Two shakes of a dog's tail: Gyro locomotion of animal skin

What if scientists took the same tools they use to analyze how horses walk, trot, canter and gallop and turned it to how they use their bodies?

Forget the legs and hooves (or paws).

Most mammals have a quantity of loose skin that they can move. That looseness gives the skin a locomotion all its own and now scientists are measuring it and trying to understand how and why animals are able to shake as much as 70 percent of liquid off their bodies.

It's not a linear locomotion; it's a gyro, or rotational movement around the animal's axial skeleton.

It's a good thing they can do it. If they couldn't, chances are the water would freeze, and they might get hypothermia, according to David Hu, PhD at Georgia Tech University. Or maybe the weight of the water would slow them down in their hunting--or fleeing from being hunted.

It's a shame the study doesn't include an analysis of horses shaking. I think they do more of a whole-body shudder than a rotational loose-skin shake like a dog or other mammals. Maybe it has something to do with the way they can involuntarily twitch their skin to get rid of a fly. Their shake is powerful but unique, I think.

And horses shake off dust as well as water. Shaking is all part of rolling.

This weekend, media like CNN aired segments with commentator Jeannie Moos plugging humor into the research, including an interview with Dr. Hu at Georgia Tech via Skype, who was previously featured on ABC's Good Morning America:

Read the abstract of Dr. Hu's paper. Visit the web site for Dr. Hu's lab at Georgia Tech. Before he became fascinated with shaking dogs, he researched how mosquitoes fly in the rain.

Click to go to easy ordering page; this poster can soon be hanging on your wall!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than 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.

Dr. David Hood Launches the Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic in Texas

David M. Hood DVM, PhD will launch a new chapter of his research and hoof disease treatment work in a purpose-built facility to be known as the Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Center in Bryan, Texas.

David M. Hood DVM, PhD recently retired from his long-time position as associate professor at the Texas A+M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Hood is announcing the opening of the new Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic (HDRC), a specialized referral practice restricted to diseases and dysfunctions of the equine hoof. Dr. Hood’s clinical research on diseases of the foot will continue at the HDRC.

Beginning this fall, the HDRC will offer innovative continuing education opportunities for horse owners, farriers and veterinarians, both at the clinic and electronically. 

The new facility is located at Valley Shadow Farm, just north of Bryan/College Station, Texas. Valley Shadow Farm also serves as the home office for the Hoof Project Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitation, education and research in the area of equine hoof physiology and disease.

Editor's note: In addition to his work at Texas A+M, Dr. Hood is a longtime contributor and editorial board member for Hoofcare and Lameness. Among his many research accomplishments are a long list of contributions to the study of the disease of laminitis and the mentorship of many researchers and students. He is the author of Building the Equine Hoof, the editor of the Laminitis volume of the Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice, and has been a featured lecturer at many of the world's leading conferences and symposia on hoof diseases. He established The Hoof Project at Texas A&M in the 1990s as a center for hoof-related research.

Ready to ship! USA orders only: call 978 281 3222 or email books@hoofcare.com

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than 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.

Merial Announces Deadline for 2011 Applied Equine Research Award Nominations

Merial has announced that nominations may be submitted for the 2011 Merial Applied Equine Research Award. The award recognizes outstanding research conducted in a specific field of applied equine science over the past five years. The 2011 award will honor advances in pain management of horses.

The winner will be recognized during the 12th WEVA Congress in Hyderabad, India, to be held November 2 –5, 2011. The recipient will be awarded a plaque and a $6,000 (U.S.) award, plus a $1000 contribution to travel costs. He or she will be invited to present an oral and written summary of their work to the Congress.

Award Guidelines

National equine veterinary practitioner associations and individual members of those organizations can submit a nomination. Nominees do not have to be members of the nominating association, nor do they have to be of the same nationality or live in the country from which the nomination stems.

Nominations should be comprised of the following contents:

•  A brief (not more than one page) cover letter from the nominator. This should include the candidate’s name, address, telephone, e-mail address, fax number (if required), and a listing/summary of his/her current and past positions of employment.
• One-page listing the candidate’s major scientific publications from 2006 to 2010 (inclusive).
• One-page narrative of the scientific basis for this nomination. For example: for what advances in the management and treatment of pain in horses has this candidate been responsible within the last five years, and why are they noteworthy?

An international panel will select the award recipient.

Nominations should be submitted electronically to:

David R. Hodgson, Professor and Head of Department

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences
VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

Virginia Tech
Duck Pond Drive (0442)
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
(540) 231-7666
hodgson@vt.edu

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2011.

Cornell Vet School Equine Herpes Virus Quarantine: Hospital and Barns Closed; Shoeing School, Farrier Shop Open

The following information is provided as a public service for horse owners and horsecare professionals.

The world-famous horseshoeing school and farrier shop at Cornell vet school is remaining open during the quarantine, according to resident farrier Steve Kraus. The shoes in the display case are part of the university's extensive collection of shoes made by Professor Henry Asmus, founder of Cornell's shoeing school in 1913; it was the first in the United States. (Flickr.com photo by Michael King)

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ animal health officials and veterinarians from the Equine Hospital at Cornell University are investigating two confirmed cases of Equine Herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) in New York State. Both horses listed as cases of EHV-1 were inpatients of the Equine Hospital at Cornell University, and could have potentially exposed 69 other horses.

EHV-1 is a common viral infection of horses that is highly contagious and exhibits an array of symptoms, ranging from no clinical signs to neurological disorders.

New York State Veterinarian Dr. David Smith said, “While a common virus in horses, we are taking this situation very seriously given the large number of horses that have potentially been exposed to a highly communicable and sometimes fatal disease. To date, no other horses have showed signs, nor tested positive for the virus. However, this serves as an excellent reminder to horse owners that they should always be cautious of introducing new horses with an unknown disease status.”

“We recognize the seriousness of the Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 and other infectious diseases,” said Dr. Alfonso Torres, Associate Dean of Public Policy at the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. “Thanks to our surveillance systems and access to highly sensitive testing at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, we were able to rapidly identify the infectious agent and implement appropriate actions immediately to prevent the spread of the infection.”

A quiet barn aisle at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Equine Hospital, photo by Ernest Fox courtesy of Flickr.com

This incident involves two confirmed cases of EHV-1 in New York State. One was a one-day old foal that was admitted to the Equine Hospital on March 18. The foal died two days later of pneumonia, and tests revealed the presence of EHV-1 on March 25.

During the same time, a gelding was being treated at the hospital for a spinal injury. It was discharged on March 22, but became severely ill and showed neurological symptoms after arriving back at its home farm. This horse tested positive for EHV-1 on March 30. The gelding is now recovering.

In response to the two confirmed cases, both the gelding’s farm and the Equine Hospital were quarantined immediately, restricting movement and access to animals at both facilities. Horses at both facilities are being monitored closely and having their temperatures taken twice daily. So far, no animals have exhibited a fever attributable to EHV-1, which would be an early warning of the virus.

At the hospital, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have also been completed for four consecutive days on all current patients. The PCR samples from all animals in the hospital are negative, indicating that no virus shedding is occurring.

The Equine Hospital is located in Cornell's extensive new complex of animal clinics on the edge of the Ithaca, New York campus. Photo by Ernest Fox, courtesy of flickr.com

As part of this on-going investigation, the Department of Agriculture and Markets is working to determine the source of the infection, as well as to identify and isolate potentially exposed horses. In doing so, Cornell has been contacting all referring veterinarians and the owners of 69 other equine patients that may have been exposed while at the Equine Hospital. The Department is also communicating with private veterinarians to provide information related to this situation, and is prepared to follow up on possible quarantines of trace-out barns of the 69 potentially exposed horses, if necessary.

At this time, neither the Department nor Cornell know of any other animals that have showed signs or tested positive for EHV-1 in association with this incident.

Nearly all horses in their lifetime will be exposed to EHV-1 at some point, and therefore it is difficult to detect as it takes on a wide range of manifestations, from a complete lack of clinical symptoms, to pneumonia, to abortion in mares, to full-blown fatal neurologic cases. The virus does not persist in the environment and is neutralized by hand soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and sunlight. Transmission of the virus is mostly via direct contact with infected materials.

EHV-1 does not affect humans or dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs or birds; however, alpacas and llamas can be affected.

If you are the owner or caretaker of a horse that was or has been at the Equine Hospital at Cornell on or after March 18, 2011 or that may have come in contact with a potentially exposed patient, the following guidelines are recommended:

• Isolate your animal, if possible. It is always recommended that horses returning from veterinary hospitals be isolated for three weeks when possible.
• Check your horse’s temperature twice a day for ten days. If the temperature is 102 degrees Fahrenheit or greater, contact your veterinarian immediately.
• If you care to test your horse, consult your veterinarian. At this time, the preferred test is PCR analysis performed on nasal swab specimens.

Since March 30, 2011, the Equine Hospital at Cornell University has been quarantined. No movement of animals between the equine barns and other Cornell facilities is permitted at this time, and the hospital is only accepting emergency cases.

Out of an abundance of caution, the quarantine at the hospital will remain in effect through April 11.

For more information on EHV-1, visit the American Association of Equine Practitioners website or check USDA APHIS brochure on the virus.

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.
 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than 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.

Equine Physiotherapist Pioneer Mary Bromiley Receives British Queen's Recognition for Service to Equine Sports

This story is © 2011 Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This is not a press release. No use without permission.

Congratulations to human and equine physiotherapist Mary Bromiley, who was recently listed by the British Monarchy as a recipient of the Queen's Honors for 2011. Mary will be awarded the prestigious title of MBE: Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for her services to equine sports.

Mary Bromiley is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (a licensed human physical therapist in Great Britain), who applied her skills to horses. She and American athletic-trainer-turned-horse-therapist Jack Meagher were early pioneers who began using their knowledge of human sports training principles and muscle rehabilitation therapy on sport and race horses--in particular, on international event horses in the Olympics, with excellent results.

Mary worked for the New Zealand Olympic Teams at several Olympic Games and has been a frequent guest lecturer at equine sports medicine conferences. She is credited with the formation of The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy (ACPAT), a sub-group of CSP.

Now 79 years young, Mary Bromiley may be found in rural Somerset, England, where she and her two daughters run Downs House, a rehabilitation center for horses and education center for equine therapy, at Combeleigh Farm, Exmoor. She also offers courses there.

Mary was quoted on her local equestrian web site Riders for the Bristol area: "It’s really an award that covers the work of an enormous amount of people. I could not have done it without my daughters, the veterinary profession and trainers such as Martin Pipe and Nicky Henderson who have allowed me to make suggestions and do things with their horses. It’s been a big effort all round."

If you know Mary Bromiley or have heard her lecture, you know she is never short of a good story. In one interview with the British website Southwest Business after receiving notification of her royal honors, Mary recalled this case about a filly that had slipped on the road and come down on her knees.

"I was told by a doctor friend about the benefits of the fabled bloodsucking leech and how its anti-coagulant saliva is routinely used to reinstate blood flow in wound areas. I drew (my) breath and rang a leech farm in South Wales. They duly arrived with 'handle with care' on the box but none of us wanted to put our hands in!"

Mary added: "The end result was that it made an amazing difference to the wound!"

British National Hunt trainer David Pipe dedicated a page on his web site to congratulating the woman who has helped so many of his horses, as well as his father's, the legendary Martin Pipe:

"I would like to start off by offering my heartfelt congratulations to Mary Bromiley for being awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honors List for services to equine sport. Mary pioneered the transference of human physiotherapy methods to horses many years ago and set up the country's only specialist horse and human rehabilitation center at Down's House, as well as founding the 'Flying Physios' who tend to injured jockeys at the race.

"Mary has tended to the horses at Pond House for many years and I have been privileged to see the amazing work that she has done first hand. Not only does she care for the equine inmates, but such is her kind and caring nature, she has also helped numerous employees. I am sure that everyone in racing will join me in congratulating Mary on this award, it is a thoroughly deserved recognition of her talents.

David included a quote from his father, Martin Pipe, who recalled years of working with Mary: "It was Mary who helped me to rebuild Carvill's Hill after all the bone scans and vets said that he would never be able to race again. He would certainly be one of her earlier success stories--we defied them by winning the Rehearsal Chase, Welsh National and Irish Hennessy. None of it would have been possible without Mary's regular contribution and expertise.

"It wasn't just the horses that she was so good with either, she helped to fix numerous members of staff and I was also a patient of hers as she helped considerably with the rebuilding of my new knee. She certainly put me through my paces, both before and after my operation! I couldn't be more pleased for Mary, it is great that she has been recognized for all that she has contributed to both equine and human health."

Mary is author of Massage Techniques for Horse and Rider, Natural Methods for Equine Health, Equine Injury and Therapy and co-author of Blackwell's Dictionary of Nursing. She has also made several videotapes to share her knowledge. Mary is sited as the inspiration behind the Equine Sports Massage Association in Great Britain and has been commercially associated with Respond Systems, as an advocate of their Bio-Pulse Magnetic Field Therapy Systems and laser systems for wound healing. She is also credited with the inspiration or collaboration in development of numerous other products and procedures for helping horses.

I thought you might find this video interesting; Mary uses a Respond laser to help treat a horse with the goal of increasing circulation to the foot in order to stimulate healing for tendon damage. Disclaimer: This is not an ad, it is a good video that shows Mary at work.

If you have a chance to learn from Mary, I highly recommend the experience, even if you have to travel to England to do it. She's been a great inspiration and resource for me and countless others and I think that her honor by the Queen is very much deserved.

Mary Bromiley's books are usually available from Hoofcare and Lameness. Some are out of print but can usually be sourced. They are excellent for reference. I hope she writes her memoirs some day!

Others from the horse world honored by the Queen were former racehorse trainer Tony Balding and accomplished horse photographer Bob Langrish.

Photo mirrored from Respond Systems web site. David and Martin Pipe quotes used with permission.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.
 

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Hoofcare@WEG: What's Inside the French Farrier's Tool Bag?

Click on an arrow to start the slide show. You should also be able to navigate to the images' pages on Flickr.com to see them in a larger size.

It all started early in the evening. I guess it was meant to be French night. I strolled through the Normandy pavilion here at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Inside was a poster showing a shoe being forged on the face of an anvil. It was promoting the 2014 World Equestrian Games, which will be held in Normandy. It was just a nice photo until I looked closely at the shoe in the picture and saw how the toe had been creased.

It seems like a good omen that the 2014 Games would include a horseshoe image in their promotion. I was happy as I headed to the show jumping arena. And then I saw him.

He slipped through the barrier without making a disturbance but something made me look over at him. Hundreds of people were walking by. But only one carried a beautiful leather bag over this shoulder. The very same type of leather bag I'd seen used by farriers in France. Made of saddle leather with a long shoulder strap, these bags bounce on French farriers' hips as they walk. You wouldn't fill one with sandwiches or Lego pieces: this is a special bag, a part of a farrier's life.

 I set off after him. 

I had heard that France had sent a farrier, but he had been eluding me for two weeks. I couldn't let him get away.

I felt like a wide receiver on a football team. I zigged and zagged through the warmup arena. Took a left at Sapphire, circled the $8 million Saudi horse, zipped behind a couple of Brazilians. I could still see him up ahead. He was headed to the top warmup ring, tool bag bouncing along through the crowd.

When I caught up with him, I was out breath. And that's when I learned that he spoke no English so I had to interview him in French, which means that none of the information in this article may be what he meant to say. But he was very nice about everything.

David Le Corre lives near Toulouse in France and is his country's sole farrier at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. He has been busy these weeks in America, and tomorrow will be hard at work with all the farriers out on the marathon course. He dutifully posed with one of the French team horses and showed me its left front foot, which was shod with a plastic plad and a frog cutout, for what little frog the horse had.

And that is when things started to fall apart. I asked David about his tool bag, could I take a photo of it?

He obviously thought that I was asking if I could see what was in it, which I would never ask. I realize that the contents of a tool bag like that are personal, like the contents of a woman's purse. But in a split second, the beautiful leather flap was thrown open and shoes were spilling out onto the ground.

Shoes were taped together and clearly marked "droit" and "gauche" (left and right). Nearly every shoe in the bag had a pad attached to it. There were Luwex plastic mesh pads, full leather pads, leather rim pads, and impression material.

David obviously likes two things: leather pads and aluminum shoes. He even likes the two together. In the photo of the single rolled wide-web aluminum shoe, you can see what the studs will go. He has it set up with a leather pad, and if you look closely you can see where it has been scored for the frog to be cut out. The circles marked on the pad on either side of the frog will be punched out so that silicon or some other  support material can be injected under the pad, while the frog stays open to the air and able to touch the ground and be functional, with luck.

I sheepishly helped David put all the shoes back in the bag and thanked him. He settled down to check rider Penelope LePrevost's horse's feet and adjusted the big black band over the heel bulbs.

Like all the farriers here, he had a lot of work to do. The groom chatted happily to him in French. I imagined she was saying, "David, that woman chased you across three warmup arenas, who IS that?" and David answered, "I have no idea."

Note: Be sure to read the comment about David, which is a blog story in itself, in which David's effort to glue a shoe on one of the French team horses is aided and abetted by Alan Orville Dryg, one of the AFA farriers! Just click on the comment link. Alan had a French farrier tool bag experience too!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing 
Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.

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Leg Boots for Sport Horses: Protection? Support? Do They Work?

How much do you know about protective and supportive leg boots for sport and performance horses? I don't mean just the difference between polo wraps and jumping boots, but how much do you really think they help prevent injuries to structures like the always-vulnerable suspensory ligament. Do you know the difference between protection and support?

British equine science consultant David Marlin PhD is about to teach you a lot more in this lecture kindly videotaped and provided for us by the US Eventing Association.

David's campaign to test horse gear the same way we test human gear makes a lot of sense and this video is a first step to understanding more about what some of the superficial leg injuries in eventing are like, where in the lower limb the horses tend to hit, how hard they tend to hit and whether a boot or wrap can make a difference.

Sit down, relax, and take this in, or make some time later to come back and watch this. Please Tweet or email this page to others so that this information can spread. It may sound basic, but we find over and over again that it is the most basic things that people often do not understand because they seem so...well... basic, that they don't bother to ask questions. This is written by someone who has put boots on upside down plenty of times and been publicly embarrassed for it!

I will certainly suggest to David that if there are to be rules about boots that marking "top" and "inside" should be mandatory.

Thanks again to US Eventing and to Dr. Marlin for providing this excellent lecture.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.

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Video Humor: David Letterman Shoes a Horse with Farrier Ada Gates Patton

14 February 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

Here's my Valentine to the hoof world: the ultimate weekend humor video. I'll never top this one. Where were you the night when farriers stayed up late to watch one of their own on the big stage in New York City? The night one of their own upstaged the great David Letterman? The night David Letterman lost control of his own show? Ada Gates Patton is in a league of her own. The fact that she was the first woman licensed to shoe horses at a racetrack in the United States is only the beginning of the story. A few years ago, we were in Kentucky for a convention and she made a special trip to Three Chimneys Farm to visit Wild Again, one of the horses on her list back in the 1980s, when he won the Breeders Cup Classic. Ada was international horsemen's liaison for the Breeders Cup in California, and coordinated farrier services for the 1984 Olympics in California. She tells wonderful stories about being shunned by trainers from the British Isles during the Breeders Cup; they went looking for a man to shoe their horses. When the call came for shoes from a French trainer, Ada picked up her shoeing box and headed over, expecting the worst. Instead, the Frenchman had the opposite reaction and welcomed her as if she had been sent by the gods.

Ada is originally from New York; she is a descendant of Henry Burden, a Scottish immigrant who invented the first machine to manufacture horseshoes. His machines are credited with helping the North win the Civil War; his factories stretched forever along the banks of the Hudson River in Troy, New York and Burden horseshoes supplied the US cavalry for decades. Henry would never have dreamed that women would someday shoe horses, let alone one of his descendants, but Ada made the history books too.

Today, Ada owns and runs Harry Patton Horseshoeing Supplies near Santa Anita, and serves farriers all over California. The business was started by her late husband, the famous racetrack shoer Harry Patton, and she has built it into a multi-store retail chain, with business partner Michael De Leonardo in northern California.

Ada stares up at the derelict but grand church built by her great-great-grandfather so that horseshoe factory workers had a place to worship. She saved the church from demolition through a loophole in the deed that made a provision for a descendant of the founder to lay claim. What would Henry Burden think of one of his descendants selling horseshoes?

Ada is originally from New York, and she is the great great grand-daughter of Henry Burden, the inventor of the horseshoe-making machine. We reconnected her with her roots a few years ago by explaining that her family's church would be torn down if she didn't claim the deed and save it--which she did, and subsequently opened the beautiful old church and invited our Hoofcare@Saratoga tour group of farriers in for lunch as part of one of our tours of the Burden Iron Works.

Last year Ada was honored in her family's church by the Burden Iron Works Museum and its preservation efforts. The image at right is the outline of the Burden horseshoe company's office building, which now houses the museum. The museum and Ada found each other through Hoofcare & Lameness Journal and our Hoofcare@Saratoga program and tour of the museum. The museum is dedicated to preserving the history of horseshoe manufacturing in Troy, New York.

Today, Ada is busy selling shoes. But she recently "joined up" with one of her old shoeing clients, California horseman Monty Roberts, and the two made a DVD together on hoofcare and horsemanship for hard-to-shoe horses. She teaches simple hoof balance principles at horse owner events and markets a hoof ruler to help them keep track of changes in their horses' hooves' dimensions. Horse Illustrated profiled Ada's pioneering career spirit in this tribute article. Ada is one person who never forgot where she came from, and is not done getting to where she's going. She's still giving us all a lot of laughs along the way, and digging this video up out of the 1990s will insure that more people around the world join in. Monitor Hoofcare News on Twitter.com! Follow @hoofcarejournal!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, 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.

Virginia Tech Hires Full-Time Farrier for Veterinary College Post

20 January 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

Travis Burns will leave his employment with the multi-farrier practice Forging Ahead in Round Hill, Virginia to become the full-time farrier at the veterinary college at Virginia Tech. He's shown here with one of his favorite horses, a big-footed barefoot fellow named Gumpy. (Hoofcare & Lameness photo)

This announcement was received this week from the
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia; thanks to Drs. R. Scott Pleasant (far left) and David Hodgson (near left) for their assistance. (University announcement text in red)

We are very pleased to announce that Travis Burns, of Marshall, Virginia, has joined the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech as a full-time farrier.

Burns’ arrival in February will allow the College to provide complete equine podiatry services through the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. In his position, Travis will assist the equine faculty in building on the service, education, and community engagement strengths of the College. We believe that Travis’s special skills, knowledge, and experience will be a great resource for our students and regional horse owners, farriers, and veterinarians.

Proper management and care of a horse’s hooves is essential to the overall health of the animal, according to Dr. David Hodgson, head of the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. “Properly trimmed and balanced hooves and correctly fitting shoes are essential to preventing lameness and other maladies in horses,” said Hodgson. “The addition of Travis to our department and hospital further enhances the overall preventive healthcare package we are able to offer our patients, clients and referring veterinarians. We are very pleased to welcome him and plan for him to enhance our ties to the local community of farriers. Travis will be working closely with Dr. Scott Pleasant and other members of our veterinary team. Dr. Pleasant is one of the leading veterinary exponents for the advancement of hoof care in horses. ”

Travis’s interest in horseshoeing began at an early age while working with horses at his uncle’s riding stable in North Carolina. He attended farrier school in the winter of 2002 and then continued to shoe horses while attending college. He graduated from North Carolina State University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. In 2007, Travis was accepted into a one-year internship program at Forging Ahead, an elite multi-farrier practice in Northern Virginia. Upon completion of the internship program, based on his outstanding ability, Travis was retained at Forging Ahead as an associate farrier.

Travis recently achieved Certified Journeyman Farrier certification by the American Farrier's Association, the highest level of certification granted by the organization.

(end of Virginia Tech document)

Hoofcare and Lameness would like to congratulate both Travis Burns and Virginia Tech for the new directions each of them is taking (and taking together). While Travis is heading into a new area, there is no doubt he gives a lot of credit to the formal internship program that he completed at Forging Ahead; he was later hired on as an associate farrier there. The fact that he would be an AFA Journeyman and be considered for this position at the vet school so early in his career is testimony to the program that Paul Goodness has designed at Forging Ahead for farriers who want to seriously accelerate their careers working on top sport horses or specializing in lameness. While not everyone can be an intern at Forging Ahead, the program can be emulated by others, and hopefully more internships for working professional farriers will be offered in the future.

How does Paul Goodness feel about losing his protege? "I think it's so great," he said in a phone interview this morning, "that Virginia Tech would choose a young, talented farrier like Travis. He'll go far in this industry. They are starting with a clean slate, by hiring someone who wants to help horses and make a positive difference on many fronts. This is a step forward for the farrier-vet world. I will be able to stay in touch with Travis and send him cases from Leesburg. (Note: Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia, which is affiliated with Virginia Tech and where Paul is the farrier).

"It's not a crisis here at Forging Ahead. It's true, 2009 wasn't the best year for us, and I'm sure not the best year for most farrier businesses," he continued thoughtfully. "But we've already picked up new clients this month and I don't feel like I need to be running back and forth to Florida. Scott and I have full books, all day, just here at the shop with haul-ins. We're predicting a big year and an influx of foreign riders to the area to train and compete before heading to Kentucky for WEG in the fall. The farrier business should be just fine, as should be the lameness referrals."

Here's a re-post of the NBC News segment taped at Forging Ahead about the internship program during the run-up to the Kentucky Derby last April:

, ,Please allow time for NBC's "Thank Goodness" video to load. Click the play icon to begin.

Links to more articles about Forging Ahead:
Link to Internship Program Announcement in 2007
Link to "Friends at Work" About Forging Ahead in 2009
Link to Forging Ahead web site

In 2009, Travis attended the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida and the North East Association of Equine Practitioners Conference in Ledyard, Connecticut. He also was a guest presenter at one of our Hoofcare@Saratoga evenings last August in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he presented Forging Ahead's clever reverse Mustad glue-on shoe for laminitis therapy.

While I was working on this announcement, several people forwarded to me links to a story that was published around the country today, via Associated Press, and most notably on the ABC News and National Public Radio web sites. The article features Jason Wilson-Maki, farrier at Texas A&M University, along with a brief mention of Michael Wildenstein, farrier at Cornell.

There are many hardworking farriers at vet schools around North America, including Jason and Michael, whether full-time employees or contract service providers. I'm sorry to say that I don't know who they all are, so if you work for or with a vet school, please contact The Hoof Blog so we can keep a list.

And today we can add Travis Burns to that list of farriers...and Virginia to the list of vet schools that has one.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, 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.

Curlin's Horseshoe Beat Him to the Hall of Fame

by Fran Jurga | 10 August 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The square-toe glue-on Polyflex horseshoe design dictated by Curlin's 2008 campaign needs

A highlight of last week's Hoofcare and Lameness/Hoofcare@Saratoga reception for the Ride On! exhibit at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was a little piece of plastic with a big story to tell.

Oklahoma horseshoer David Hinton had been scheduled to be with us but had to change his plans; he will be with us this week at the Parting Glass at 7 pm (August 11) instead.

David shoes for the Asmussen Racing Stable and flies all over the country. Last year, he was working on Curlin when the champion colt was stabled at Saratoga and training for the Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup as part of his campaign toward the 2008 Breeders Cup and becoming North America's richest-ever racehorse.

Trainer Steve Asmussen had success with the Polyflex shoe developed by Saratoga horseshoer Curtis Burns on other horses but he only wanted a square-toed "Silver Queen" type glue on for Curlin. The problem: the Polyflex shoe had a round toe.

Changing the mold for one horse in the middle of the busiest time of the year was a tall order for the Polyflex team but somehow, but mid-summer, a prototype was made and put in Hinton's hands to try on Curlin. Not only did it work, the company soon added the design as an alternate model and it is selling well.

Curlin went on to wear the shoes for the rest of his career. Asmussen starter Kensai wore Polyflex glue shoes a week ago when he won the Jim Dandy, although I don't know if they were square toes or round toes.

One of the square-toe shoes that Curlin wore in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, when he passed the $10 million earning mark, was presented with documentation to the National Museum of Racing last Tuesday, on behalf of Stonestreet Farms, owner of Curlin. Burns and Hinton worked behind the scenes with Hoofcare and Lameness to make this happen for the night of the reception, which was sponsored by Life Data Labs.

The shoe was presented to curator Beth Sheffer, who was thrilled to receive it. She said it was the first glue-on shoe the museum would have in its permanent collection, although they currently have on display Big Brown's Kentucky Derby Yasha shoe on loan from Ian McKinlay.

Sheffer revealed that the museum had received the extensive shoe collection of Calumet Farm in Kentucky and its late trainer Jimmie Jones. The collection is in storage.

The Ride On exhibit contains examples of horseshoes, hoof boots, and pads used to overcome different lameness problems, especially laminitis, in horses. Included in the exhibit are two handmade shoes by Michael Wildenstein FWCF (Hons), adjunct professor of farrier science at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and a selection of rail and roller motion shoes by Dr. Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. Also included is the Soft-Ride hoof boot, which Dr Morrison helped to develop for laminitic horses.

Dr. Morrison will speak on Tuesday, August 11 in the Hoofcare@Saratoga series at the Parting Glass, 40 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, at 7 p.m.; Michael Wildenstein will speak on August 18 at 7 p.m., with a farrier-only session in the afternoon. Admission to both lectures is free; seating is limited.

© 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.

David Gulley Will Preside over European Farriers

Posted by Fran Jurga | 23 November 2008 | www.hoofcare.blogspot.com


(Edited from official press release)

British farrier David Gulley, FWCF has been elected President of the European Federation of Farriers Associations (EFFA). The appointment was made at EFFA’s Annual General Meeting in Saumur, France on 15 November, and is for a period of two years.

David Gulley’s appointment recognizes his many years experience as a farrier, both in the British Army and in civilian life, his contributions to training apprentices, to competing and to judging competitions, and to supporting the work of the National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers. He lives near Melton Mowbray, in the foxhunting countryside of Leicestershire and has visited the United States frequently in the past, to compete and give clinics.

David is a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farriers, the highest professional achievement level honor in the British farriery system, and perhaps the most difficult credential in the farrier world to obtain.

David was delighted with his election to this prestigious and influential position, and has made clear his determination to carry forward and to publicize EFFA’s work in raising standards of farriery throughout Europe.

About EFFA: The mission of EFFA is to improve the welfare of the horse by encouraging the highest standards of trimming and shoeing. It has produced agreed standards of basic competence in farriery, and has started a process of accrediting the training and examination systems in member nations against these standards. Farriers who are recognized as meeting these standards will be entitled to call themselves Certified Euro-Farriers.

In addition, EFFA organizes a European Farriery Championship every two years, and in alternate years arranges an educational event for farriery students and teachers.

Membership of EFFA is open to all farriery associations in all European nations, whether they are members of the EU or not. Current member nations are: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

To learn more, visit www.eurofarrier.org/

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. Permissions for use elsewhere are mostoften easily arranged. 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.

Clog on Clog: Removable System for Laminitis

The Steward Clog is less of a product than a concept. Dr Michael Steward in Oklahoma has created a unique, affordable and simple system for helping foundered horses. We hear about good results with the system from vets and farriers all over the world.

The idea of a pivot point rather than a supportive platform is a leap of faith that is difficult for many to make. And we usually don't make those types of leaps until we've tried everything else. If there is one thing that the last ten years of experimental farriery has proven it is that removing resistance can have as therapeutic an effect as adding stability, which was the old-school 1990s way approach to laminitis (and still works for a lot of professionals).

People call here and ask "Where can we buy those Steward clogs?" The answer is the whole point: you can't. Dr Steward has nothing to sell. The Steward clog is an idea, a system that you can probably make yourself out of scrap materials found in any barn or garage.

The "system" is actually just a block of wood. Period. You use screws or glue to attach it to the foot. Period. Dr Steward says that the bottom of the clog needs to mirror the shape of the coffin bone (P-3) and be correctly positioned beneath the bone. Period.

It's been five years now since Dr Steward presented the concept at the 2003 AAEP Convention in New Orleans and in that time, a lot of clever people have put their minds to ingenious ways to use or attach the clog. As long as you keep it simple, it seems to be a viable option for lots of horses, and sometimes the only option for people without the budgets for designer heartbars and rainbow "packages" of impression material.

EDSS, makers of the Natural Balance shoe, originally introduced me to the Steward Clog, and then they went one step further and started "manufacturing" a plastic clog.

Now our British friend David Nicholls AWCF has gone a step further. Perhaps some owners would balk at allowing a farrier to twist screws into a horse's foot, or perhaps the sole needs to be cleansed or medicated. In that case, David's clog:clog solution was to screw the plastic EDSS version of the Steward Clog to a Dallmer clog, which is sort of an exterior-strap plastic hoof boot. No doubt, the clog could probably be attached to any hoof boot, if you remember that the placement of the clog is critical. Normally, the clog is a 24/7 sort of a regimen, not something that is put on or taken off, but Dr Steward would have great advice there, I'm sure. Strapping on a laminitis support device gives you a test phase that allows you to go to Plan B if the horse doesn't like it.

David writes, "This equine patient did not respond well to wearing glue on heart bar shoes and the veterinarian cut a hole in the sole of this foot. He wanted a removable system so he could continue to treat this foot.The pink EDSS Impression Material is placed into the least painful areas of the rear of the foot. The other foot had a clog nailed on. Once the sole issues had been dealt with, I removed the Dr Steward EDSS clog from the Dallmer clog (too many clogs here!) and nailed it back onto the now-healed foot. The equine patient never looked back and has returned to its previous job as a riding horse. This case was a referral so once it was sound and shod I did not see it again."

Thanks to David and TFP for these photos and for having such an innovative shoeing practice, thanks to Cody at EDSS for introducing me to the clogs at the Equine Affaire in Ohio a few years ago, and especially thanks to Dr Steward for spending a lot of time on the phone with me...and for having a great idea, one which he is happy to share. And that great idea is one that anyone with the most basic home-maintenance tools, even in the most remote part of the world, can use to help a horse, once he or she grasps the concept. (And until or unless you do, don't try it!)

TO LEARN MORE, read "How to Construct and Apply Atraumatic Therapeutic Shoes to Treat Acute or Chronic Laminitis in the Horse" by M. L. Steward in Proceedings of the 49th Annual Convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, 2003 or read the "Going Dutch" article by Holly Clanahan about clogs used by Dr Steward on foundered Quarter horses in the January 2008 edition of America's Horse, published by the AQHA.

Calgary Stampede: Where the Competition is Hot This Weekend for Farriers from Around the World

Former World Champion David Wilson of Balmullo, Scotland has been the judge of the 2008 World Championship Blacksmiths Competition at the Calgary Stampede this week.

David, who is 71, was invited to judge for the fourth time in his career; no other farrier has judged the prestigious Calgary event so many times. He was the World Champion in 1985; I remember him on the stage in front of the entire rodeo audience receiving his award...dressed in a beautiful kilt.

The bronze sitting on David's anvil in the photo is the coveted trophy he won as World Champion at the Calgary Stampede.

According to an article in a Scottish newspaper last week, David has won 13 gold medals for draft horse shoemaking at the Royal Highland Show and has been show champion eight times, also receiving a special honor in 2005 to mark his 50th Highland Show. He also won the North American Challenge Cup Futurity in 1988. In 1983 Queen Elizabeth presented David with the British Empire Medal for services to farriery.

Word is that entries from Scotland were especially high this year, so there may be an entire flock of kilts on the stage tonight when the awards are presented.

Click here to read more about David Wilson, who will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his marriage to Mari this summer.

One person that David was judging in Calgary is Ben Yeager, who lives near Victoria, British Columbia. Ben is the current Canadian champion and was scheduled to compete in Calgary along with three teammates from the Vancouver area. They will also compete in the international team competition in England later in the summer.

Here's a little video clip from last year's Calgary Stampede shoeing events, courtesy of the Stampede:



I don't know for certain who the winner was tonight. I do know that former World Champion Grant Moon did come out of retirement and competed at Calgary this week.