Carolina Farriers Open Forum & Idea Exchange Mid-November 1995 * Issue #1 CCBWFA Official Newsletter *** Welcome to the Forum! *** With the CCBWFAs news and events being published in The Horsemans Newsletter and The Southeastern Farrier, you may wonder why we need an association newsletter. Good question. The answer is that the Forum is not intended to be just a newsletter, but a clearinghouse for ideas and information just for Carolina farriers and well-informed horseowners. Since the Forum is not normally circulated to the general public, it is well suited for controversial ideas and technical arguments that wouldnt really be appropriate for other venues. All opinions are welcome here. If you think a new BWFA program is the best thing since sliced bread, write to us. If you think a new BWFA program is an exercise in stupidity that will cast a shadow of shame on working farriers, write to us. If you want to publicly compliment our CCBWFA officers on their work, the Forum is the place to do it. If you think they dropped the ball on something, the Forum is a good place to let them know. This publication is not the CCBWFAs equivalent to Pravda. Pretending everything is already perfect is no way to promote improvement. But the Forum is absolutely not limited to association business! The whole of farrier industry and practice is our bailiwick. Want to get something off your chest about the nail controversy? Farrier training in America? The farrier-veterinarian relationship? Pricing and business practices? Fire away! Forum is listening. And dont forget the science of farriery itself. Are you a beginning farrier who needs some practical information? Dont be ashamed to ask here! Every one of us was a beginner at one time. Are you an established farrier who wants to bounce a technical question off other working farriers? This is the place to do it! The working farriers of Carolina have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience between them. It is silly for each of us to have to learn every lesson the hard way when we could compare notes and avoid a lot of mistakes. The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked. While the Forum is included as part of your CCBWFA membership, its costs do not come out of your dues. This publication is supported through advertising revenue. All farrier products and services are fair game for your comments, but we hope you will reward our sponsors by commenting on the products advertised here. Even in this, we welcome all comments, positive and otherwise. Even negative letters about our sponsors products should provide them with feedback that may be useful in improving their product or marketing approach. The Forum thus becomes a valuable window into the Carolina farrier market for our sponsors. ~~~~~ *** Forum rules *** The rules here are few and will be enforced only when really appropriate. Personal attacks or slander will not be printed. It is fine to if you feel the need to say John Smiths presentation at the big clinic was a disgrace to the profession, but we will not print John Smith is a stupid drunk and cheats on his wife. Persons criticized in any Forum submission will be given an opportunity to respond here. If you submit a letter or article and request that your name not be published, we will either publish the piece without your name, or not print it at all. Criticisms of other farriers or companies will generally not be published anonymously. If you want to take a poke at somebody here, youll have to sign your name. While the Forum may edit submissions for space, we will always try to leave the meaning of your work intact. If we feel something needs to be added to a piece, we will clearly mark the addition as an Editors Note. I have been burned as a writer when editors inserted their own ideas, which I did not agree with, into an article with my by-line. I will not let that happen in the Forum. Profanity should not be used in submissions to the Forum, and will be edited out. ~~~~~ *** Farrier Product Review *** Well, it looks like Mike Williams, up in Manhattan Mt. has been busy again. In the past W Brand Products has given us a lot of good farrier products. The W Brand Hoof Testers are very good testers, costing only about $40. The stainless steel Horseshoe Ruler features some really good formulas on the back, and sells for about $12. The Repair Tongs and Hot Shoe Tongs are great also. And for getting the hoof balanced, the W Brand Hoof Evener and transparent Hoof Square are great. It looks like Mike has outdone himself this time. The W Brand Equine Angle Gauge is indeed on the farrier and vet cutting edge. The gauge is a protractor scale imprinted on a transparent, acrylic square with a free swinging pendulum and level attached. The Equine Angle Gauge measures pastern angle, hoof angle, heel angle, and the slopes of the shoulder and hip... just for starters. The gauge can also be used to measure angular deviation in the legs of foals and to check the knees for equal height. You can also use it with X-Rays, which can be very useful. The Equine Angle Gauge is very good for conformation analysis and veterinary diagnosis. A new and very good concept in viewing equine angles. For keeping track of the horse, this gauge should be among the farriers tools for a long time to come. Give it a try. You sure can find a lot of ways to make it work for you. Thanks, Marcus Pierce ~~~~~ ** Participating in the Forum ** The Forum will be distributed the 15th of every other month. All materials for an issue must be received by the first day of the month of publication. The Forum cannot take responsibility for materials sent in. If you would like something returned, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. You can send your print or 3.5 diskette submissions to the Forum through the mail to: Millwater Publishing P.O. Box 461 Locust, NC 28097 Or you can send E-mail to: 71214.2340@compuserve.com This paper exists as an avenue for communication for your benefit. We hope you will use it often and well! ~~~~~ ** Upcoming CCBWFA Events ** February 8, 1996 1996 CCBWFA Awards Banquet for more information call: Jeff Crane, CCBWFA President at (704) 843-1466 ~~~~~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pierce Farrier Supply 1-800-452-2593 Family owned & operated VISA & MC accepted 9705 Pierce Road Indian Trail, NC 28079 Brands carried by Pierce Farrier Supply: Champion Titanium St. Croix Forge Kerckhaert Iron Works Dutchtown JB Aluminum Horseshoes Emerson Anvil Brand Victory Cooper Capewell Mustad Delta Equilox Level-It DS Tools GE Tools W-Brand Save-Edge Simonds Bellota Castle Plastics, Inc. Thera-Flex Sorbathane ShockTamer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ** Forum Advertising ** The following rates apply to all Forum ads with the exception of the CCBWFA membership application: Full Page = $40.00 Half Page = $20.00 Quarter Page = $10.00 Eighth Page = $5.00 To purchase ad space, contact the CCBWFA Secretary at: 7101 New Town Road Waxhaw, NC 28173 (704) 843-1466 If your ad contains a picture, reproduction will be best if the image is black & white (not grayscale or color) on paper, or a Macintosh or PC graphic file on a 3.5 diskette. E-mailed graphic files or FAXed-in ads can also be arranged. ~~~~~ Carolinas Chapter Membership Application --circle one-- Farriers $20 Suppliers $20 Veterinarians $20 Associations $20 Horseowners $17 Trainers $17 Youth Membership $10 Name: Phone: Address: City: State: Zip: Date of Birth: Organizations you are a member of: Please make checks payable to: CCBWFA --send to-- Debi Crane, Secretary 7101 New Town Road Waxhaw, NC 28173 (704) 843-1466 ~~~~~ Farriers Be On The Look-Out!!! Shady Oak Stables, near the intersection of Hwy 24/27 and 51 in Charlotte, was hit by tack thieves in a big way in the pre-dawn hours of October 27. A list of the stolen saddles follows: WESTERN SADDLES ~Tex Tan- 15 1/2 show saddle, light tan, completely oak tooled, silver trim, suede seat. ~Big Horn- 16 show saddle, medium brown, oak and acorn tooled, silver trim, suede seat. ~Blue Ridge- 15 1/2 Pleasure saddle, dark russet, steel stirrups, scrapes on pommel & cantle. ~Tex Tan- 15 1/2 show saddle, medium brown, lightly tooled, stitched suede seat. ~Simco- 16 pleasure saddle, dark brown, light colored oak leaf tooling, stitched suede seat. ~Tex Tan- 15 1/2 show saddle, medium russet, lightly tooled, silver trim, stitched suede seat. ~Tex Tan - 16 roping saddle, light tan, white rawhide trim, basket weave tooling on skirt. ~Ozark- 17 roping saddle, brown cordura and leather, laced stirrups. ENGLISH SADDLES ~State Line- all purpose, synthetic, black ~Lovett & Ricketts- dressage, brown, short billets, fillis stirrups with white pads ~Bates Caprilli- all purpose, brown, long billets, brass name plate on cantle-Risley ~Wintec-18 all purpose Sport model, black, Wintec leathers, fillis stirrups with white pads If you hear of someone trying to move the saddles, or someone tries to sell you a good saddle at a suspicious price, call Shady Oak Stables at 545-1792. I understand another stables across town was also hit the same night. I like sneak-thieves about as much as horseflies in August. We farriers get around in the horse world, and if we keep our eyes open and spread the word, we can make it very difficult for these weasels to profit from their crime. ~~~~~