BY ALLISON LEE
When my husband and I moved our smallholding from West to North Yorkshire in 2024, one of the most worrying factors for me was having to find a new farrier. I had used the same farrier since acquiring my miniature Shetland ponies and miniature Mediterranean donkeys, and they knew him well. Initially, as they were all very young, they were nervous of the visits but, over time, they learned to trust him and, whilst I wouldn’t say they enjoyed his visit, they were certainly tolerant of it. Finding another farrier, whom they could trust on the same level, seemed a huge task, especially since I didn’t know any equestrians in North Yorkshire and therefore had no recommendations to go on.
As luck would have it, a friend mentioned she knew someone who worked with a farrier part-time in North Yorkshire, and she sent me his contact details. I had nothing to lose and, as it turned out, so much to gain.
Steven Beane is not just a farrier. He is a six-time world champion, and I cannot believe my luck that he is happy to come to my home every six weeks to tend to five little miniatures who, to be honest, show absolutely no appreciation of his fantastic skills.
Steven is amazing and his story remarkable. He told me he was first introduced to horses at the age of four when he would ride weekly. His late mother loved horses, and when he was eleven, the family got their first horse, stabled at Kirklevington Riding School in North Yorkshire. Will, was a family horse that Steven began competing with. He spent every weekend and evening working at the stables and loved being around horses. As it turned out, Steven’s older brother, Andrew, wanted to become a farrier, so when their father took Andrew to a farrier talk at the riding club, Steven tagged along. The talk was by a farrier named Huw Dyer, and he had Steven hooked. Steven told me that after listening to the talk, when he was just thirteen, he became obsessed. “We left that talk with me wanting to be a farrier and my brother deciding against it!” Steven remembers.
Huw Dyer’s talk turned out to be all the inspiration Steven needed to pursue his career. He went on to serve a four-year, two-month apprenticeship with Huw at Londonderry Farriers, near Bedale. Steven describes Huw as being “the best boss, very hard but fair”. Steven was one of five apprentices, and they all lived in a house attached to the forge. Looking back, Steven recognises it wasn’t easy to get an apprenticeship and he had to work hard. He attended Huw’s farriery every holiday from age thirteen to sixteen and presumed, once he left school, that Huw would take him on. Steven says he was disappointed when this didn’t happen; instead, Huw told him to go to college for a year to grow up! Unperturbed, that is exactly what Steven did, enrolling for a year-long pre-farrier course at Warwickshire College. Steven admits that leaving home for college did indeed give him a good start to his apprenticeship.
Ten weeks after starting his apprenticeship with Huw, Steven was introduced to competing when he was entered in a show at Otley. He came last, but he says as soon as the competition ended, he wanted to enter the next one. He was well and truly hooked! As an apprentice, it would take Steven a further two years to win his first contest, after which he says he “had finally figured it out,” going on to win eleven competitions in a row. Steven became the National Champion Apprentice in 2000 and made the England team in both 1999 and 2000. When he began his journey as a farrier, he didn’t even know there was an England team!
In 2001, Steven moved into the open category and the following year made the England senior team, which he has been on ever since—for 24 consecutive years. 2001 was also the year Steven entered the World Championships in Calgary, Canada, for the first time; he ended up 13th overall. Four years later he returned, hoping to make the top ten, and ended up reserve world champion. This was repeated the following year. However, in 2009, Steven won the world championship, which he then did another four times! Sadly, after Steven’s fifth world champion win, the contest was cancelled, and there was a nine-year break. As the reigning champion, Steven waited with bated breath to see if the competition would return.
In 2023, the wait was over. As the current world champion, having won the last title in 2014, he felt he just had to go. He ended up coming third, with people telling him he was “too old, too thin, past his best.” Steven clearly remembers being told that “It was time to give a new generation a go.” Steven had pretty much been written off. However, refusing to be beaten, he decided to have another go in 2024. He trained harder, got fitter, and this time ended up reserve world champion. It wasn’t enough. Steven started to make excuses for why he hadn’t won and even began to believe his critics. Refusing to be beaten, he set himself a target with no more excuses. He told himself he would get the title back, so he trained even harder, worked more, and began to be very self-critical. It paid off when, this year, Steven took the world title for an unbelievable sixth time!
Steven admits that regaining the title wasn’t easy. He puts it down to hard work, training, great mentors, a fitness coach, and a very supportive wife! The World Championships is a five-day contest with big money at stake—$75,000—however, I don’t, for one minute, think that was the motivation that spurred Steven on. Steven was on a mission to regain what was rightfully his, to silence his critics, and to prove that he still had what it took to be the world’s best farrier—and that is exactly what he did.
The competition was a roller-coaster for Steven, who explains that his plan was to start strong, which he did; he led for two days before dropping to third, then fourth before the final day. Steven admits everyone thought at that point that it was over for him, but he knew the final day—which was all shoeing—would be his strongest. He knew if he could win the semi-final and final, he could catch up and win the overall competition. He puts the final day down to luck, but I am sure everyone would agree that it takes more than luck to win a prestigious world championship!
Steven told me he was absolutely overwhelmed when he won the world title for the sixth time, saying he “couldn’t even believe it after they read my name out!” Steven has proved that he is still good enough and that he can take on the new generation. Now in his forties, Steven was competing against farriers more than twenty years his junior.
Steven is understandably very proud of his achievements, and his advice to anyone is, “Don’t ever give up on your dreams. I knew I could still do it, but the doubters got in my mind, and it’s all in your mind!”
Steven now holds an impressive list of titles, including 6-time World Champion, 5-time National Champion, and 4-time European Champion. He has been on the England team for 24 consecutive years and is also an examiner and judge for the Worshipful Company of Farriers. Steven also holds the highest farrier qualification, the FWCF, with only 42 farriers in the world having achieved it.
In addition to his farrier work, Steven makes his own tools and launched his tool brand, Beanie Tools Ltd, in 2013. Steven makes tools one day a week, and his wife, Kathrine, who is also a farrier, runs the business alongside him. Steven says he enjoys this aspect of his work as it makes a change from shoeing, and the business has been well received.
Steven is not just a world champion. Having got to know him over the past twelve months or so that he has been visiting my little equines, I can see how much he loves his job. He tells me he likes working in a mixed equine practice. He enjoys working with Shetlands, donkeys, dressage horses, show jumpers, racehorses, and Shires. The variety ensures his work doesn’t become monotonous, and it is great training for the next generation of farriers—Steven now has two apprentices of his own.
I asked Steven what his plans for the future are. He told me it was a hard question to answer. “I’m torn, compete again or retire?” he says. “But I’ve just agreed to compete in a pairs contest at the Yorkshire Showground in February and at the Masters Cup in Quebec in May. Team contests are so much fun, where we push each other to be better. At the world titles, I’m level with Grant Moon on six, so everyone wants me to do it again, but I honestly don’t know. My dream would be to start a family with my wife.”
I think it might very much be a case of “watch this space,” but for now, I hope Steven continues to visit my smallholding for many years to come. Having a good farrier is essential; having a world champion is an absolute dream.
Allison Lee is a smallholder from North Yorkshire who has written for the Yorkshire Times and other publications. Her website can be accessed here.