COUNTY LIFE
Female farrier turns horsin’ around into a new career
By DEBRA DUNLAP
Nikki Smith loves to horse around. In fact, the pretty, soft-spoken Wichita Falls resident spends most of her waking hours with other people’s horses working as a farrier.
There are very few female farriers. Shoeing horses has, for centuries, been a man’s world.
Not so in 2015 as Smith works up way up the ranks of horseshoeing.
How does a 30-year-old wife and mother of two get into horseshoeing? For Nikki, it was a natural progression.
Stephen had recently received a medical discharge from the military due to an active-duty injury. There they were, with all those horses to care for, his career at an end and bills piling up.
“One of the Veterans Administration programs was horseshoeing school,” recalled Nikki. “So I informed Stephen he was going to go.”
He graduated from Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School and went into business. The plan for their new venture, S&S Horseshoeing, was Nikki would to go along with Stephen on jobs to drive, hold the horses, and help him out. Read the full feature in your weekend News.
The 22nd annual July Jam returns on July 27 to the Bowie Community Center West Hall, 413 Pelham Street in Bowie.
There will be a “chickin’ pickin’ fiddling fun time” as guests will be entertained by amazing fiddling tunes and enjoying a chicken meal with delicious homemade jams because it wouldn’t be July Jam without it.
Tickets are just $15 with the event starting at 6 p.m. The funds raised help provide awards for the Championship Fiddler Competition during Chicken and Bread Days Heritage Festival on Oct. 5.
This attracts talented musicians from all over to visit downtown Bowie to test their fiddling skills on stage in the Bowie Fire Hall on Oct. 5.
Along with the live fiddling entertainment, come hungry and be ready to outbid your neighbors at the silent auction or just stop by for a great meal, fellowship and soak in the air conditioning.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
The Nocona City Council met this past week making plans for budget and tax rate hearings.
Councilors received a brief update on the 2024-25 budget preparations. City Secretary Revell Hardison said the final proposal is almost complete and they now await the arrival of the no-new revenue tax rate that will be reviewed by the council after it is calculated by the tax collector.
The proposal includes a tax rate increase of about 3% similar to last year and there will be a small increase in water and sewer rates, but Hardison said the final crunch on those will come after the tax rate projections arrive.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
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