An Unusually Silent Anvil: Ron Dyer ("The Horseshoer")

 I learned tonight, completely by accident while researching something on the web, that Ron Dyer the Horseshoer (as he called himself) died on April 23, just shy of his 84th birthday. I don't have much information, perhaps other people have already announced his passing, but I had no idea.

When I knocked on the door of the farrier profession, I immediately noticed that people tended to cluster around certain individuals. Were they hoping to pick up some sage advice? Not really, they were more likely souvenir story collectors. These people stood close enough to listen, memorize and then go home and re-tell the best stories, again and again, until the stories became legends. And the people who originated those stories along with them

Ron Dyer The Horseshoer 1927-2011

Ron Dyer, a.k.a. Ron Dyer The Horseshoer was one of those people whose stories were and still are re-told.  Here was someone who'd been there, done that and definitely had an opinion about it that he didn't mind sharing. People were a little timid around him; some might use the word "gruff" to describe him, but I also saw him be generous and kind and help people.

Ron was a horseshoer, all right. According to his obituary, he worked for the Budweiser Clydesdales, he worked on the midwestern harness racetracks of the Grand Circuit, he traveled with the circus, he was part of The Great Milwaukee Circus Parade...he did it all.

To hear him talk, he might have been around to shoe Dan Patch or Man 'o War. He pulled history out of the past and made it sound like he'd been there. I never could tell if he was giving me a history lesson or telling me about something he'd seen with his own eyes.

Case in point: The Galesburg, Illinois horse sale barns were one of the biggest horse yards in America in the early 20th century. It was right there in Ron Dyer's hometown that the French military, and then the British, came to buy artillery horses and mules for the First World War. Thousands of them. Reading the history of the sale barn tonight in Ron's honor, I realized it closed seven years before Ron was born. But he told stories about it as if he'd be there.

"By 1910, (the Galesburg Horse Sale) was receiving 25 carloads of horses a week and the same number of 25 cars would be shipped out—making a total carload business for the two railroads of 50 cars per week.  The sale employed 25 regular men. and always had 40 to 50 extra men for Friday and Saturday. Five hundred horses per week consumed about all the hay and straw raised in the adjacent counties. Five hundred horses per week  had to have 500 new halters. Each horse had to have two shoes on his front feet, which made a total of 1,000 horse shoes per week. From 7 to 10 blacksmiths were busy the week around making the shoes." (From Galesburg's Mighty Horse Market by Cornelia Thompson and Fred Dunbar)

I found a story about Ron Dyer in the archives of the Chicago Tribune. It included this gem: Once--possibly many more times than just  this once--Ron Dyer was judging a horseshoeing competition. The anxious competitors awaited their precise instructions of what the esteemed judge would be looking for in their work. Ron told them simply, "I want to see a commercial job; something you can charge for." End of subject. 

Farrier Henry Heymering, the visionary founder of the American Farriers Journal and my colleague in our early years of publishing that magazine, offered a few memories of Ron, who was also an author of articles in that magazine in its early days. Thanks, Henry:

• Ron left quite an impression on me. Florida formed a farrier's association and started a certification test before the AFA. When Ron took the Florida test he made four shoes and shod the horse with them in about 40 minutes, and did a damn nice job!
• Ron said the Illinois association was started after a shoer had a heart attack. Two farriers worked in the same barn, but they (as was the custom then) worked at opposite ends of the barn and wouldn't talk to each other. One day one of the farriers collapsed under a horse. The other farrier went up to the owner to tell him there was a problem.
• When Florida started having contests, Ron was so good he won most everything. Other farriers before signing up would ask if Ron was going to be there and if he was, they would't compete. Ron got wind of this and stopped competing. He would only judge and/or demonstrate, and help the others improve.
• Ron was too young for the French remounts, but I bet his father and grandfather worked on them. I believe Ron was a 4th generation farrier.

Probably Ron Dyer never wrote down any of his stories, and probably no one ever tape-recorded them for him, either. Like so much of the history of the horseshoeing profession, it's just going away with him. Horseshoers wear their stories well. Maybe if he'd written his life down, no one would have believed it anyway.

Except those of us who knew Ron Dyer The Horseshoer.

To learn more: Ron Dyer's obituary in the Galesburg Planet

and

Funeral home page and guest book for Ron Dyer

If you have a favorite memory of Ron Dyer, click the comments button below and share it with the rest of us or email it to blog@hoofcare.com and I will post it for you.

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
 

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Books for Your Reference Shelf: "Principles of Farriery" by Colles and Ware

Welcome to Principles of Farriery by Chris Colles and Ron Ware. Published September 2010 in UK, November 2010 in USA. Shoe examples handmade by Billy Crothers. Specifications: 400+ pages, 8.5 x 11", full color throughout, hard cover with dust jacket, fully indexed. Price: $125 each plus post. Order by email books@hoofcare.com or call 978 281 3222. Fax orders to 978 283 8755. Full order details below.

Principles of Farriery by Colles and Ware is the first completely new farrier textbook and reference to be published in recent years. This major book is a timeless guide to the traditional practice of professional farriery and to the actual craft of shoeing horses. It describes hoofcare and horseshoeing in its bare-bones form: this book will work just as well in a third-world country as in an upscale hunter/jumper barn because it does not prescribe any special tools, products or procedures. It simply and elegantly describes the horse's foot and explains how a professional farrier would go about shoeing it--within various hoof balance or lameness scenarios--by using only the most straightforward tools and either common factory-made shoes or specific handmade shoes.

Horseshoes in the book were specially made by world champion Billy Crothers and were photographed to show both the ground surface and the foot surface. This open-toed bar shoe was used to show the difference in nail hole position between it and using a normal shoe backwards.

The book is written by two of the most accomplished and respected experts in Great Britain: a lameness-specialist veterinarian who is deeply involved in farrier education, and a hoof balance specialist farrier who is fascinated by the horse's foot and limb conformation.

An announcement has finally been made, and it looks like Principles of Farriery is on its way to the USA. Beginning today, Hoofcare + Lameness is accepting reservations for the first shipment of books, expected the second week of November. Update: As of 9 November, the first books are in stock and ready to be shipped!

I have been looking forward to this book for years. Colles and Ware worked together for many years; Colles brought the concept of hoof balance to the attention of the veterinary world in his papers on treating navicular disease back in the 1980s.  He is currently a senior partner in Avonvale Veterinary Practice, UK, specializing in equine orthopaedics.

Colles (shown right, courtesy of Avonvale Vet Practice) is recognized by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as a Specialist in Equine Orthopaedic Surgery. He and Dr Chris Pollitt are the only two veterinarians I've ever heard of who have received the honorary Fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Farriers. Dr. Colles is also co-author with Sue Dyson of Clinical Radiology of the Horse and the useful booklet, Functional Anatomy of the Horse.

Ron Ware paused in his work at the Animal Health Trust forge in 1985 (or so) for this photo. Yes, he is very tall.

Ron Ware's Fellowship thesis on hoof balance for this FWCF qualification in the Worshipful Company of Farriers was the landmark paper for its time and one of the most important publications of the last 50 years in farriery.  He has always been one of the most highly respected farriers in Great Britain, although you've never seen him lined up at a contest and his name is not a household word. He is a farrier's farrier. He was for many years the resident consulting farrier at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England, and also has had a relationship with the Hong Kong Jockey Club as a farrier adviser there.

Ron, in my opinion, is a sort of Zen master of farriery; he is someone who has thought very deeply and always shared his knowledge, yet he always focuses on the foot itself and the importance of limb conformation and his shoeing methods appear to be very simple and straightforward because he primarily addresses the foot, not the shoe. His reputation is above reproach in Great Britain, although he has been retired for several years.

I believe that this will be the first farriery book with a vet and farrier as co-authors.

The 400-page book is described by the publisher in this blurb: "The coverage starts with a brief history of farriery, then looks at the legalities of the job and how to control equines for trimming and shoeing. The authors describe the care and maintenance of the forge and farriery tools, as well as the anatomy and function of the horse, especially the lower limbs, the principles of foot balance, and the practice of shoeing. Shoe making, surgical shoes, lameness and shoeing are dealt with in detail, and the book is embellished with hundreds of specially taken photos, and explanatory line drawings."

The book is beautifully designed. Examples of shoes are made by world champion farrier Billy Crothers and are, as one would expect, suitable for framing! Comments about traditional (i.e. somewhat archaic) designs of British shoes are re-examined and critiqued in gentle retrospect of the 21st century, with explanations of why they were developed in the past, but their use on today's horses (assuming one has the skill to make these shoes) is evaluated in candid commentary.

What this book does not have: No Equilox, no Vettec products, no impression material, no glue-ons. This book could have been written in the past; it can stand the test of time and will still be relevant in the future as commercial trends change. I believe that this was done intentionally; I also believe that the authors' philosophy is to concentrate on the foot and keep the shoeing simple. Modern balance theories are not discussed or compared.

A sample page from the beautifully laid out and referenced Principles of Farriery by Colles and Ware; reserve your copy now!

For this reason, I also think that some people may be disappointed initially because the feet in the book do not look like they are shod in state-of-the-art products. All you see is hoof and simple steel and nails. That book on high-tech farriery is yet to be written, and look to Hoofcare and Lameness to keep you up to date on trends and new ideas in the meantime. Look to Principles of Farriery to be an anchor of a reference on axial hoof balance and core farriery wisdom.

Please place your order now. Quantities in the USA will be limited. Shipping is expected to begin by mid-November.

HOW TO ORDER: $125 per book plus $10 shipping in USA, $20 shipping to Canada, $25 shipping to other countries. Price subject to change without notice. Payment by cash (in person), check (by mail), or PayPal (by Internet, using button below). Email inquiries to books@hoofcare.com. Fax to 978 283 8775. Mail orders to Hoofcare Books, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930. All orders must be prepaid. Please include email address or phone number on all orders so we can confirm order and notify you when book has been shipped. Allow three weeks from ship date in USA (should be quicker) and longer to other countries.

Note: this is a heavy book. Postage rates are based on an estimated weight. We reserve the right to change the postage rates if the book is heavier than estimated.

Book + Post Prices by Country

USA add $10 postage $135.00 Canada add $20 post $145.00 Elsewhere add $25 post $150.00

To order by PayPal, use the dropdown menu to select your country's mailing rate and click the "buy now" button. You will be directed to a PayPal screen where you can enter credit card information or use your own PayPal account. This is a completely secure transaction system. PayPal will notify Hoofcare Publishing of your order details. You will receive a confirmation receipt from PayPal.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.