Most Popular Books by Heather Smith

Safely and successfully train your own horse. Stressing the importance of understanding equine behavior, Storey’s Guide to Training Horses provides a series of progressive exercises that can easily be adjusted to suit your horse’s personality. Whether you’re raising an animal for farm work, competition, or show, you’ll learn everything you need to develop a well-trained and happy horse.

Whether a farmer is raising one cow or a herd, Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle is the most reliable reference for ensuring a successful, healthy cattle operation. In this fully updated, full-color fourth edition, long-time cattle rancher and author Heather Smith Thomas explains every aspect of bovine behavior and provides expert guidance on breed selection, calving, feeding, housing, pasture, and health care. Along with in-depth information on raising grass-fed animals, there is also advice on creating a viable business plan and identifying niche markets for selling beef. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Get up and running with Xero in a flash Xero is fast emerging as the leader of online accounting software around the world, representing a serious challenge to MYOB, Sage and Quickbooks. Xero For Dummies provides you with all the information you need to set up your own Xero account from scratch, convert to Xero from another accounting software provider or start using Xero to its full potential. Easy to use and deceptively powerful, Xero is so much more than a spreadsheet – it can help you streamline reporting; manage inventory; simplify accounts; and organise suppliers, customers and more. Automatic imports, intuitive coding and seamless synching across multiple business platforms gets the paperwork done quickly so you can get back to running your business. This new fourth edition includes updates to the interface and coverage of the newest features, including updates on generating reports, working with fixed assets and managing contacts, sales and payables so you can optimise your system to help your business thrive. Fine-tune your set-up, or convert from another accounting program Manage daily activities with contacts, accounts, sales and payables Master weekly and monthly reporting routines Track inventory, monitor your business and get the most out of Xero You didn't start your business in order to become an accountant, but bookkeeping is critically important to the short- and long-term health of your company. Xero simplifies the process and saves you time, and Xero For Dummies helps you leverage every feature Xero has to offer.

Paradoxically, many governments that persistently violate human rights have also ratified international human rights treaties that empower their citizens to file grievances against them at the United Nations. Therefore, citizens in rights-repressing regimes find themselves with the potentially invaluable opportunity to challenge their government’s abuses. Why would rights-violating governments ratify these treaties and thus afford their citizens this right? Can the mechanisms provided in these treaties actually help promote positive changes in human rights? Insincere Commitments uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to examine the factors contributing to commitment and compliance among post-Soviet states such as Slovakia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Heather Smith-Cannoy argues that governments ratify these treaties insincerely in response to domestic economic pressures. Signing the treaties is a way to at least temporarily keep critics of their human rights record at bay while they secure international economic assistance or more favorable trade terms. However, she finds that through the specific protocols in the treaties that grant individuals the right to petition the UN, even the most insincere state commitments to human rights can give previously powerless individuals—and the nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations that partner with them—an important opportunity that they would otherwise not have to challenge patterns of government repression on the global stage. This insightful book will be of interest to human rights scholars, students, and practitioners, as well as anyone interested in the UN, international relations, treaties, and governance.

A powerful story of betrayal, forgiveness and self-discovery. One summer, after a long plane ride and a rotten bad year I went to Grandma Jo’s. Ebb & Flow is the captivating story of eleven-year-old Jett’s summer back home on the coast after “a rotten bad year” in a new town. When his father went to jail, Jett and his mother moved away, and Jett quickly learned that fresh starts aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. He returns to spend the summer with his unconventional Grandma Jo, bringing along a secret about the betrayal of a friend. Will a summer spent with Grandma Jo help Jett come to terms with his mistakes and forgive himself? This emotionally charged story, told in free verse, will pull readers in and captivate them.

From award-winning author Heather Smith, a heartwarming story about loss - and remembering. When Granny dies, a child and their family remember her through the things she left behind: a tuba for the father, a locket for the mother, a microscope for the sister and records for the brother. To the main character, though, Granny left something different: a world of adventure, that they visit with their memories. Through imaginative play with items that belonged to Granny, the child travels near and far. And Granny is right beside them, along for the ride. Children, and grown-ups, will be moved by the message - our loved ones can stay close, as long as we can imagine them.

Storey’s Guide to Training Horses is a one-stop reference for every aspect of horse training, including a complete program for turning a shy and gangly foal into a calm, confident, well-balanced equine partner. Now with full-color photography, the third edition includes step-by-step guidance on all the essential training procedures for both English- and Western-style riding, including haltering and leading, saddling and mounting, and addresses the finer points of gaits, lightness, and collection. Best-selling author Heather Smith Thomas draws on her decades of equestrian experience to anticipate every situation that might arise and provide answers to managing all the potential challenges of training different types of horses.

Discusses how to maintain the day-to-day health of one's cattle, covering symptoms, preventive care, and treatment of common diseases, body system disorders such as digestive and foot problems, and other ailments, accidents, and injuries that can occur, with case histories and anecdotes.

Angus loves sparkly things, so much so that he can hear them. To Angus, shiny objects not only look beautiful; they also crackle, buzz and go whiz-bang-POP! His unique ability is lost, however, when Angus wears his grandma's beaded necklace to school, and his classmates tease him for his atypical choice. Saddened by their laughter, Angus stops hearing the sparkle. A gentle story of acceptance, generosity and friendship, Angus All Aglow reminds us that it only takes one kind gesture to restore your sparkle, and returning the kindness can make you glow from the inside out.

"A positive and realistic representation of both a wheelchair user and an elderly, interracial gay male couple." —Kirkus Reviews "A beautiful and uplifting book." —School Library Journal Lou spends every Saturday with Grandad and Pops. They walk to the library hand in hand, like a chain of paper dolls. Grandad reads books about science and design, Pops listens to rock and roll, and Lou bounces from lap to lap. But everything changes one Saturday. Pops has a fall. That night there is terrible news: Pops will need to use a wheelchair, not just for now, but for always. Unable to cope with his new circumstances, he becomes withdrawn and shuts himself in his room. Hearing Grandad trying to cheer up Pops inspires Lou to make a plan. Using skills learned from Grandad, and with a little help from their neighbors, Lou comes up with a plan for Pops. Available in French as Une idée pour Papi.

Following the success of her acclaimed nonfiction collection Horse Tales: True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, author Heather Smith Thomas has assembled Cow Tales: More True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, an entertaining and compelling lineup of autobiographical essays detailing her family's adventures raising cattle in the challenging ranch country outside Salmon, Idaho. In the tradition of James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small), each story centers on a particular animal or aspect of animal husbandry, offering insight into the resourcefulness required to manage a cattle herd and a heartwarming look at human-animal bonding. "I am grateful to ... the many unique 'cow characters' I've been privileged to know," Thomas writes. "This book is a gathering of memories about some of those special characters ... a collection of stories and recollections about a few of the many 'cow critters' who taught me and my family about cattle care, cattle nature, and ourselves as humans."

Now with full-color photography and illustrations throughout, the completely updated third edition of Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses is the most comprehensive horse husbandry handbook available, whether you’re a first-time owner or an experienced horse handler. Covering everything you need to know about facilities, breeding, and health care, this new edition features a photographic gallery of many types of horses; expanded material on recognizing, preventing, and treating a wide range of health issues, including insulin resistance, skin conditions, and digestive disorders; new vaccination protocols, including vaccinating for West Nile Virus; and updated information on breeding methods, foaling problems, and the care of broodmares and new foals. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Equine authority Heather Smith Thomas provides a commonsense approach to keeping a horse healthy, sound, comfortable, and happy. Intended for the serious horse person, Care and Management of Horses emphasizes the whole horse—mental and physical—and encourages the owner to center horsekeeping practices around the horse’s needs. Topics include nutrition, seasonal care, safe handling, and foot care.

Whether you’re raising one cow or a herd, this comprehensive guide shows you everything you need to know to successfully manage your beef cattle operation. Heather Smith Thomas stresses the importance of understanding bovine behavior while covering breed selection, calving, feeding, housing, medical care, and humane slaughter practices. Along with in-depth information on raising grass-fed animals and dealing with toxic pasture plants, you’ll also find advice on creating a viable business plan and identifying niche markets for your beef.

When searching for someone to help them reflect upon and improve their lives, people tend to be drawn towards those who are compassionate, committed and wise. This book is aimed at those who recognise these qualities in themselves and wish to develop their capacity to engage with and help others. The authors argue for ways of approaching helping and counselling that are rooted in care and commitment, drawing upon the experiences and practice wisdom of youth workers, housing support and hostel workers, the clergy and those working in a religious setting, educators and settlement and community workers. They explore the key characteristics of those who counsel and teach and examine aspects of the helping process, focusing on living life well, knowing and being oneself, relating to others and working to make change possible. This book will be essential reading for students on professional training programmes in youth work, community education, ministry, social care and counselling.

Whether you’ve been working with horses for just a few months or have been at it for decades, there’s always something new to learn. In Stable Smarts, Heather Smith Thomas offers practical advice, quick fixes, and unconventional wisdom gleaned from a lifetime spent with horses. Covering everything from tack and knot-tying to feeding, foaling, and medical care, these tips will save you time, money, and energy while keeping your horses healthy, happy, and working efficiently.