Chris Gregory Author

Growing up in the world before the world wide web and living in rural America without a television, reading was my chance to travel and visit another place and time. I was a voracious reader and started writing at a young age. That skill made school and college much easier, and writing has provided a lot for my family over the years.
Early in the farrier educator profession, writing articles for horse magazines and farrier trade journals provided a little bit of extra income, but a lot of notoriety and prestige. Those articles are what kept people coming to Heartland Horseshoeing School in Missouri. They also led to the award-winning textbook, *Gregory’s Textbook of Farriery, which has been a fantastic thing for us.
Enter the grandchildren. Those among you that have some, you know what I mean. I wanted to leave my story of a world that they will never know. A time and place that they can visit, knowing my blood flows through their veins. But more than that, I wanted to share that world with you. And what a world it was.

I have been shoeing horses since I was 18 years old in 1987. I competed on the college rodeo team for Allen County Community College in Iola, Kansas, and then went to Pittsburg State University with an Army scholarship from 1988 to 1991. I started teaching the farrier’s craft in Colorado in 1992 after graduating from my Officer’s Basic Course in Fort Lee, VA. My military time was seven years in the reserves. I have achieved some college degrees, some military rank, and some farrier trade accolades. All of them in service to the writing that I am doing now.

Shoeing horses has led me around the world, and I have been fortunate enough to shoe horses on six continents. This trade has let me do things I never would have otherwise. Like going down the Amazon, shark cage diving in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of South Africa, touring temples in Japan, working with the British Army, riding horses in Patagonia and a horseback safari in South Africa, deep-sea fishing in New Zealand, working all over Australia, etc. And all of it is because horses have feet. What an amazing life it has been.

My hope is that you, dear reader, will enjoy a little taste through my eyes of a world that is fast disappearing, and few will ever know. If you don’t like my books, please let me know, and I will take your advice and try to do better. If you do like them, please let everyone else know. I appreciate all of you more than you will ever know.

* Gregory’s Textbook of Farriery is available from www.heartlandhorseshoeing.com, both in print and audiobook.