January 2016
BWFA Member ENewsletter Notice
Find the latest news here in the 2016 ENewsletter Section!
Farrier Licensing is being discussed all over farrier blogs, website, at conventions, etc. This is not the first time in the last 27 years. The BWFA membership responds in our “Farrier Licensing” section. We are sharing this one section for the public to view and comment.
After reading the letters we have posted, you should have an immediate reaction. Tell us what you think via email at farrierhdq@aol.com or join our BWFA Members Only Facebook Group by sending us a private message at https://www.facebook.com/theBWFA. There it is in black and white.
Beware of surveys on Farrier Licensing. AFA depends on their limited membership; the AFJ depends on its same readers and conventions. How many owners will that truly represent? Are these surveys coming from farriers or owners who are politically or government influenced? Or are they from the hard working owners and farriers who paid their own way through school and operate their own small business?
There was a renewal surge in the last part of 2015 due to the license scare. There is no doubt that farriers should belong to a group to prove their education and credentials to others. If your renewal dues and information are not updated in our system, you are no longer a member and may be missing out on important updates and information that will affect you. Same goes for you Lifetimers, if you are not current, you are lost.
If you read your history and talk to the “seasoned farriers” you will find that the BWFA has been the first to implement many new ideas and that is why the AFA has beat us up so bad in trash talk on the internet. For instance, the integrative topics we offer at the FNRC, the CFE credits offered at the FNRC and offering more BWFA horse owner clinics and more school education to more farriers has all been copied by others. Any ole timer can tell you that.
This new Equine Podiatry group being formed by AAEP vets sounds like how Walt Taylor will get in through the “back door” to his farrier licensing plan.
We are reaching out to our members in the U.S. and abroad for comments.
As a member of the American Horse Council since 1992, we will keep abreast of any conversations related to farriers. Our letters have gone out to congressmen and women all over the U.S. Be assured that the BWFA voice has been heard in the past and will be in the future.