Troy Wood, CJF

Hard work pays off.

A few years ago, Troy Wood, CJF, was honing his CAD skills while horseshoeing on the side. Then, he made the 2022 World Championship Blacksmiths team. 

He closed his laptop and hasn't looked back since.

Now, after just six years of full-time horseshoeing, Troy is the 2025 WCB National Champion and was named 2025 Reserve World Champion, behind World Champion Steven Beane.

What’s behind Troy’s climb to the top? Nothing but hard work.

A big-sky childhood

Troy grew up in Riverside, Washington, a small high-desert town surrounded by wild-west wilderness. When he wasn’t playing sports or riding horses, Troy could often be found in his father’s machine shop, learning to fabricate and install parts for hydroelectric projects. 

But his real passion was horses, and at some point he decided to learn how to shoe them.

“I’d work for my dad in the summertime, and almost all of my paycheck would go toward paying the horseshoer for the few horses I had,” says Troy. “In my young brain, I thought, ‘Well, it can't be that hard. I better just figure out how to do it.’”

How hard can it be?

Troy started by calling Steve Richey, CJF, a journeyman farrier who lived nearby and happened to be a close friend of Troy's father. 

In 36 years as a farrier, Steve had never taken on an apprentice, but he made an exception for Troy.

“I knew there had been a few guys that had tried to ride with Steve, and it didn't work out—so I really minded my Ps and Qs and tried to be more of an asset than a liability to him.”

It wouldn’t take long for Troy to find the answer to his question: “How hard can it be?”

"Like drinking water from a fire hydrant."

Steve started Troy at the beginning: Keep your mouth shut. Sweep up. Stay out of the way. 

Troy learned quickly. "As soon as I started studying anatomy and learning how to be comfortable underneath the horses, it was like, oh, dang—there's more to this than I thought. It was like drinking water from a fire hydrant."

He thrived with the challenge. 

Around the three- or four-month mark, Troy got under his first horses. By six months, he was pulling shoes and clinching. Then came knifing out feet, prepping for the trim—one skill at a time, each one in order.

"Steve didn't just throw me into the deep end of the pool where I would suck at everything," Troy says. "He started with the basics and stair-stepped me along."

That’s one of the most important things Troy says he learned from him.

“If I’m shoeing a lame horse or something, I just remember that strong basics solve problems. Things like nails in the white line, level trims, trimming to the sole plane, frog plane, straight hoof wall—just simple, simple stuff that's often overlooked.”

Right place, right time

By the end of his first year, Troy had passed his CF. And within another, two full-time farriers in Troy’s area closed up shop (one retired after 40 years and another relocated to Seattle), and Troy picked up most of their clients.

"It was a right place/right time situation," he says. "I just walked right into it."

Still, Troy wasn’t sure whether he wanted to go all in on horseshoeing or if he’d continue to pursue CNC programming at his dad’s shop instead. Then he earned his CJF and made the WCB team for the first time. That’s when he set aside the CNC work and committed fully to horseshoeing. 

He hasn't looked back.

Today, Troy shoes around five horses a day, plus trims, in the counties around Riverside. His client base includes rodeo horses, ranch horses, western pleasure horses, Morgan carriage horses, and the U.S. Border Patrol horses stationed just north of him in Oroville.

After a full day of shoeing, he heads to his shop for a few hours of forging practice. He’s got a self-contained pneumatic power hammer and a forging press he uses to make tools and handmade shoes. His goal is not just to compete, but to stay sharp on every aspect of the craft.

"If you're a mechanic and you only know how to change oil, it's the same thing as being a farrier and only knowing how to make horseshoes," he says. "There are so many different aspects of forging, and they all cross over to shoe making."

Troy’s in the shop until nine or ten most nights.

Watch out, world.

Above his forge, Troy has two words posted where he can't miss them: World Champion. 

Not because he’s earned that title, but because he plans to.

“I'm not a veteran by any means,” says Troy, “so when I have a goal like that in my head, it can just seem so out of reach. Like, man, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there. But every time I'm putting a shoe in the fire or taking one out of the fire, the words “World Champion” are right in my face. It’s about keeping it in my head and just working towards it.”

“I've always liked the saying ‘hard work pays off’,” says Troy. “It's simple, but sooner or later it usually does.”

We sat down with Troy to learn more about what drives him. Here's what he had to say.

You’ve moved fast in your career—CF in a year, CJF in three, WCB team by year three. What would you say to someone who wants to do the same?
You have to want it—but you also have to work for it. I'm buddies with Gavin Cooper and Riley Kirkpatrick, and I was talking with them on their podcast, and I told them I really enjoy it. And Riley said, “Yeah, well, a lot of people enjoy this, but they still don't put the work in.” I think it's all about priorities. People say they want to do things, but then they'd rather go to the bar, or sit on the couch. It's just about making the good, everyday habits and sticking to them.

Is there a moment you can point to where you realized you could be great at this?
I don't think there was ever a breakthrough moment, like a light bulb. I think it's just an everyday grind. Steve Richey did tell me I have an aptitude for it. That meant a lot. Growing up playing sports, I was always middle of the pack—good enough to start, but nothing special. Horseshoeing is the first thing where I've felt like I have real potential. That makes me want to push the throttle down.

What’s your approach to practicing?
I try to think of my everyday work as practice for the contests. I focus on every element of the job. Like, I try to fine tune my trims, try to fine tune my process for getting feet flat, try to fine tune my nailing, get a better system for clinching—so I get paid for practicing on the foot, pretty much. And then when I get home I practice the shoemaking and that element of it. I try to make my moves count and not not chase my tail if I don't need to.

What's the hardest part of the job?
Naturally, I'm kind of an introvert. It was kind of funny—at some point I realized I could hold a conversation better when I was bent over underneath the horse than I could when I was looking at a client's face. And I've been trying to work on that. I'm not Mr. Awkward by any means, but I have to consciously try to be more personable rather than just try harder at the craft—because I naturally just want to try to progress my shoeing skills along. I’m working at the people skills too.

Any advice for someone who’s thinking of becoming a farrier?
With most farriers I know, there was no talking them out of it. I knew before I even called Steve Richey that I was going to give it my best shot. I think that's kind of how it works—if someone can talk you out of it, maybe you're not supposed to be a horseshoer. If they can't, maybe you are.

What kind of Mustad products do you reach for most?
I really like the LiBero Concave shoes. The country around here is pretty rough, so that extra concave traction is a good thing for the horses. For pleasure horses, I use the ComfortMix zinc impression material—it keeps the frogs healthy throughout the whole cycle, and I'm not coming back to a thrushy frog. For nails, I use the Endura-coated concave nails on every shod horse I can. And for rasps, the Heller eXceL Legend—it leaves a really good finish on the foot.

If you'd like to learn more about Troy, you can find him on Instagram.