About David Farmilo

Accredited Master Farrier
Level IV Trade Assessor

PAST PRESIDENT:
SAMFA (South Australian Master Farriers Association)

MEMBER:
AFBA (Australian Farriers & Blacksmiths Association)
SAMFA (South Australian Master Farriers Association)
AFA (American Farriers Association)
FIA (Farrier Industry Association USA)
WFA (World Farriers Association)

Understanding the horse’s hoof has been a passion if not an obsession since the day David Farmilo shod his first horse as a jackeroo on Angorichina Station, in the Flinders Ranges, at the age of fourteen. Over the next fifty plus years he has steadily built up a vast understanding of the horse’s hoof while encompassing a range of workplaces, all involving horses. In that time he was also a very successful competitor in all forms of equitation.

At the age of twenty he was appointed overseer for Oraparinna Station also in the Flinders Ranges. He worked on a number of other stations, and then ran a general farriery practice in the Adelaide Hills until 1981 and from then until 1987 in Townsville, Queensland.

Returning to South Australia to resume his general farriery practice, one of his clients was the late Peter Hayes, who pressured him continually to work for his father, the late Colin Hayes at the renowned Lindsay Park Stud at Angaston. David’s first year at Lindsay Park saw C S Hayes break all of his previous thirty year training records. David was Head Farrier at Lindsay Park for eight years until he retired in 1998.

A video of a hoof reconstruction for a worst case scenario of Seedy Toe, which was filmed in his home workshop, is now distributed world wide and has gained him recognition and credibility for his expertise.

At the same time he was approached to write regular articles for recognised horse magazines around Australia which led to requests for shoeing courses Australia wide. In April 2002 David ran the first of his outback shoeing courses and was received with such acclaim that he spent the next 12 years teaching.

David’s website receives ever-increasing queries worldwide, and he is regarded as a definitive expert on hoof related lameness in horses.

In 2004 David invented ‘David Farmilo’s HOOF-LINE’ as a teaching aid for students at his many courses.

David was an educator at Equitana Mebourne in 2002 and 2005, and an invited speaker at the International Hoof Care Summit, Cincinnati, USA in Feb 2006 and Feb 2008.

David taught Hoof Care around Australia for 12 years – on outback cattle stations, in country areas in all states, plus Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced live-in courses from his home at Oakbank where he welcomed students from across Australia.
In 2014 he retired to “go fishing”.