Confessions of a Horseshoer

by Tatum, Ron

• ISBN13: 9781574414530
• ISBN10: 1574414534
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-30
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

Confessions of a Horseshoeroffers a close and personal look at the mind-set of a professional horseshoer (farrier) who also happens to be a college professor. The book, an ironic and playful view of the many unusual animals (and people) Ron Tatum has encountered over thirty-seven years, is nicely balanced between straightforward presentation, self-effacing humor, and lightly seasoned wisdom. It captures the day-to-day life of a somewhat cantankerous old guy, who has attitude and strong opinions. Throughout the book, Tatum ponders the causes that led him into the apparently opposing worlds of horseshoeing, with its mud, pain, and danger, and the bookish life of a college professor. He tells the reader that it is his hope that writing the book will help him understand this apparent paradox between the physical and the mental. Tatum provides a detailed description of the horseshoeing process, its history, and why horses need shoes in the first place. The reader will learn about the dangers of shoeing horses in "Injuries I Have Known," in which Tatum describes one particular self-inflicted injury that he claims no other horseshoer has ever, or will ever, experience. "Eight Week Syndrome" demonstrates the close, often therapeutic, relationship between the horseshoer and his or her customers. Tatum relates the story of an old Wyoming cowboy who could talk with horses, and consistently cure their injuries, lameness, and other physical problems after the veterinarians had given up. The humor in the chapters on chickens and rabbits will entertain any reader, as well as the sections on various dogs, ducks, llamas, goats, flies, and a sexually disoriented pig. Readers of western life and lovers of horses will find Confessions of a Horseshoeran informative, quirky, and delightful work full of humor, attitude, and off-beat insight.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Reflections Before Charging Ahead	p. 1
The First Horse	p. 8
Starting Out	p. 11
What Do Horses in the Wild Do?	p. 13
Recalcitrant Horses	p. 16
Other Ways to Get the Job Done	p. 18
A Wyoming Cowboy	p. 24
Druids, Celts, and Blacksmiths	p. 36
Horses and Marines	p. 40
Going it Alone	p. 45
The Job	p. 48
The Tools of the Trade	p. 57
Forges	p. 70
What the Well-Dressed Horseshoer Wears	p. 74
Weather	p. 78
Injuries I Have Known	p. 83
Different Kinds of Wrecks	p. 95
Exercise	p. 106
Disclaimer	p. 112
Another Disclaimer	p. 113
More Injuries and Violence (Why Horseshoers Are Always Late)	p. 115
Ponies	p. 118
Welsh Ponies	p. 120
Insensitivity?	p. 125
Flies	p. 128
The Marin County Rodeo	p. 134
The Newspaper Reporter	p. 139
The Bad Job?	p. 141
A Different Kind of Bad Job	p. 144
Crime in a Small Town	p. 147
The Bird Man	p. 150
Culinary Aspects	p. 153
People and Their Animals	p. 156
Nicky, Miscellaneous Dumb Dogs, and Other Animals	p. 162
Nicky, My Regular Horseshoeing Dog	p. 162
Lucy	p. 165
German Shepherds, Ducks, Cats, and Wild Turkeys	p. 167
More Dogs	p. 172
The Dog Named Gus	p. 174
Even More Dog Stories	p. 175
Other Kinds of Creatures	p. 177
The Donkey and the Spearcarrier	p. 182
Chickens	p. 184
Rabbits	p. 188
Two People and Three Cats	p. 191
The Pig Who Thought He Could	p. 194
More Pig Stories	p. 198
Youth Rodeo	p. 202
The Youngest Cowboy	p. 213
Graduation	p. 217
Dad	p. 219
The Eight-Week Syndrome	p. 226
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.