In a year defined by "fake news" as read on Facebook--and as heard in the barn aisle--it's reassuring to know that there is so much "real" news right here in the hoof world.
Just click any story title from the list below to open the page and read it, if you missed it, or read it again!
This list of the most-read articles is provided as much for curiosity as for bragging rights on the part of any of the horses and people covered. Whenever a story on The Hoof Blog "goes viral", it is because someone like you shares it on an influential platform or to a share-friendly audience. Thank you, if you are someone who shares a link to a Hoof Blog story on the Internet, on Facebook, in your PowerPoints, or with your students.
Your support and your "shares" are appreciated and very important, and will never be taken for granted.
(Just hover over the name of any article in the list and click the link to open that story in a new window.)
It may be a coincidence, but most of the stories fell into categories:
Farriers in court
Two stories that made the top 10 had nothing to do with performance, or showing or racing or even shoeing or trimming. The horseshoeing profession paid attention when the Journeyman Horseshoers Union in Pennsylvania took the state racing commission to task for not enforcing its own law that requires farriers to have a license. The union wants everyone to have to take the test, just as they always have. Their lawsuit made that clear!
And from England, we saw either the raw underside or the true value of regulated horseshoeing as the national licensing body stripped a longtime farrier of his right to work following allegations from a former apprentice that he had been bullied by his master during training. (We may have sequel to this story: The case is under appeal.) That was a story no farriers wanted to read, I'm sure. But they did, in big numbers.
International flavors
This year, stories came from all over the globe: New Zealand, Brazil, and England, as well as the United States, made the top 10. The primary sports that motivated people to click on stories covered Thoroughbred racing (3), eventing (4) and, for the first time, Arabian show horses.
It's great to see some stories about research making the list this year. Chris Rogers and his colleagues in New Zealand are compiling a solid body of research on horses' hooves there, and several other stories about research were just off the list.
It was especially nice to see the story about the farriers at the Rio 2016 Olympics read so widely, especially in South America. This brought a whole new group of people to the blog and to the Hoofcare and Lameness Facebook page. Thanks (and all credit) to Dr. Luiz Gustavo Tenório for his help.
Best-shod eventers
Eventing was well-represented in the top story list because of the high level of interest in the sport, and because of the Worship Company of Farriers' ongoing support of the "best shod" classes at large horse events in the United Kingdom, including the new racehorse shoeing award at the Grand National steeplechase this year. (Thank you!)
For the second year in a row, a farrier shod his girlfriend's horse to win the Farriers Prize at the famous Badminton Horse Trials. For a while, it looked like Izzy Taylor's winning English horse was going to the Rio Olympics to compete against Team Ireland's Euro Prince, Clare Abbott's 2014 and 2015 best-shod Badminton winner, but unfortunately the mare was injured and withdrawn from the British team before Rio turned into a battle of the best-shod trophy winners.
Arabian shoeing rules
The Arabian breed is not the biggest in the United States, but the people who show those wonderful horses take it very seriously. The announcement of proposed changes to Arabian Horse Association shoeing rules was probably more about other things in the horse industry than small changes to how the toe is measured. At the same time that the new rules were announced, the US Department of Agriculture announced a potential executive action to impose strict new regulations on show ring Tennessee Walking horses.
The USDA documentation caused a flurry of concern across the show horse world, since it was not clearly stated which breeds or sports were governed by the potentially stricter regulations. We still don't know if the new rules will go into effect before the end of President Obama's time in office, but you can bet that the lawsuits will begin soon afterwards, if they are put into place. If more than Walking horses are affected by the ban on pads and shoe bands, the effect will cripple horse shows across the country.
Along those lines, it is safe to say that the stories that were most read were not necessarily the best-written or most valuable. They are read because there is a little carrot of interest that the reader is after. Some of the most valuable articles are not so shareable, since they aren't exciting or don't feature well-known people or horses. But they are the ones that people come back and read, year after year, long after celebrity has passed.
Racing's celebrity farrier crew
Thoroughbred racing often makes the news on the Hoof Blog. The news is usually about a horse breaking the mold with a new or different shoe design or material or adherence process. That wasn't the case this year, although the Kentucky Derby shoe review was just off the list, in the top 15 stories. Instead, people were interested in the documentation of flat feet in Thoroughbred racehorses in New Zealand, the racetrack farrier licensing lawsuit in Pennsylvania and the background behind the farriers featured on a CNN racing feature filmed in Newmarket, England. The Hoof Blog was able to share the footage of the special segment, which was not broadcast in the United States, and apparently plenty of people were interested in seeing it! Thanks to Billy Mulqueen for his time on that project.
Into the future
The Hoof Blog enjoyed its 11th year of publication, and now offers readers more than 1,700 articles to read. In the last five years, almost 2.5 million people have read a story (or two or many more, in some cases). Hundreds of people receive a daily email with Hoof Blog headlines and links directly to stories on the site.
What The Hoof Blog doesn't have is income from advertising, or any source, and that needs to change to keep the lights on. The New Year's Resolution around here will be to monetize the website without compromising the integrity of article content and the company's reputation for unbiased reports. These days, that is a tall order.
It's a humbling sight to look at the numbers and now that people like all of you are reading these articles and sharing the information in them. Thanks for reading! But most of all, thank you for caring about horses and making life better for them and the people around you. That's about all any of us can ever hope to do.
Happy new year!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: The Hoof Blog (Hoofcare Publishing) has not received any direct compensation for writing this post. Hoofcare Publishing has no material connection to the brands, products, or services mentioned, other than products and services of Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.