A brief history of the Farriers Association of Washington State (FAWS)

There was a meeting called by a well known farrier, Jack Woods, in the area to start a union of farriers.  It was attended by about fifty farriers which was a great number to get together at that time (or now).

It was decided at the meeting that it would be more valuable to possibly create a Farriers’ Association. A few people volunteered to try and come up with something acceptable.

The group included John Palmer, who had tried to create an association in Olympia and had a great program already outlined; Bill Miller, instructor at Olympia Community College and a farrier of great repute; Al Martineau, owner of a farrier supply; Ed Riebe, a farrier and writer for outdoor magazines; and Gordon Goss, a show farrier from Redmond, Wa.

We met for several months and outlined a program that became FAWS.  We became chapter 2 in the American Farriers Association (AFA).   We had the first testing for farrier competency in the United States and much of what we created was later adopted by the AFA.