Here are some of my recommendations on sheet music, mutes, etc.  I am not getting paid to endorse these products, I just think they're good...

• The Art of French Horn Playing, by Philip Farkas
• The Art of Brass Playing, by Philip Farkas
• The Art of Musicianship, by Philip Farkas
• Mastering the Horn's Low Register by Randy C. Gardner.  Available at International Opus.  Awesome book for all hornists.  From International Opus' website: "...written for all horn players, whether high or low hornists, students or professionals, who wish to enjoy the many benefits that come with low register proficiency. Its pages comprehensively and systematically examine production and technique, give detailed insights into the preparation of many commonly required audition excerpts, present effective practice techniques that can be transferred to any arena, and list resources of special value to low register performance and audition psychology. Material in this method can benefit any brass players searching for keys to unlock their own superior low register."
• Collected Thoughts on Teaching, Learning, Creativity and Horn Performance by Douglas Hill.- Great all-around horn text by my horn professor in college. 
• Horn Technique, by Gunther Schuller
• Horn, by Barry Tuckwell.  Also available from Thompson Edition.

Freeware Downloads:   

• Staff Paper- From musictheory.net
• Tuning Fork and Tuner- I've tried the tuning fork, and it provides a decent drone for intonation practice if your tuner doesn't have that function.  The tuner looks interesting, but I don't have a microphone hooked up to my PC so I can't tell if it works.
• Music ear trainers and utilities- Also from musictheory.net.  Terrific download to help serious hornists with the ear training they will all eventually need!

Check out Orchestral Audition Repertoire for Horn at Thompson Edition.   For about $90 you can have a collection of over 1000 pages of original horn parts that every horn player should have. It'd cost hundreds of dollars to assemble this collection yourself. 

If you want to get the complete 1st horn parts to Mahler's Symphonies 1-6, Complete First Horn Parts to Johannes Brahms' Major Orchestral Works, Complete First Horn Parts to Richard Strauss' Tone Poems, Wind Music, Inc., publishes them very affordably for about $15 each.  

For a good all-purpose excerpt book, most music students have the Horn Player's Audition Handbook by Arthur LaBar.  It does have some errors in it, so you want to make sure you look at the errata list that Mr. LaBar published in The Horn Call, volume XIX(2): page 108. 

Alexander transposing (stop) mute- it's a little pricier than your average stop mute, but it's worth it!  It's tuneable, has 2 interchangeable bells,  you can play super loud with it, and did I mention that you can tune it?  Available at Osmun Brass. 

TrumCor non-transposing mutes- Good all-around professional quality mutes, in every variety you could ask for.  More widely available than the Lewis, Aulos or Rittich mutes.  (I prefer the Alexander transposing brass mute over the TrumCor because of the bigger bell.) 

If you want a good Geyer-wrap horn but don't want to pay an arm and a leg (and wait 3 years or more) for a custom-made instrument, I would recommend either a Yamaha 667 or 667V, or a Conn 10D or 11D.  They're widely available and affordable, and if you do a little searching, you will find an instrument that can rival any custom-made instrument.

Better yet, rather than purchasing a new horn, or waiting 3 or more years for a custom made instrument, buy a used one.  They're cheaper, just as good, and if you keep your eyes open at sites like hornplayer.net and eBay, you WILL eventually find what you are looking for.  I decided that I wanted to play a Rauch again, so I kept my eyes open, and within a few months found one for sale by a man on the Elmhurst horn mailing list.

Here's a section for you bargain-minded people!

• I use a braided fishing line made by Gudebrod (#507 Catfish line, 45 lb. strength) for stringing my valves.  I bought 100 yards of it for $7 in 1992, and I have enough for 2 lifetimes!   I've heard you can get a suitable fishing line at Ron's Tackle for a reasonable price- an 80 lb. test strength should be fine.  You can find a suitable fishing line for valves at a good sporting goods store, with a little imagination.  Like Farkas said in The Art of French Horn Playing, make sure it's braided and not too strong or it'll wear a groove where it's tied. 
• I use Hoover vacuum cleaner belts, cut up, for neoprene valve bumpers, and they can be found in practically any good grocery store.  
• If you want to make your own valve oils, here is the Lawson Brass Instruments recommended valve oil formula.  I use Kenmore sewing machine oil in place of No. 5 Machine Oil, and Ultrapure lamp oil in place of Kerosene.

Review of the Conn 10D horn
Review of the Reynolds Pottag model horn at Howard Sanner's Website
Reviews of the Yamaha 667V (hornplayer.net)

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