Meet the Team
Christopher Martelli
Chris was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky and now runs his practice out of Ocala, Florida. We asked Chris how he fell into the field of farriery… living and working in Colorado as a cell tower tech after graduating from boarding school in VA, he found himself in attendance of a World Championship of Blacksmiths competition on a weekend off and couldn’t get enough. He immediately enrolled into The Kentucky Horse Shoeing School, thus landing himself back in the bluegrass state in 2009. Martelli was the first student to complete and graduate from the most advanced program offered by KHS and earned a diploma from the National Farrier Training Center in 2012. He shod primarily Thoroughbreds in his first 7 years, including Derby, Preakness, Belmont, and Breeders Cup horses. Chris now works on Olympic show jumpers and eventers and was an official farrier of WEG in Tryon in 2018. He has a very competitive nature and his favorite part of shoeing is watching his horses and riders compete!
Claire (Tisckos) Martelli
Claire was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland where she lived until she planned on attending the University of South Carolina. Whilst visiting the school, she discovered just how passionate she truly was for riding and grooming. She eventually moved to Aiken, South Carolina to groom and her love for the industry only grew. Grooming allowed her to move around and live in many places including Pennsylvania, England and now Florida full time. Claire has extensive experience grooming and managing barns for Olympic level riders and has been able to use that knowledge to manage Fox Hill Forge.