remember what an unshod hoof looks like and how it functions. I must point out that not too long ago, farriers used to know the difference between a shod hoof and an unshod hoof. I was made aware of this in Switzerland by my own farrier when I was a little girl – back then, I think more farriers knew the distinction than now. Another thing that impressed me about Stephane was that he formulated his thoughts about the hoof on his own while he was a farrier in New Caledonia (an island in the southwest pacific). I am always impressed by people that have good deductive reasoning skills.

At the tender age of 13 years old, Stephane knew that his passion was shoeing horses. Stephane passed the entrance exam to the Haras du Pin farrier school three years later. In 1990, this school was accepting only six percent of its applicants. He graduated in 1993 second in his entire class just behind another Stephane, namely Stephane Brehin (by now, a 3 time French national blacksmithing champion!). The Haras du Pin farrier school is very traditional. Although his education was geared for the most part towards traditional blacksmithing, Stephane had to learn about equine anatomy and perform dissections on cadaver limbs. The trimming method was mostly geared towards fitting metal shoes. The general approach was, as Stephane told me, “to remove a lot of sole and frog and allow the sole to descend onto the shoe”. Stephane shod dressage, jumping and eventing horses. In the early 90’s there was not too much discussion about hoof biomechanics, for example, discussion of mechanical breakover and similar concepts did not occur. A year after graduating from farrier school, Stephane went to the obligatory 22 months of French military service. He was assigned a post with a branch of the Republican National Guard (the only mounted military patrol group) in New Caledonia.

Stephane became the farrier for this mounted police unit. He was in charge of 23 horses that he maintained shod at all times. The role of this mounted unit was to conduct search and rescue in the jungle, stop drug trafficking, and be of assistance to the local population. So, Stephane had gone from shoeing competition horses in Northern France to shoeing horses that trek into the jungle! The temperatures in the warm season (December through March) would often exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent humidity. The warm season is also the wettest. The yearly total rainfall can bring between 40 inches of rain in the low lands to 158

Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009 inches of rain in the high elevations. In other words, New Caledonia is a moist place!

Maintaining hooves at optimal health was definitively challenging for Stephane.

When serious problems arose, he had to improvise since the veterinarian services there were quite basic. Stephane did not have a lot of specialized shoes at his disposal in order to solve problems. He had to do with very little in terms of corrective shoes and other ‘bells and whistles’. It is probably out of this frustration and lack of resources that Stephane started to re-think shoeing and especially trimming. It was a pivotal time for him, and forced him to find ways to help the hoof maintain itself on its own. Stephane had no choice but to re -evaluate what was needed to have a good hoof. He started to notice that the horses that were allowed to move freely day in and day out were doing better in terms of hoof quality than those who were box stabled the whole day. He also noticed that hooves that were trimmed and shod very minimally were doing better than hooves that were trimmed and shod more conventionally.

Stephane grew fond of New Caledonia, the indigenous culture, and the beautiful beaches. He decided to stay on the main island. Initially, he started his career in New Caledonia by shoeing and trimming a wide range of horses -- from domesticated ones to some that were really wild. His early clients had limited resources and he had to minimize the shoeing costs -- again keeping the shoeing system to a minimum. Most of his clients lived in the jungle and he had to make sure that he could maintain horses whether they would trek through a muddy path or wade into a river. Stephane also dealt with many founder cases. Stephane showed me some of his work which he had documented. He did not have a lot of veterinary help when dealing with serious problems, and often had to improvise the best he could. When he shod horses he started to put lighter and simpler shoes on and when possible he would try to support the entire sole. Stephane is a firm believer maintaining the hoof under the bony column and supporting the weight of the hoof by giving in sole support.

Figure 2: Example of Stephane’s work with composite glue-on shoes.

Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009

Figure 3: Stephane’s work: Using a pad and packing material to achieve sole support In essence Stephane was re-creating an ‘artificial ground’ to support the hoof, which is necessary for proper function of the hoof. He and I both believe that hooves are not meant to be suspended above ground by a rim shoe. In 1999, his wife and a friend bought him a ticket to the USA. Stephane visited California for the first time. He also took advantage of this trip to meet and work with different farriers in the USA. He especially enjoyed Southern California. In 2004, Stephane and his wife decided to leave New Caledonia. It was a scary move. Stephane left a thriving business behind him - he had become a top farrier in New Caledonia. He was then mainly shoeing jumping, eventing, dressage and western horses. He also moved from a place where living expenses were low to Southern California where life was far more costly. He started with only ten clients. As a father of two young children, supporting his family was a lot to worry about. He met Dr. Adrienne Moore, in late in 2004. She knew me from having worked with me and she thought that I would have a lot in common with Stephane – but prior to calling Stephane for the first time I was a bit skeptical! After all, I have a completely different background and training than Stephane -- but actually we are not so dissimilar in our approach -- both of us came to similar conclusions out of frustration. Finally

Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009 meeting with Stephane at my ranch in 2005 I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Stephane is not only a very sharp and nice person but also a very ethical.

Stephane and I share the belief that in shoeing the main ingredient is the trim. We both believe that one should support the weight of the horse by supporting the frog and bars. We leave as much sole as possible – and we try to place the shoe ‘under the boney column’ to best carry the weight without causing hoof distortions to appear. The goal is to keep it simple and let the hoof heal itself and have strong and healthy tissues. Horses never have enough sole. Our goal is to work with a lot of hoof. As Stephane puts it wisely, one should not say ‘no hoof no horse’ but rather ‘more hoof more horse’. From then on we stuck a good friendship. Stephane came back to my ranch a quite a few times and I went to work with him in the San Diego area. Our visits have always been a great pleasure for me.

Figure 4: Stephane and I agree that the trim is what counts to get to a good foot.

In 2007 I was contacted by Shannon Peters who was interested in my shoes and to have me consult on one of her horses. After the consultation on this horse, I introduced her to Stephane to take on the shoeing of this horse. It was a great relief for me to have someone of Stephane’s talents to hand the case to. Having seen the success with that horse, Shannon became intrigued and invited me to give a seminar at the Peter’s barn in San Diego. The talk was attended by some veterinarians, farriers (including Stephane), riding clients, and others. Steffen and Shannon Peters truly care about the welfare of their horses, and it was refreshing for me to meet people who really want to be involved and who are dedicated to all aspects of the horse – from the hoof up!

I’ve had mixed results when ‘handing a horse off to another farrier’ throughout my career. I keep telling my friends that I want to stop shoeing, but I seem to always get pulled back into it for one reason or another. Handing clients off to Stephane, however, has never been an issue. We can talk about the cases, I trust him, and he can deal with whatever comes his way from serious founder cases to high performance Olympic horses. I am more than thankful to have found him!

Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute

Originally appeared in the European Farriers Journal 2009

Figure 5: Stephane Tournier Shannon Peters introduced me to Akiko Yamazaki, and I went to Woodside to consult on one of her horses. Once again, after my initial work, I handed the horse over to Stephane. In 2008, Akiko asked me to do a ‘preventative’ consult on her Olympic horses (Lombardi and Ravel) in the period of time leading up to the Olympic trials. I wish more horse owners would do this with their horses. It can take much more time to fix a problem than to prevent it in the first place – as they say: an ounce of prevention is worth pound of cure. We flew down the coast of California on her private jet, which was great fun. I also came to know that Akiko Yamazaki is an owner who deeply cares about her horses’ well-being and is well versed in all aspects of horse care.

Stephane was my first choice to maintain these horses, and he has been shoeing Ravel, Lombardi, and others ever since. Ravel won 11 dressage shows in a row leading up to the Olympic trials in 2008, and became national champion and the top horse on the US dressage team for the Beijing Olympics. His fourth place finish there has been followed up by winning the World Cup in Las Vegas in April, 2009.

Thank you Stephane for being a great farrier, one who understands the hoof and at the same time is a skilled blacksmith – the best of both worlds.

Copyright 2009 by The Epona Institute