It wasn’t long after horses were first domesticated that humans figured out they needed to protect their horses’ hooves in order to best care for their valuable helper and keep them healthy. The first horseshoes were constructed from woven plants and then rawhide. Metal horseshoes came into use around the sixth and seventh centuries, and they changed everything. Turns out, horses wearing protective hoof gear could be used years longer than those without any protection and run faster. Around 1000 AD was when bronze horseshoe with nail holes became common in Europe.
As time passed, forging horseshoes from metal became a highly valued skill. Farriers, as the early tradesmen were called, were an important part of every community. Horseshoes themselves were also valuable and were even an accepted to pay one’s taxes. By the 14th century, horseshoes were forged in mass quantities, enabling a person to buy them readymade, through a certain amount of fitting is always required.
Farriers could not only craft the horseshoe itself, they are experts in preparing the hoof, fixing and preventing problems, and, in some cases, correcting lameness. In some countries, such as the U.K, farriers are legally restricted to those with proper experience and qualifications. Licensing isn’t required in the U.S., but there are professional organizations offering certification programs.
Another big change in the history of horseshoes came during the Industrial Revolution. During the 1800s, machines were invested capable of producing up to sixty horseshoes an hour. That’s a far cry from the backbreaking job of hammering out horseshoes at a blazing hot forge.
Nowadays, most horseshoes are manufactured out of steel or aluminum, depending on what the horse is being used for. Performance horses especially need lightweight shoes that are also durable. But not all horses need shoes or need to wear them year-round. It’s believed that allowing a horse to go “barefoot” for a period of time is a healthy option.
In my latest book, Miss Ellie Mae, (The Brides of Fiddler’s Gap, Book 4) I decided to have my heroine play the tuba. She’s petite, so handling a tuba is no mean feat. But she does it and my old west town full of musicians determined to build their orchestra (and marry off the bachelors) are very happy to have her!
the 1870s, and were quickly embraced and accepted here in the United States. While some bands consisted solely of women, others had male directors or occasional male players. The skill of these women was as good or even better than the guys in the band, and were chosen for their skills rather than their appearance.
In my Brides of Fiddler’s Gap series, some of the brides come from well to do or wealthy families. This is because in the nineteenth century, part of every wealthy girl’s education included learning to play the piano and sing. As cities and the middle class grew, playing an instrument became a standard of that class. Unfortunately, the musical instrument repertoire for women was small. Women were often discouraged from playing orchestral instruments as they didn’t look lady-like or getting a good sound from the instrument required too much strength. The bassoon is the toughest instrument to play as far as lung power. The flute the second. Though women were allowed to play those. In the early 19th century stringed instruments, like the violin, were associated with the devil; therefore, respectable girls generally didn’t play them. Now that little nugget was a surprise to me!
The era I’m writing in was the Industrial Revolution and there was just this EXPLOSION of innovation.
Hi everyone! Like most everyone I know, I’m always on the lookout for good reads (even thought I’ve got a huge stack of books on my nightstand, and I’m a VERY slow reader!) From time to time, I like to blog about some favorite books, and hopefully you all will comment about some of your faves, as well! This gives me more books to add to my to-be-read pile, and I love that because I learn, from you all, about books and authors I might not have known about otherwise. 
He needed someone to remember him when he was gone.
One of her father’s daughters . . .
Good Evening!
In my newest release, my heroine is the daughter of a deceased lawman who was also a bounty hunter. In my story, he’s been a gun for hire, then a lawman, and then a bounty hunter. He was also a famous sharpshoot in the civil war. But you always stumble upon little tidbits after the book is done, and I happen to with this one. For one, bounty hunters in the old west didn’t all look like Randolph Scott. And two, my heroine’s father couldn’t have made a living as a bounty hunter unless he was really good at it.
hunter depicted in the movies, and even then, they only pursued bounties sporadically. The sad truth was, most rewards were too puny to bother with and not offered often enough for anyone to use as a consistent source of income.
Have you read books or seen movies that have a bounty hunter as the hero? I’ve got a bounty hunter in my stable of characters. Lucius Judrow from my book Love is Blind. My current book, Rescued by the Preacher only has the daughter of a bounty hunter, but the hero is a spy for the president. Jules Monroe was a preacher for all of a few months before he was recruited as a spy. Now he’s stuck in Apple Blossom, in the Montana Territory, in a town full of quirky characters. Sixteen of which are all clamoring to get married now that a preacher is in town. But when a young woman stumbles into the church the day he’s just finished his first sermon things get a little off track. He doesn’t know who the woman is, but he’s determined to help her. Can Jules help a woman who’s been attacked by outlaws, be undercover as the new town preacher, and protect the person he was sent to warn that trouble was coming? It was a lot to juggle, but hey, he can handle it. It’s why he was chosen for this mission. Now if he could just keep himself from falling in love, he can wrap this all up in a nice bundle and be on to the next mission. But darn if his blasted heart doesn’t have other ideas!
