1 day Vet-Farrier Symposium
A day built around how vets and farriers actually work
Lameness and hoof health rarely sit with one discipline alone. The veterinarian’s diagnosis and the farrier’s work under the hoof shape the same outcome, yet the two often happen separately.
This symposium brings both into the same room for a day of case-based learning, shared language, and practical problem solving. The focus is collaboration: working through real cases together and leaving with a clearer, shared approach to managing them.
Hosted by Contura Vet (Arthramid) at Rangiora Vet Centre, in partnership with Hoof Gold and the New Zealand Farriers Association (South Island Branch).
Speakers
Dr Andrew Watts
Veterinarian, Equine Podiatry (Brisbane)
Andrew graduated with a BVSc from the University of Queensland in 1990 and has spent more than three decades in equine practice across Australia and the Middle East, including senior roles at the Royal Stables in Oman, Dubai Equine Hospital, and the Royal Stables in Bahrain. He now works as a senior veterinary surgeon at Aquis Farm and at the equine podiatry facility at Pullenvale in Brisbane, where much of his caseload centres on the foot.
His focus is remedial equine podiatry, the area where veterinary diagnosis and farriery meet most directly. He runs regular podiatry workshops alongside veterinary colleagues and farriers, has lectured at Equine Veterinary Association meetings and the University of Queensland, and is the founder of Vet Gold, where he developed the Hoof Gold supplement from years of field work with compromised feet. Much of what he brings is in how he reads the foot across both disciplines, connecting what the clinical exam shows to what can be done under the hoof.
Steve Costin
Master Farrier
Steve is a Master Farrier based in Beaudesert, Queensland, with close to four decades of farriery behind him. He learned the trade from his father, Ron Costin, started shoeing at thirteen, and trained under several well-known names in the Australian industry. He also spent years as a racehorse trainer, which shaped how he reads the whole horse rather than the foot in isolation.
He is the inventor of the Costin Horseshoe, a polyurethane shoe he developed over many years and now supplies into New Zealand, the United States, and Europe. For a veterinary audience, the interest sits in his thinking on load, balance, and how a shoeing decision plays out in movement, the practical counterpart to a clinical lameness work-up.
Dr Rachael Smith
Specialist Veterinarian, Rangiora Vet Centre
Rachael is a registered specialist in equine surgery and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. She graduated BVSc with Distinction from Massey University in 1998, completed her surgical residency at Murdoch University in Perth, and spent around twenty years there, latterly as a senior lecturer in equine surgery, before joining the Rangiora Vet Centre equine team in 2022.
Her clinical interests include foot injuries and pathology, lameness and poor-performance evaluation, and both soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery. That combination keeps the foot close to the centre of her work, and places her well to connect surgical and diagnostic findings to the everyday decisions that vets and farriers share.
Who it is for:
Equine veterinarians and farriers. Places are capped at 25, so the day stays hands-on and the discussion stays open.
What you will take away:
- A shared framework for assessing and managing hoof-related lameness
- Case-based insight into where veterinary and farriery decisions meet
- Practical workshop time spent on real cases
- New working relationships with peers across both disciplines
Program
Morning: lectures, discussion, and case panels.
The morning works through the reasoning behind diagnosis and shoeing decisions, with case panels and open discussion across both disciplines.
Afternoon: practical workshops.
The afternoon moves to hands-on work with real cases sourced for the day, so you can apply the morning’s thinking with the horse in front of you.
Full session timings will be confirmed closer to the event.
Event details
Date: Saturday 8 August 2026
Venue: Rangiora Vet Centre, Canterbury
Places: Limited to 25
Price: $150 per person
Times: To be confirmed
Organisers and partners
Brought to you by Contura Vet (Arthramid), Hoof Gold and Rangiora Vet Centre.
Industry partner: New Zealand Farriers Association (South Island Branch).
You will be invoiced following registration to confirm your spot. All attendees will receive a jacket.