I remember a friend of mine in middle school who anxiously opened his report card to find out if he would be enjoy summer vacation or be sentenced to summer school. How harshly he would be judged on an incomplete final assignment in comparison to a semester's volume of work would decide his fate.

The editors at American Farriers Journal are busy working on the sixth edition of Getting Started in Hoof Care, our career guide for new farriers. This is a free publication sent to all farrier school students and to anyone who requests a copy. The purpose of this magazine is to emphasize the business side of farriery. I came across an interesting tip that will be part of an article on invoicing and records.

If you subscribe to our magazine, you soon should receive the July/August issue in the mail, followed in a couple of months with the September/October edition. In between the two, we will publish a report for new farriers - Getting Started in Hoof Care.

When are apprentice farriers capable of having a business on their own? There are many variables at play from the experiences they've had to knowledge held to the types of horses and clients they want to work with and so on.

There are times in life when you can tell someone important advice that is for their benefit. Despite sincerity of your message and the level of detail you provide, it goes ignored. For it to settle in, they have to hear/read that information from someone else.

I attended this past weekend's Hoofcare Essentials Clinic, presented by the American Association of Professional Farriers/Canadian Association of Professional Farriers. Among the presentations, Michigan farrier Jennifer Horn delivered a talk on how forging competitions have helped her continue her education and what judges look for from contestants' work.

Next week, California Chrome goes for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes. Getting less attention in the press is the work of the horse's farrier, Judd Fisher. That's not unexpected. The joke has always been that a farrier never gets attention unless there is a "problem" with the foot.