I have yet to complete my CF (hope to get it in March at Five Star) then was going to move on to working towards my Journeymans, but I know I am long way off just now.



I was just wondering if anyone else had been in this situation? or had any other words of wisdom or advise!!!

Hi,
I have been in that situation before. First of all i think you should provide proof that you have been a farrier for at least 2 years, then you need to go for an assessment in one of the colleges, i think it was about £900 for three days ,welcome back to England. you will have to take some shoes and tools with you that you made. Make horseshoes and probably a pair of tongs on request. Shoe a couple of horses with handmades, then have a theory test to assess your knowledge. Then you will be offered two choices, either to work with an ATF towards your exam, you will have to go to college once every 6 months for 2,3 or 4 weeks, depending on how you do in the assessment. or you can do all your training in college in consecutive weeks. Either way you will have to fork out a fair bit of money.
If you are not up to scratch with your shoe making and making shoes for feet, which is a big part of the assessment, then I would say go for the journeyman as you said and after two years its equivalent to the DipW.
The other option is to go for the whole apprenticeship from the start and you wouldn't need to pay anything. you just need to find an ATF to take you on and you will be paid the minimum wage.
Just out of interest Do you know if it is possible to take the Journeyman exam without taking CF first??

Hope this helps

With regard to the Journeymans exam, it is a pre-requisit that the CF is obtained first.

Thanks for your insight!

if I was you I would do exactly the same. it will save a great deal of sanity dealing with all the bureaucracy.

to be honest Darren it reads as though you are just another ex-pat trying to get through the backdoor . even if you shoe in the eu for 2 yrs , you still need recognised certification to shoe in the uk . you can however get a temporary licence to shoe existing clients horses in the uk whilst proving permanent residence and tax liabilities within the eu . this is from personal experience . just take the diploma , it doesnt cost a lot for a careers investment and is not a difficult test with expert tuition
chris

Darren qualifications of recognised merit are not frowned upon and the finincial outlay for the farrier is pretty much the same where ever they are taken throughout the world. whilst the uk want preferred professional requirements to practice farriery the requirements to work in the uk are a lot easier than in countries that include Canada the US , Australia ,New Zealand to name but a few .
chris

Chris,
Question - If I have an EFFA certification, will UK accept that for me to work there?

Mikel
chris bunting wrote:

chris bunting wrote:
Do you mean generally or farriery in particular... 'cause any muppet can hang a shingle and call themselves a farrier here.

Crikey, get a CF and you can call yourself "Master" Farrier.

Mikel,you would get a part 5 registration too shoe existing clients but you must prove tax liabilities and domicile of your native country , this would allow you about 180 days a year . i am sure if you challenged it in the eu courts you would get a positive result , i doubt if it would put you in favour with the local farrier communities though . like everything it still comes at a cost you may as well just take the dip , dont forget it still cost us UK farriers £150+ a year to register
chris

Thanks Chris,
I was just wondering how farrier and England was taking the EU certification thing. Here we got guys from Germany coming up and working. Little different as there is no law for certification, but I feel it is coming. I could pay my money and get the EFFA papers, but I don't intend on going to Germany or any place else to work.

Anthony the requirements to enter any of the countries i mentioned are a damn site
stricter than entering the uk and that is before trying to get a work permit .
Mikel until very recently i beleive very few uk farriers were CE-F registered , i understand that now the BFBA have registered all qualified members . not many are interested in the eu and how it operates
chris

chris bunting wrote:
Interesting.

I suppose it depends. It is very hard for Europeans to get into Aus NZ etc. Not too hard for others it seems.

On the other hand, if you're from OZ or NZ, you can't get into the UK easily unless you have British parentage.

I'm lucky, by a few flukes of circumstance, I can live and work in UK/EU, Aus, Canada and NZ.

With an outside chance I might be heading to the UK in the near future (yet another circumstance beyond my control), this thread is timely.

Anthony if you are from nz and you are not a part 1 reg farrier how come you shoe in the uk ?
chris

Sorry Chris I didn't make myself clear. I have British citizenship so can just breeze in and work in the UK, but would have to go through the FRC process to practice farriery.

I lived in UK a couple years recently, but did not practice.