When it comes to determining annual income, shoers who compete in shoeing competitions earn as much as $6,300 in additional income each year when compared with shoers who don’t compete.

These findings came from an analysis of data in the American Farriers Journal’s 2000 Business Practices Survey. While competing certainly isn’t the only reason for these shoers to earn higher annual incomes, the skills and talents developed through competing have helped many farriers put more dollars in the bank.

Full-time farriers who competed in shoeing contests averaged $72,486 in annual income in 1999. By comparison, farriers who didn’t compete averaged $66,183 in yearly income. For part-time farriers, there was a difference of $5,477 in annual income among shoeing contest competitors and non-competitors.

Other Industry News...

• Scott Morrison, an equine veterinarian who specializes in footcare at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., has been named to the American Farriers Journal Editorial Advisory Board.
• Three of the many equine veterinarians who stopped by the American Farriers Journal exhibit at the American Association of Equine Practitioners annual meeting in San Diego in late November had their names drawn to receive a free 1-year magazine subscription and a copy of the Forbidding Founder Special Management Report. They included: Clare Allen, Manlius, N.Y.; Maria Lowry,  Jupiter, Fla.; and Kelly Manzer, Great Falls, Mont.
• The grand prize winner, who received a 1-year American Farriers Journal subscription, a set of the five “Farrier Classics” series of historical shoeing books and “The ‘How-To’ Horseshoeing Book” was…