Ross Smith Center of Balance Horseshoeing

10/11/2026

Congratulations to Kavis Drake and Denim Ross for winning the average and the Canadian Championship at the CFR in the team roping. And Karli Cowie for also winning the Average and the Canadian Championship at the CFR in the barrel racing. Well deserved.
Kavis and Karli have been a part of our journey with the Cobit for a long time. Kent Drake is their farrier. Kent started working for me before either of these two were born. He has seen the progression of the Cobit. He was the first farrier, other than myself, and Lars Baron to use the Cobit. Kent and I still continue to work together shoeing horses. It has been exciting to be a part of their journey.
I shod horses for both Kent and Kara Drake when they were kids. Kent was working for me when they got married, and when Kavis was born.
Karin and I got Kavis his first horse. It was a little horse on springs that would bounce up and down.
Kavis would ride that horse for hours and it wasn't long before he was roping off that little horse.
When Kavis was about 4 years old, he and his dad would come over to Brenna Brady Chappel when we would practice Ranch Roping. We would get 4 or 5 quiet steers held up in the corner of the arena and Kavis on his mom's old barrel horse Vegas??, the horse I shod for Kara when she was a kid, would ride into the herd with a breakaway rope, and rope a steer by the horns and dally. He didn't miss very often!! (Kavis could throw the Houlahan before he could throw a regular horn loop).
Kavis it's been fun watching the progress from the bouncy spring horse to Canadian Champion to you being one of the fastest headers in the world.
Karli, I know you are like family to the Drakes. You also have become one of the toughest barrel racers in the business.
We are proud of the champions and fine young people you have become.

10/10/2026

I took the day off and did some Grandpa stuff.

10/09/2026

Some medial support shoes. The new hoof is growing in a lot more symmetrically. Evenly loading the leg has made the horse more comfortable. It's always good to see them moving better.

10/05/2026

You can spend decades around horses.

You can trim thousands of feet.

You can get pretty confident that you've seen most things.

And then a horse comes along to remind you that you have absolutely NOT seen everything. 😂

Maybe that's part of what keeps this work interesting.

Horses have a wonderful way of keeping a person humble.

The incredibly easy horse you were worried about behaves perfectly.

The quiet old saint suddenly decides today is the day to test your patience.

And sometimes the horse you thought would be difficult teaches you something you weren't expecting at all.

Have you got a horse that taught you a lesson you haven't forgotten?

We'd love to hear the story.

10/02/2026

One of Ross's favourite parts of doing a clinic isn't standing at the front talking.... Well... IYKYK ... LOL

When everyone gets around a horse and the conversation starts, clinics get way more fun.

“What are you seeing?”

“Why would you do that?”

“What happens if…?”

“What do you think of this?”

Those are the conversations where everybody gets to bring something to the table.

We're going to have another opportunity to do exactly that in Moose Jaw on November 21st.

Horses.

Feet.

Questions.

Hands-on learning.

And plenty of conversation.

We'll share more details as we get closer, but for now, save November 21st.

We'd love to have you there.

The link for early bird registration is in today's COBIT newsletter!

10/02/2026

https://youtu.be/Krjxkp8qieQ?si=MnrrAwNSX7RKosvS

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

10/01/2026

Nobody starts this trade knowing what they're doing.

Somebody showed us how to hold a foot.

Somebody corrected us.

Somebody answered a question.

Somebody let us watch.

Somebody probably told us we were doing something completely wrong. 😄

And if we're lucky, we continue meeting people who make us think long after we've stopped being beginners.

Ross has had people like that throughout his career, and those relationships have helped shape the farrier he became.

Farriers — who influenced the way you work with horses?

Tag them if they're on Facebook.

Or simply leave their name.

It would be pretty great to fill this comment section with the people who helped shape other farriers.

09/28/2026

T h e d e c i s i o n s n o b o d y s e e s...

There is an enormous amount of decision-making in a farrier's day.

Take a little more?

Leave a little more?

Change something this cycle?

Leave it alone and watch?

What is the horse telling you?

What is the owner telling you?

What are the feet telling you?

What happened last time?

And sometimes the hardest decision is knowing when not to change something.

Most of those decisions happen quietly. Nobody watching from outside realizes how much thinking has gone into what looks like a few minutes of work.

There is a lot more thinking involved in this trade than most people realize.

Farriers — what part of the decision-making process takes the most mental energy for you?

09/26/2026

When your customer gives you this to show their appreciation, the healthy weight watchers diet has to go on hold for a couple days. Going to be a good weekend.
Thank You Brittany Allestad