tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83465692024-03-15T10:25:16.883-04:00Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + LamenessExplore the horse hoof world through Hoofcare Publishing editor Fran Jurga's reporting on hoof research, horse foot problems, products, technology and the people behind it all. Fran reports on laminitis, hoof diseases/disorders, equine performance, anatomy, hoof trimming, and equine podiatry, with input from professional farriers, veterinarians, trainers, therapists, technicians and researchers who help horses avoid and overcome problems with hooves and legs. Hoof history is covered, as well.Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.comBlogger1860125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-10634560141471221352024-02-27T18:00:00.013-05:002024-03-04T12:19:34.237-05:00Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital opens doors for International Equine Podiatry Conference April 18-20, 2024Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky will host the third International Equine Podiatry Conference.The doors to the forge are always open at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Someone is always going in or out, and the equine podiatry clinic is a favorite stop on every hospital tour. But from April 18-20 this year, the doors will open even wider to Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-15267994079309154152023-11-15T16:37:00.001-05:002023-11-15T16:37:45.861-05:00Horseshoer Joe Alfano celebrates 50 years of service with Pennsylvania National Horse Show Hall of Fame honor.
Joe Alfano has been the horseshoer at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg for 50 years. The horse show honored him this year by inducting him in the event's Hall of Fame. Joe is shown here with his niece (left), well-known equestrian Jennifer Alfano, and PNHS Executive Director Susie Shirk. (Photo by Andrew Ryback Photography)How do you top reaching the landmark of 50 years Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-78685875120444112322023-06-16T16:42:00.010-04:002024-02-29T15:58:56.608-05:00Shire horses inspected for controversial “couping” horseshoe practice at British horse shows in 2023
At England’s Staffordshire County Show earlier this month, British farrier Grant Moon, FWCF represented the Worshipful Company of Farriers in an inspection of Shire Horses entered to show. This is one of the hind feet he inspected. (Photo courtesy of Grant Moon)The feathery hooves of Britain’s magnificent Shire horses are receiving close scrutiny in 2023, as the breed society addresses possible Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-72080122117988148712023-05-09T23:49:00.016-04:002023-05-10T01:01:48.094-04:00Hoof bruises 101: Forte's Kentucky Derby scratch had a common but loosely-defined causeOn Saturday, the 2023 Kentucky Derby favorite was scratched from the big race, just hours before the horses headed to the starting gate. Two-year-old champion Forte stayed in the barn that afternoon, after a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarian scratched the colt following a post-gallop inspection in the stable area.Forte’s scratch by regulators came at a time when a dark cloud already Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-16588793856183105772023-04-27T17:23:00.006-04:002023-04-28T18:29:55.079-04:00Meet University of California at Davis new veterinary hospital farrier Ian DaviesIan Davies, DipWCF is hard at work in his new job.The British-born and British-educated farrier has joined the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, California. The vet school welcomed Ian to his new position yesterday.The Hoof Blog was able to interview Ian Davies briefly on his first official day of work at the vet school.&Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-5577929173432324372023-03-01T15:46:00.005-05:002023-03-02T10:44:40.878-05:00Research Supports Compression Treatment System Ability to Relieve Horses’ Painful Swollen LimbsHuman patients use them--why not horses? Therapy devices don't always translate for parallel use between humans and horses, but a system developed at a US veterinary college may bring relief for horses suffering from swollen limbs and lymphedema. And it can do on all four legs at once.Veterinary researchers from North Carolina State University in Raleigh have utilized technology aimed at helping Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-90597180382449287942023-02-10T23:49:00.018-05:002023-02-12T15:59:56.550-05:00PETA vs the Budweiser Clydesdales: A match worthy of Super Bowl weekendYou might have heard that the Budweiser Clydesdales will be missing from your television screens at Super Bowl LVII this Sunday in Arizona. The St Louis brewer will not run its traditional, expensive, and hugely popular ad featuring America's favorite team. (Yes, a hitch of giant Clydesdales are more beloved than either the Chiefs or the Eagles will ever be.) But there will be a Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-68839492529039328402022-09-02T21:40:00.012-04:002022-09-05T13:30:02.574-04:00Swedish barefoot vs shod showjumper comparative research preview at FEI World ChampionshipsThe world watched Swedish barefoot show jumpers sweep the individual and team gold medals at the FEI World Championships in August in Herning, Denmark. At the same event, the media received a preview of a comprehensive hoof science study that hopes to explain why they won. The Hoof Blog offers this exclusive report.For almost a year, a research group led by Professor Lars Roepstorff of the Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-75336448615667929592022-08-27T03:17:00.010-04:002022-08-27T10:08:48.809-04:00Barefoot show jumpers make history at 2022 FEI World Championships--and beyondHistory was made at the FEI 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark in August. After the first two rounds of jumping, three of the top four horses on the scoreboard were shoeless. And at the end of the full event, the world champion individual horse was barefoot, as were half the winning gold medal team.Some may think that barefoot grand prix jumpers leaping, landing, and turning on Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-62205275796391454682022-08-17T23:38:00.053-04:002022-08-18T00:09:31.292-04:00Prevent laminitis: Wellness Ready stallside insulin tests accelerate Equine Metabolic Syndrome diagnosticsWe all know horse owners who can recite entire pedigrees, race records, or a lifetime of judges' scores. But veterinarians and farriers would prefer that owners have the history of their horses’ insulin test results on the tips of their tongues. A new stallside diagnostics tool called Wellness Ready provides real-time equine insulin levels from a simple blood test kit; it is now available toFran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-39393090641792429162022-08-17T16:54:00.010-04:002022-08-17T23:08:06.051-04:00Farriers at the Herning 2022 FEI World Championships: Who was minding the forge?Last week's ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, made farrier history when the event entered into an agreement with Mustad Hoofcare Group, who became the FEI's first "Official Farrier Service Partner" by providing a crew of its own farriers for Herning2022. With more than 1,000 horses on the grounds, farriers were a priority service.While some countries were able to send team Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-14780181766102258252022-05-23T23:28:00.007-04:002022-05-24T15:19:58.505-04:00Badminton Farriers Prize 2022: In Search of the Best Shod HorseBadminton Farriers Prize 2022: Jim Blurton breaks recordsThe Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, is one of only seven five-star three-day events in the world, and the only one that awards a coveted "Farriers Prize". After two consecutive years of cancellation for coronavirus, the world was coming close to banging on the gates by early May, demanding to enjoy one of the most Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-25044053280041043582022-05-15T23:24:00.012-04:002022-05-25T20:47:27.345-04:00History-loving and history-making American horseshoer Bill Miller dead at 96History-loving and history-making horseshoer Bill Miller died today in Seattle, Washington. According to his close friend Dave Duckett, the 96-year-old had been moved to hospice care after being released from a Veterans Administration hospital for treatment of coronavirus. Bill Miller takes with him unsurpassed knowledge, countless experiences, and historic records of American horseshoeing; Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-51414673141071901782022-04-01T15:47:00.004-04:002022-04-02T11:25:02.220-04:00Preview: Rood & Riddle Equine Podiatry Conference Rood & Riddle Equine Podiatry ConferenceApril 14-16, 2022Spy Coast Farm Equine Education Center Lexington, KentuckyLate breaking news! Attention, veterinarians: 19.5 hours of RACE continuing education credit has been approved for this event.Look out, world. I'm saying good-bye to Zoom and hello to the open road, but most of all to an open room full of open minds. There's something Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-56651596288028607142022-03-30T15:54:00.004-04:002022-03-31T14:00:51.328-04:00New HISA racing rules for Thoroughbred horseshoe traction to begin July 1 in USANew federally-mandated racing safety rules from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will be introduced "feet first" this summer. The first new rules are primed to take effect on July 1 at U.S. racetracks. A change to how American Thoroughbreds may be shod, including what shoes they can wear, is key to the new rules, limiting the use of shoe traction devices with one national rule Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-92115242765829238232022-03-15T15:31:00.000-04:002022-03-15T15:31:03.230-04:00Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Research Funding for 2022US-based research in equine lameness continues to move forward with today's announcement of new and continuing projects to be funded in 2022 by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.The Foundation announced today that it has authorized expenditure of $1,661,180 to fund 15 new projects and 10 continuing projects at 16 universities as well as three career development awards. The 2022 slate ofFran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-45707372455383769462022-02-16T19:33:00.005-05:002022-02-16T19:54:55.943-05:00UC Davis farrier Shane Westman awarded Royal Veterinary College graduate diploma; focuses research on glue-on solar hoof cast for Type III P3 fractureShane Westman at work in his forge at the University of California Davis Large Animal Clinic.The movement to bring more data-driven science to the care of horses’ hooves is surging forward, and University of California Davis veterinary hospital farrier Shane Westman is helping lead the way. With a keen interest in research, and the opportunities available to him through his staff position atFran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-82376257154348258812021-08-07T23:56:00.022-04:002022-01-03T15:35:43.249-05:00The Olympic Hoof Explained: Swedish farrier outlines barefoot management of gold medal team Everyone has questions about the shoeless Swedish showjumpers that have been so successful at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Sweden won the Team Gold Medal Saturday, as a followup to rider Peder Fredricson's Individual Silver Medal for jumping earlier this week.To explain it to you, we went straight to the source. Peter Glimberg is the farrier at Peder Fredricson's training farm and oversees Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-87251098229334281512021-08-06T00:00:00.018-04:002021-08-07T16:18:36.554-04:00The Olympic (Bare) Hoof: Sweden's All In delivers a shoeless silver medal for rider Peder Fredricson
Ears up: Sweden won the team gold medal! Watch for Fran's followup interview with Swedish team farrier Peter Glimberg on his hybrid professional hoofcare management program for Peder Fredricson's elite international showjumpers. There's more to "barefoot" than there looks when it comes to competing on modern arena surfaces...Now, this is news: Swedish rider Peder Fredricson won his second Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-4416574645768071352021-08-03T23:57:00.007-04:002021-08-12T23:07:14.216-04:00The Olympic (Gold Medal) Hoof: Farrier Jim Blurton's Concave-Maybe Shoeing for British Team Eventer Ballaghmor Class Farriers love to argue about the ideal shoe -- concave or flat?-- for a three-day event horse, but when it comes time to shoe a horse for the Olympics, what do they actually do? UK farrier Jim Blurton, AWCF, just watched a horse he shoes win the Olympic Team Gold Medal in Eventing. He kindly offered some thoughts about how he shoes Ballaghmor Class for client Oliver Townend and why he does it Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-49839772799870120412021-08-03T13:00:00.001-04:002021-08-03T13:00:28.272-04:00The Olympic Hoof: FEI salutes farriers as crucial to equine performance in Tokyo
Note: This story was provided to Hoofcare Publishing by the media relations service of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports, and was not written by Hoofcare Publishing. Some statements from the original article have been omitted.The Olympic Games are all about the coming together of the best of the best. The human and Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-21708909635321804232021-07-31T05:29:00.011-04:002021-08-02T18:21:57.510-04:00The Olympic Hoof: US Eventing Horses Try British Concave Shoes for TokyoTwo distinct styles of horseshoes dominate the sport of eventing, one based in Britain and one in Europe. There is no middle ground, or wasn't, until the US eventing team prepared to embark for Tokyo.Part 1 of an article series on international eventing shoes the Tokyo 2020 OlympicsHoofcare wisdom has always held that if you want to tell what country an eventing horse is from, you don't need go Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-63804185022084819852021-07-29T18:55:00.006-04:002021-07-30T20:50:37.504-04:00The Olympic Hoof: Therapeutic plastic horseshoes helped two US dressage silver medal horses in Tokyo Horseshoes, like Olympic medals, can be made from different metals. But this week in Tokyo, the world saw that they can also be made of plastic...and help bring home a medal.For Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics this year, dreams are made of gold, silver, and bronze. But for two horses, those dreams had a plastic lining, although you might not know it unless you happened to see the bottom of their Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-4142999324966355452021-07-22T00:35:00.004-04:002021-07-22T03:47:43.512-04:00The Olympic (Laminitic) Hoof: Dressage horse diagnosed with laminitis before competition beginsA dressage horse representing South Africa has been withdrawn from the Olympics after developing laminitis at the Olympic Equestrian Center outside Tokyo. (Hoofcare.com file photo; this is not the horse described in the article.)It's been a long road to Tokyo for the world's Olympic equestrian competitors. They've faced Covid lockdowns worldwide, an Equine Herpes Virus outbreak in Europe, Brexit Fran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346569.post-23446003766417364842021-05-04T11:18:00.002-04:002021-05-04T14:23:40.961-04:00Renate Weller appointed vet school dean at University of CalgaryRenate Weller, an educator and leader in the equine veterinary field in Europe, will become the new Dean of the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Canada this September.Well-known veterinary educator and researcher Renate Weller, Dr Med Vet, PhD, MScVetEd, FHEA, NTF, DipACVSMR, MRCVS will accept a new challenge in September when she adds Canada to the countries she has calledFran Jurgahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05714349624852287450noreply@blogger.com0