A few weeks ago, a member of our staff received a telephone call from a farrier desperate for information. He needed help in explaining the horseshoeing business to a family court judge that didn’t have a very good impression of your business.

A divorced father with custody of two children and an ex-wife living in Europe, the Midwestern shoer was attempting to receive permission from the judge to move to a state where he had previously shod horses that offered much better income opportunities.

You Do What For A Living?

The problem arose when the farrier explained what he wanted to do to the judge. The judge’s knee-jerk reaction went something like this: “You’re a horseshoer? Why don’t you give up that lousy job, get a good factory job here that pays a decent wage and forget about moving your kids out of state?”

Needless to say, the shoer was shocked that the family court judge wanted him to change careers. And that’s why he called us for help.

He asked if we could provide material to explain the shoeing business to the judge. He also asked for economic data that would demonstrate how much better off he’d be shoeing in another state compared to where he was now living.

We provided information that showed the U.S. horse business is conservatively estimated to be a $15 billion a year industry. We spelled out that over 40 million people own or ride horses, over 75 American colleges and universities offer equine…