Our friend Julie Grohs, who knows this blog loves old photos of farriers and smithies, writes:"Here is a blacksmith shop in Henry, South Dakota, in the late 1920’s. The man on the left is my uncle, Herman Kretzschmar. He emigrated from Germany as a young boy. Most of the children from his family made it to South Dakota at that time, including his brother, my grandfather. They farmed in eastern South Dakota, using horses and mules, and worked on plow parts in this amazing blacksmith shop."
Julie and her husband Joe are both veterinarians and own Alaska Equine & Small Animal Hospital in Chugiak. Julie has a deep interest in foot problems and always has fascinating cases to share, as you would expect from a place like Alaska! When she wrote, she and Joe were about to leave for a long weekend at their remote wilderness cabin, 12 miles by snowmobile from the nearest road over six feet of snow, near Mount McKinley.
Herman would probably fit right in there, and be proud that his niece still has the family's pioneer spirit.
By the way, Julie mentioned in an email, "See you in November!" She is already planning to attend the 5th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Disease of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida, to be held November 5-7. I hope you will be there, too.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
