To Float or not to Float, or How Carpet was Floored!

In many-times-Great Grandpa's day, it was said that "A good horse should have XV propyrtees and condycons, that is to wyte...

 Three of a manne,three of a womanne, three of a foxe, three of a hare and three of an asse:

Of a manne - bolde, proude and hardye

Of a womanne - fayre-breasted, fayre of haire and fayre of gait

Of a foxe - a fayre tayle, shorte ears and a goode trotte

Of a hare - a greate eye, a drye heade and a softe coate

Of an ass - a flatte chinne, a flatte legge and a goode hoofe ..... "  

Dame Julyana Berners, The Boke of St Albans  (14th Cent)

.... and in this day and age we can add another important propyrtee - the ability to walk willingly into a box .on wheels and remain quietly in the box while it travels along a road.

There is nothing more frustrating than loading car and float with all the paraphernalia associated with a weekend of competition and then to find that the major figure necessary for that competition flatly refuses even to set foot in his little mobile cage.

The horse that loads like a gentleman will get you to a competition on time when othe gremlins are all out to stop you. My offsider Anne and I discovered this en route to Oberon Horse Trials a few years ago. Those of you who have never travelled the road to Oberon from Goulburn should attempt the journey, so you have a tale of horror with which to frighten your grandchildren. It is lavishly furnished with signs telling the would-be journeyer that it is unsuitable for towed vehicles and it is so bad that the local Shire Council, not noted for its expenditure on roadworks, has been forced to put bitumen on the notorious river crossing. But Anne and I decided that if the guys who played polocrosse could sail up the hill towing their horses, so could the girls who evented.

We reached the brink of the descent to the river and wended around the bends down to the water. No worries. What was all the trauma, we wondered. We found out when we attacked the hill leading out of the valley. The first bend was a hairpin, tighter than tight, up a sheer cliff face. The V8 Kingswood said "No!" and shuddered to a halt. There came a muffled thudding from behind us. The horses had decided to say "No!" as well.

So out came Lurch and Jimbob, very pleased to feel firm ground under their feet and I hauled one and was dragged by the other to the top of the hill while Anne persuaded the car it could get up the incline. By the time she appeared I was badly in need of oxygen due to asthma, exertion and altitude. The horses loaded in two seconds flat and we proceeded, only to fall prey to a puncture a short time later. Well, it wasn't exactly a puncture. When we tried to remove the affected wheel, the tyre was just a strip of semi-molten black stuff stuck to the rim. So off came the horses again, while we struggled with jack and spare. Then back on again in two seconds flat and away we went once more. 

We missed the pencilled sign to Oberon and ended in a paddock trying to do a U-turn in mud. So off came the boys again, while we slithered and slid back to safety. Then on again - three seconds flat this time, the extra time being taken up by slight pauses and very expressive glances from Lurch and Jimbob as they marched up the ramp, Lurch with his huge ears flat, his eyes half-closed in his large head and towering to his full 17 hands to show his indignation. 

Still, we arrived in time for the dressage judges' lunch break and had just enough time to overcome our hysteria and prepare for the afternoon tests. Thank goodness for horses which loaded easily, we said to each other. 

I was to learn that a horse which loads easily can also in one sad incident become one which presents real problems. Our much-loved Lurch broke a bone in his hindleg and it was some time before I bought a replacement horse. When I did it was with the money I had been saving to buy a carpet for our lounge room, so grey Cosmic Crown rapidly became known as "Carpet". He was to teach me a few things about floating horses. 

Initially, Carpet was a real gentleman about going onto the float and I could load him alone, as he stood quietly while the breeching chain was fastened and the tailgate somehow raised (why, oh why are float tailgates designed by men who have forgotten that women transport so many horses these days ... ). However, one day as I travelled home from a dressage school with Carpet loaded as usual on the right hand side of the float to take advantage of road camber and avoid having his weight over the less stable road edges, the breeching chain broke. At the next left-hand bend the divider gave way as Carpet leant on it and we had problems. He rapidly lost confidence and my usual fastener for everything from fencepost to riding jackets, binder twine, was not really suitable to hold the weight of a large, panicking Thoroughbred. We travelled home carefully, my husband Bob fixed the chain and we did a couple of practice drives round the paddocks, Carpet aboard and quiet. Then off to St Greg's ODE at Narellan. 

The idea was to go via the school where I teach, but due to Carpet's scrambles the chain gave way again en route and it was a wet and steamy horse I unloaded and carefully placed in the disused wire' gas cylinder cage (also used to detain stray dogs) outside my laboratory windows. A frantic phone call bought Bob to make further repairs while I tried to impart scientific knowledge to reluctant Friday afternooners. Come 3:30 Bob and my strapper, our son Philip arrived, Carpet was loaded and we set off. 

We had travelled just two metres when Bob shouted "Stop!" Feeling the motion, Carpet had ducked down as if about to hurtle out of the starting stalls, but when he came up he was trapped under the central divider. Out came the bolt-cutters and we freed him but I decided we would be non¬starters at this particular ODE while we made improvements to the float. I climbed on and rode the first half of the 25kms home at a spanking trot. Then we showed Carpet the float and he agreed to go the rest of the way on wheels - very slowly. 

Bob decided on major alterations to the float. First strengthen the steel sides .Carpet had spent quite a bit of effort trying to get his feet as far to the right as possible and would certainly have gone through anything but steel. Then the floor was replaced with thicker wood covered with conveyor belting (and I can assure you that the 40mm counter-sunk self-tapping screws needed for the job come only in lots of thousands - the manufacturer, accustomed to supply them direct to the trade, finally agreed to post us 200). The divider came in for special attention - there is no way any horse will ever get under that divider again and no way it will ever shift without due permission. All this necessitated much hammering, drilling, painting, wielding of screwdrivers, welding and bending of pipes by the male Gadens who appeared to obtain some mysterious enjoyment from the proceedings. 

Several weekends later, the unveiling took place and the horse, suitably attired in bandages and boots, walked straight on. The moment the float made a suggestion of turning left, the kicks and thumps began and the new paintwork was ruined. We drove miles round the house paddock until he settled to the right, then a reward of oats and repeat to the left. We left for a Queensland holiday feeling that the problem was solved. What unsuspecting fools we were! 

Return from Brisbane on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the first ride, where discretion dictated that if I didn't leave the saddle relatively gracefully at my own volition I would be unceremoniously dumped. I had never been game to bailout before and I wondered if turning 40 had left its mark. Thursday Carpet was clipped and told serious work was to begin at a dressage school on Saturday. Friday, a reminder trip in the float was called for - and it lasted just one metre this time. 

How a horse well over 16hh managed to get right down onto the floor of the float, hind legs neatly tucked underneath him and front legs straight out, I have no idea. Only the awkward position of the grey head as it rested uncomfortably on the chest rail gave any indication this position was not quite as Carpet had planned. 

I lost patience. He had walked on readily and it was not as if he could not balance while I tentatively eased my foot off the clutch and edged forward. He had just flung himself down at the mere thought of travelling. I remember thinking rude thoughts about his imported Royal sire and his Irish dam - had he perhaps heard the Irish jokes the boys brought home from school? I definitely remember thinking that I'd bought him instead of a carpet for the lounge room and that if things didn't change smartly I'd have a nice big glossy grey rug to place in the middle of the floor. 

So I swore and Bob acted and extracted Carpet from the float, then we stood back and thought while Carpet rested his head on my shoulder to show he was suitably subdued.The horse had panicked because the divider had given way while he leaned on it when the float turned left. We travelled the horse on the right hand side of the float for reasons we thought good and sufficient - but what if the horse preferred to travel on the left? On the left, he could lean on the solid wall when the float turned left (we refused to think about what would happen when it turned right.) 

So we loaded him back on the float, this time on the left side. And we made sure the divider was solid in the centre. Then we set off. And it worked. We went into Goulburn for the dressage school, Saturday and Sunday, and returned without a single scratch on the paintwork. Then we drove out to Crookwell - not even a hint of moisture on the neck. Not a stagger nor a bump. 

So for the moment the problem is solved. But so many things can cause a horse to be thrown around in a moving float - too much speed, often necessary to hold one's own with highway traffic, badly cambered roads that tilt the float, centrifugal force which causes a horse to shift balance just changing lanes .... 

For the present we are careful and take a companion for Carpet, Philip's pony Rosie, as a calming influence. With luck, we'll never hear the thud and blunder from the float again and I will be able to use my next lot of savings for that floor-covering as planned. 

This article first appeared in the Australian Horse World Magazine, January - March 1989, Volume 6, number 1, page 42-44. 

Oh Emily, the story of the pony who sprouted wings and disappeared!

'Did you find Emily?' asked the dentist as I arrived for my appointment. "I saw the advert in the local paper and wondered what happened to her."

During the next few weeks I was amazed how many people were interested in Emily's welfare after seeing the advertisement.

'LOST from Pomeroy, dark brown pony mare, 11-12 hands, 30 years old, white star and graying on face, Caroline Gaden's 'Emily". Reward offered. Phone ...'

The sedate walks progressed to brave jumps

So just who was Emily, how did she come to be lost and, most important, was she found?

Emily is one of those delightful kids ponies truly worth her weight in gold. Her early history is lost in the mists of time. About ten years ago she was bought by a neighbour "Farmer Fred' to pull "The Chariot', which has been driven all over the property by his sons. The youngest one had now moved onto a bigger pony, so Emily, (with a tendency to founder, like so many ponies), was left idle and was eating her way to a painful end when we acquired her on permanent loan

Emily's cresty neck, a sure sign of a pony prone to founder, would do a stallion proud, and her feet show the telltale rings and ridges. She tended to stand with her front feet well forward in an attempt to ease the discomfort of inflamed hoof laminae (hence the other name for founder, laminitis).

Emily joined Philip's pony Rosie on very low rations in the "starvation paddock' as we attempted to get rid of her excess weight. The horse dentist came to rasp all the horses teeth. When it came to do what was left of Emily's, he said that she was a lot closer to 30 years old than 20, and he wouldn't charge me for doing "the poor old girl".

We trimmed her feet regularly, reshaping only a little bit at a time. It was a full 6 months before we felt that her hooves became horse shaped again and the tendons and ligaments returned to normal angles.

During this time Paul. then aged 7, started to ride her. First round the garden on the lead rein, then without the lead, then out in the paddock being led by me riding 'Carpet' and eventually off on his own.

As Paul's confidence increased so did the pony's ability to move more freely. The quiet, sedate walks became bold trots and unreserved canters, and even a few brave jumps.

Emily and Paul progressed to their first Pony Club One Day Event. Paul was thrilled that he remembered the dressage test. They trotted all round the E grade cross country course, even cantered in places. Alas the show jumping took its toll - Emily wanted a second look at the wall and Paul went out the front door with an anguished "Oh! Emily". However Emily was satisfied there were no gremlins hidden on the other side and popped over at the second attempt. It was a very proud Paul (and even prouder Mum) who received a ribbon at the presentation.

However much Emily is loved by the human Gadens, the equine ones are less accepting, and this has caused a few problems. One day we were practising for the Parent and Child class at the local show. Phillip rode Rosie on the left, I rode Carpet on the right and Paul and Emily were in the middle. We tried to keep close together. but Emily obviously had painful memories of Rosie's hooves and Carpet's teeth. She stopped dead as Rosie and Carpet moved in and Paul got a face full of mane. 'Oh! Emily".

We also enjoy dressage to music. Trying to find music with a beat suitable for a Pas de Deux with Carpet at 16.2 hands and Rosie or Emily at 11 hands is next to impossible (not quite impossible. but that is another story). However the two ponies can use the same beat if we can find something suitable. One day I was in the house paddock with the cassette player and a selection of tunes. Emily rapidly became sick of trotting in circles around me and she took off for the garden gate. After all that is where she is usually unsaddled and always manages to pinch a mouthful of prized green grass from the lawn which she thinks we keep irrigated just for her benefit.

After two sorties to the gate, accompanied as usual by "Oh! Emily". I suggested that Philip, being a bit older and wiser than Paul, should ride her. Emily had definite thoughts on this and set off at a brisk trot towards the gate. Philip tried to turn her and he did manage at the very last moment to pull her nose around. Emily didn't alter rhythm but at an equally smart trot came straight back to where I was laughing and waiting with Paul sitting on Rosie. Only Emily didn't stop. She trotted straight into Rosie's side and deposited Philip out the front door. "Oh! Emily".

We headed north for Queensland sunshine during the July school holidays, leaving friend Bridget and neighbour Peg to keep an eye on the assorted animals. We arrived in Noosa on a rainy Saturday. The last time I was in Noosa 17 years before it was raining too, but at least there was sand on the beach then!

Tuesday we had a frantic phone call from Bridget that Emily was missing. and could she have an accurate description for the police and a lost advertisement. There was no sign of broken fences or open gates. None of the locals she had managed to contact had seen the pony. There was no evidence that she was upside down in one of the dams or at the bottom of a gully. Bridget. her husband Brian and Peg had searched all over the place half a dozen times during the three days and Emily had completely disappeared. "Oh! Emily".

A couple of days later we braved the rain and went to Expo. Definitely not the place for a surreptitious weekend away without the spouse. Among the 121,953 visitors at Expo we ran into many people we knew. There were former workmates of Bob's, current workmates of mine and other people from our local area including none other than "Farmer Fred" himself.

After making comments about having to travel such a long way to catch up with neighbours. we were just about to break the news of Emily's disappearance when Fred said "I hope you don't mind, we borrowed Emily back for a few days for some friends to ride. We knew you would be away and wouldn't mind. We put her back at your place yesterday before flying north."

All Bob, Philip, Paul and I could do was heave a collective sigh of relief and chorus "OH! EMILY!"

This story first appeared in Australian Horse World and Rider Magazine, January 1990, Volume 7, Number 1, page 52-53.

Some Christmas memories

I lived in Yorkshire for my first twenty or so years. Christmas there was very different from Christmas in Australia, or even Christmas now, some forty and more years on. In Yorkshire Christmas happens in winter so daylight hours are very short, round about seven whereas Australia has a summer Christmas with long hot days. In Yorkshire there was usually frost and snow, more frost and snow.

Each evening in the weeks leading up to Christmas in post war Britain there would be a steady stream of youngsters knocking on everyone's front door, singing a couple of short Carols especially for you, collecting their reward of a threepenny piece, sixpence if they were really good, and that was used to buy presents for their family. A large group like the Salvation Army would also go round ‘caroling’, collecting money for charity. They would stay in the middle of the street whilst several members went door knocking to collect the money.

There were lots of paper streamers around the house, often hand made by making strips of coloured paper into linking circles to make chains. The Christmas tree was always a fresh tree, not artificial. We had some pretty Christmas Crackers and coloured crepe paper to decorate the bucket and we had a small set of lights which often blew a bulb so the whole lot went dark. At the top of the tree was always the Christmas fairy, dressed in white, with wings like an angel.

One year I was given a set of Angel Chimes, a brass 'ornament' which had three small angels set under a fan shaped piece. In the bottom tray were holders for four small candles. When lit the hot air rising above the flames caused the fan to rotate taking with it the angles and their wire strikers which hit two tiny bells. A sweet tinkling sound was the result, just the sound you'd expect from Tinkerbell! I still have those Angel chimes, they have been used every Christmas. It used to give me great pleasure to help my children  put them together every year and now, in their turn, my young grandchildren enjoy assembling the pieces some sixty years on.

We lived in a typical semi-detached house with living rooms downstairs and  bedrooms upstairs. Stairs went up to the left of the wooden floored hallway. One Christmas my parents had thrown a party on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning I was very excited to report that Santa had been, but “what a mess he left with his muddy boots on the floor.” But at least he had eaten his mince pie, he left crumbs to prove it, and drunk his glass of sherry, and the handful of sugar lumps for Rudolf and Co had disappeared!

A couple of years later, on Christmas Eve, I was found with hammer and six inch nails, ready to fasten my pillowcase to the piano in expectation of Santa’s visit. My usual Christmas presents were pony books, especially those written by Pat Smythe (The Three Jays series) or the three Pullein-Thompson sisters, Christine, Diane and Josephine. Or there were headscarves with horse pictures, or brushes for grooming the ponies. I don’t recall any toys but I do remember one year receiving four copies of the latest Pat Smythe book and a horsey headscarf from each of my cousins.

We used to have a turkey roast with all the trimming, turkey being far more ‘meaty’ than goose, and the special stuffing was always the favourite. There was always Christmas crackers with their paper hats and silly jokes. And Christmas Day was the one and only day of the year when my father and grandfather washed up the pots!

When I was about ten I was given a pony of my own. So Christmas Day then meant biking down to the stables, spending time mucking out, grooming, exercising, feeding the pony and cleaning all the saddlery and then the long pull home again on the bike. Thus Christmas morning was spent with the pony, home for lunch and presents and an hour or so later it was back to the stables for the evening "feed and clean", all ready for the Boxing Day meet of the local hunt, an exciting, colourful, noisy English tradition for country folk.

And the decorations had to come down on January 6th which was the Twelveth Night... if a piece of paper was missed it had to stay up all year until the next January... in our superstitious family it was bad luck to remove decorations on any day other than the sixth day of the first month!

Conservation of those family mementos

A delightful tiny shirt worn by Emmie Parkes’ grandfather when he was a small child, and shown by Emmie at a meeting of the local Family History Group, inspired me to learn more about conservation of the fabrics I have in my care.

Old textiles need to be handled with gentleness … the mere act of lifting a heavy item can cause damage. I have a beautiful beaded evening gown which weighs over 2 kg and such weight would put huge strain on the thin shoulder straps, even if it’s hung on a padded coat hanger [never use wire or wood]. This dress needs to be stored flat because of its weight.

Before storing fabrics, they need to be clean. Deep freezing will kill pests, tweezers will remove debris, and extremely gentle vacuum cleaning will remove surface dust. And don’t forget to empty any pockets; you may even find a historical gem!

Take great care with dry cleaning or washing any item, the chlorine in town water damages old material, so that is one advantage we 'bushies' have with our tank water. If in doubt ask an expert.

Check out the internet, a Google search using “textiles conservation” brought up more than four million web sites, you’re sure to find something useful, including recipes for the laundry.

The Australian War Memorial web site < www.awm.gov.au/aboutus/conservation/index.htm > has excellent information online where you can learn how to care for Works of art on paper, Books, Documents, Medals, Oil paintings, Photographs, Textiles, Disaster Recovery  and Cleaning Soot Damaged Objects.

Once your item is clean you need to decide where and how to store it. You need an insect-free, clean, dry area with some air flow. Damp means mould, so anywhere damp is definitely unacceptable. This means you can’t use a roof storage space, a linen cupboard in a bathroom or laundry especially if you use a drier, a cupboard above a damp area such as a fish tank or evaporative cooler.

Items are best stored flat but you may be able to roll a large item. If you do have to fold, make sure the folds are not sharp (to avoid splits in the fabric) and support the folds with acid free tissue, that is white pH neutral tissue. Never use coloured tissue, the colour will stain your precious memento. If you can’t find appropriate tissue, a well used clean colourless tea towel or sheet may suffice.

Make sure you have removed any safety pins and badges. Don’t use plastic bags, don’t use newspaper, don’t allow moth balls or insect strips to touch the textiles and don’t use lavender as it will attract insects after a few months.

Storage in the dark is recommended to prevent fading and check frequently to make sure there have been no winged invaders. My wedding dress had a couple of munchers in its box before I learned how to take action! And my century old christening gown is now under much better supervision.

If in any doubt, ask an expert before you start. Textile Conservators willing to advise are at

Australian War Memorial, Canberra, phone 02 6243 444

Endangered Heritage, Canberra, phone 02 6287 1291

Acknowledgements: 

Endangered Heritage <http://www.endangeredheritage.com/services.htm  > 

and the AWM with its brilliant web site <http:// www.awm.gov.au/aboutus/conservation/index.htm >

   by Caroline Gaden   ©

So you want to publish your book electronically

Around 15 years ago I published a couple of family history books called The Schrader Letters and From Baron to Battler, both about the family of Dr Christian Ulrich Detlef Schrader who lived in Walcha. The two volumes are now out of print and, after several requests for reprints,  I decided electronic versions would be the quick way to reproduce them. Wrong! I have just spent a couple of very frustrating weeks as I tried to navigate the maze of web pages and instructions. I started with The Schrader Letters as it is a book consisting of words only.  From Baron to Battler has many photographs and inserts, so it will have to wait a while until knowledge and confidence grows.

You need to decide on which eBook publishing program to follow. Hopefully this article will help you  sail through the sea of web pages  a bit more easily than my initial efforts, so here are a few tips gleaned from that extremely steep learning curve!

Here are some things to consider:-

Make sure your manuscript  is word perfect with no spelling errors. Forget the fancy formatting, forget unusual fonts, forget indented paragraphs; the simpler, the better. You are subsequently going to purge it with a nuclear bomb to get rid of all that and the extra hidden bits and pieces you don't even know are there, so don't waste time on setting up 'the fancy stuff', it's all going to go. Save your book as a Microsoft Word file in Word.doc  format.

Forget page numbers. Your eBook will have a different number of screen 'pages' depending on the font size used by the reader and whether they use landscape or portrait orientation for reading.

Decide on a title then make a separate cover for your book. It needs to be in jpg format. The more professional looking the better. Perhaps you can have a play with your photographs in Picasa (a free Google download). I made a small collage from  a couple of photos and was able to add the text to the page... it's very simple but legible as a 'thumbnail', which is what your potential customers will see.

Now you will need to decide which eBook  program to follow so you can upload your book to their website  and they then sell it to readers who download it to their reading device.

 I have a Kindle reader so thought Kindle would be the way to go.  It's part of the Amazon network at       < https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help>.

I spent a week trying to learn how to use the Kindle program. It is suggested you work in Word doc format then save as a filtered htm.  I downloaded the three necessary programs i.e. MobiPocket Creator, Kindle Previewer  and KindleGen V 1.2 . I also printed all the help pages to consult. In addition I used CJs Easy-as-Pie Kindle tutorials which are at <www.cjs-easy-as-pie.com/p/kindle-publishing.html >.

I followed the Simplified Formatting Guide and I have to say I found some of the instructions were not that easy to follow. I then used the MobiPocket Creator instructions to build my book. It was somewhat annoying to reach a spot only to be told you should have done something earlier... like a recipe which suggests you should have added the baking powder but you're now at the point of putting the cake in the oven.

I was eventually told I needed to have an NCX file for ease of navigation, I should have set it up before..... but where? and how?  I asked on the help forum but still was stumped. As the Easy-as- Pie tutorial says, NCX stands for Not Clearly eXplained. I spent close to a week going round in circles here. Now you may be more web savvy than me but I just couldn't get to where I needed to go. So apologies to Kindle, but in sheer frustration,  I ended up defecting  to Smashwords, a site I only heard about  by chance from another  eAuthor who I consulted for help.

Now there are a couple of bonuses with Smashwords < http://www.smashwords.com/about > which I had not realised. Smashwords pay into PayPal and, because of my eBay purchases, I already had an account. But probably more important is that Smashwords can be read by Kindles, Kobis, Nook, Sony and iPads as well as other eBook devices, you can even download as a pdf file onto your computer... it seems to be more versatile. They have a "Meat grinder" program which takes your Word doc and can translate it into the format needed for the various eReaders.

But how easy was Smashwords to prepare my book and upload? Well the instructions are brilliant, taking  you step by step through the whole process, it has screen pictures and is easy to understand. The free download is  at < http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52 >, and you do need to print a copy to follow (all 72 pages, but well worth the investment in paper and ink).  I think of it as my Smashwords recipe book. You are working in Word all the time ... my only hiccup was the dreaded NCX  file again... you need to link your Table of Contents to your Chapter headings, but you also need to link the Chapter headings back to the Table of Contents.... this time I had it all done and checked in under half an hour.  Mark Coker has done a brilliant job in making the Style Guide simple to follow and easy to do! If I can do it, so can you!

Your book will need an ISBN ... print and electronic versions of the same book need their own separate ISBNs. If your book has no ISBN  then Apple and Sony will not distribute it, you are limiting your market. To apply for an ISBN you have some choices. Smashwords offers  a free ISBN from < http://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#isbn > or, if you specifically want an Australian issued number, go to ThorpeBowker at < www.thorpe.com.au/isbn/index.htm > . They deal with all Australian ISBN applications. The number takes a few days to be sent to you and the cost is $40.

You may need a Tax File Number for the United States or the United Kingdom. Why?  Well Smashwords pay your sales income into a PayPal account... if you've bought anything on eBay you'll know this system. It is based in US so has tax implications over there.  Kindle will pay your sales fees into either a UK based or a US based bank account which mean you have an income in an overseas country.  The UK  site for tax information is <http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/index.htm> . 

The US Tax site is <www.irs.gov >. I spent a few hours surfing this site and still ended up sending a question for their hard-to-locate help desk... and the answer was just as complicated! My understanding is that royalties in the US are normally taxed at 30% but for Australians it's 5%  as we have a treaty. We need a Form W-8BEN and a Tax Identification number  (ITIN) obtained by filling in form W-7, the forms are available on the web site... I'll investigate that next week!

I know it all sounds a bit daunting, but please don't be put off. I've found it to be quite an adrenalin rush to have completed the target I set for myself. After all the frustration of the past two weeks,  the thrill of seeing MY BOOK up there on the web, available for sale around the world, has made it all worth while.

And for those Schrader relatives who may be interested here is my very special link < http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109893 >

by Caroline Gaden©