After watching Olds College students Marshall Pagenkopf and Glenn McCullough shoe horses, Cpl. Sheryl Cody of the RCMP concluded that both were qualified to join the Mounties' 2014 Musical Ride event as summer farriers.
ìThey both did a wonderful job,î Cody said about their auditions. ìEither one of them would've been a great candidate for our program.î
But there can only be one.
In late February, Cody interviewed Pagenkopf and McCullough at Olds College for the chance to land one Musical Ride farrier position. She was impressed by the pair and said the RCMP has picked one of them for the job. However, the RCMP is keeping mum on who they selected until the candidate has passed security clearance, she said.
An official announcement will be made later, possibly ahead of March 28, when the college hosts the American Farrier Association, where examiners will test farrier students for certification required for employment, Cody said.
The Musical Ride is a troupe of horses and riders that travel through Canada, the U.S. and internationally. They perform military drill movements on horseback to accompanying music. It's a public relations tool for the RCMP and features 35 constables and 36 horses.
The tour takes up to four months. This year, the Musical Ride will tour Quebec, Ontario and stop in Alberta for the Calgary Stampede. It will then depart for the Masters Tournament in Spruce Meadows.
After that, the tour crosses the border for the Massachusetts State Fair in Topsfield, just northeast of Boston.
Cody describes farriers as ìfoot care specialistsî for horses, responsible for duties such as trimming, fitting and applying shoes to animals.
The Musical Ride needed a candidate who was dependable, organized and could look after horses in various venues from hockey arenas to parking lots, she said.
When screening applicants, she said McCullough and Pagenkopf were given two hours to pull shoes, trim the horse and fit them for shoes.
It was a process Pagenkopf, a second-year student in the program, admits to being nerve-racking.
ìThe class I had (before) was welding and during welding, my heart was racing and I was a little on edge,î he said. ìAnd when I got here, I noticed they were kind of relaxed so that calmed me down a little bit too.î
In response to budget cutbacks, the RCMP looked to save money by starting a summer pilot project where they'd open a travelling farrier job to a student, Cody said.
The college's farrier program was respected within the industry for its length, Cody said. It's the only school to offer two years of training compared to six- to 12-week certificates offered by other schools.
ìOlds College had the most in-depth and spent the most time with their students so the knowledge of a person coming out of Olds College is above and beyond what you would learn in a six- or eight- or 12-week course,î she said.
According to Cody, her colleagues who worked as farriers within the Musical Ride also endorsed the program.
ìAnd they said if they could choose somebody to work with as a student or an apprentice, they would take somebody from Olds College because the program was so good,î she said.
Both Pagenkopf and McCullough applied for the job because they saw it as a unique opportunity.
McCullough, from Carmen, Man., is a recent graduate from the program and he drove 14 hours back to Olds for the audition. He said that getting the job would help his farrier business.
This is the first year of the RCMP summer pilot project for farriers, with Olds College's farrier science co-coordinator Dean Sinclair helping to broker the partnership, Cody said.
She hopes for it to continue in the future.
ìHopefully if this pilot project runs well this year, we can come back to Olds College and keep up this partnership we've developed with them and keep getting candidates for our summer student program,î she said.
