Breakage...

 

   So I was moving a round bale across the barnyard last week, and the tractor's Left Hand Steering Arm broke clean in two.

   Now, that's a heavy, cast steel part. Seemed pathetic that it should snap doing such a light task.

   Then I thought about it.

   It wasn't moving a bale that busted that part.

   It was decades of heavy use and abuse that finally caught up with it.

   Same thing probably goes for my ticker. As well as people, horses, etc.

   Eventually things that have been indestructible forever start to break.

   At least the tractor part I could replace from Amazon...

- 30 -

.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Season slips up on us fast. Especially in warmer years...

.

.

.

Millwater Books In Print 2025...

 

Millwater's Farriery:
The Illustrated Dictionary of Horseshoeing and Hoofcare:
Encyclopedic Reference for Professionals, Students, and Horseowners.

The encyclopedic dictionary of the art and science of farriery, designed for cross-referencing. Well illustrated with appendices of full-page illustrations, historical reference material, and resource guides.
This is the culmination of out farriery lexicon project started in 1994.

Paperback $22.50     Hardcover $36.50    Kindle eBook $9.95
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1466444819/




Shoe Your Own Damned Horse!

 SYODH! is comprehensive but good-humored primer for horse owners who want (or need) to learn how to trim or shoe their own animals, written by a veteran professional farrier and horseman.

Well illustrated, and with emphasis on practical economy.

Sections on hoof and limb anatomy, essential biomechanics, hoof handling, trimming for barefoot, tools and their functions, horseshoe choice/modification and application, cold and hot shoeing, managing common faults and pathologies, and even how to build a forge.  Lots of practical, insider hints sprinkled throughout.

Paperback $9.95
https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Your-Own-Damned-Horse/dp/B0DGF3CZVD





The New Dictionary of Farrier Terms and Technical Language.
The 9th and final "New Dictionary" of the series before the jump to MILLWATER'S FARRIERY. 

Paperback $18.12
https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Farrier-Terms-Technical-Language/dp/1449594689/






The New Dictionary of Farrier Terms and Technical Language.
The tenth anniversary edition, coil-bound, no-less.  For the completionists out there.

Coil bound $13.42
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/new-dictionary-of-farrier-terms/paperback/product-1k9gr6.html




MILLWATER'S FARRIERY:
Deluxe Hardcover.
The AMAZON hardcover is a bit less expensive, and pretty nice.  But, as of the production of my proof copies, the LULU production quality was a little better.  (Amazon's hardcover printing might have improved, it was in beta then.)  Though they did manage a humorous SNAFU by sending me one copy with our cover wrapped around a completely unrelated book.  They make good on such errors quickly though.

Hardcover $50.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/millwaters-farriery-the-illustrated-dictionary-of-horseshoeing-and-hoofcare/hardcover/product-1wzpq4rz.html


===================================================

Guild of Professional Farriers Publications.

   The Guild has been dormant for some time now, but was an influential player in American farriery in the '90s and first part of this century.  These booklets are maintained for historical reference.  The .PDF downloads are free.  (Sorry about the hassle of checkout.  That's the PoD service's hang-up.)  The printed versions are at the PoD production cost.

   Note:  URLs an mail addresses in these old publications are out of date.




Registered Journeyman Farrier Exam Guide

$4.72 Paperback
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/rjf-exam-guide/paperback/product-1zdrpk.html

Free Download
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/rjf-exam-guide/ebook/product-1rgy5d8v.html

New Guild Chronicle #1

Includes the content of the RJF Exam Guide, other Guild material, and articles from Guild President Henry Heymering on the Strasser barefoot trim fad and weight-bearing mechanisms of the hoof.
 
$7.53 Coil bound
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/guild-chronicle/paperback/product-1jzpw6.html

Free Download
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/guild-chronicle/ebook/product-1qzp6zjn.html

New Guild Chronicle #2

Includes the Guild's constitution and bylaws as they stood in 2005.

$5.88 Paperback
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/new-guild-chronicle-2/paperback/product-1qvwjr.html

Free Download
https://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-millwater/new-guild-chronicle-2/ebook/product-1gv6rnwd.html

. . .

-30-

Merry Christmas!!!

   Of course, we never have a White Christmas 'round here. But this picture is from some years back when we came kinda' close.

   It snowed every week of December. Still managed to be snow-free for Christmas, then it snowed on Boxing Day!

~ ~ ~

.

Black Friday Coming...

 

   Okay...  The big political circus has wound-down a bit, now we look-up and see that the holidays are coming at us fast!

   So let's get a head-start on Black Friday sale pricing by knocking Millwater Publishing's newest release "SHOE YOUR OWN DAMNED HORSE!" down to $11.50 on Amazon.

   All Amazon Prime delivery, reward points, and other discounts apply.

https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Your-Own-Damned-Horse/dp/B0DGF3CZVD

- - -

.

Handy Tool for Farriers!

 FARRIERS!

   Do you have some of 'those' clients?  Always thinks you're doing it wrong, because of something a trainer, vet, riding instructor, Social Media expert, or random person at the tack shop said? 

   Here is a succinct way to reply...

   Hand them a copy of, or at least forward them a link to...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGF3CZVD

   Maybe they'll take the hint.  ;)

#farrier  #hoofcare  #horsecare
.

Why would you want or need to shoe your own horses?

 Excerpt from Shoe Your Own Damned Horse!

Why would you want or need to shoe your own horses?

   I'd be the first to agree that a good, professional farrier is worth twice his fee.  But, with things going the way they are, a lot of horseowners are liable to have trouble coming up with half of what a pro farrier has to charge to stay in business, or may not have the option of hiring one at all due to career shoers needing to consolidate their services to the most lucrative stables.

   It's been said that equines are a luxury in modern times.  So, if folks can't afford to pay for essential things like hoof care, they just shouldn't have horses at all.  But I'm not too crazy about the idea of restricting the Horse World to just the wealthy elite as the Middle Class withers away.  Heck!  With petroleum prices as volatile as they've become, ordinary Americans might just be back to horse and buggy anyway.

   Even during the boom years of the 1990s, when I was an officer of a national organization of professional farriers, I frequently received calls from horseowners telling me that there were no real farriers available in their areas.  Sometimes what these callers really meant was "Nobody wants to come shoe for beer money."  But often their claims proved true and I couldn't find a decent journeyman taking on clients within a hundred miles of them.

   The ever-increasing standards of pro farriery, as well as the advancements in the science, have since contributed to the stratification of the trade between expensively equipped, trained hoofcare technicians and jackleg shoe-horsers. 

   So horseowners may find themselves with few options:  Expending considerable effort and treasure to haul their horse to the nearest qualified farrier willing to take them on...  Settling for the local Cheap John horseshoer and hoping for the best...  Or resorting to one of the magic barefoot trim or horseshoe alternative fads.

   Or you could learn to do it yourself.  Of course, no collection of printed pages can teach you to do that without some real world training.  But this book may give you some idea of what you're getting into.

- - -

.