Behind the Scenes with the Farriers at the European Championships

by Fran Jurga | 28 August 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Say hello to the farriers backstage: Brendan Murray, official show farrier, is on the right and Dieter Kronert, German team farrier, on left are working at Windsor Castle in England this week. Photo by Haydn Price, British dressage team farrier.

As a post script to last night's blog post about the spectacular world record-breaking dressage rides at the Euro championships in England yesterday, here's a first-hand quote from British dressage team farrier Haydn Price after watching Britain win individual bronze behind two Dutch riders who both set new world records:

"We are still pinching ourselves and hoping not to wake up to find that the last 48 hours has all been a dream.

"Yesterday was such a special day and quite emotional. We have waited so long for this and so many individuals have contributed to such an amazing result.

"We also witnessed history in the making with record scores both as a nation and global.
What a privilege it is to be part of it!"

I'm sure that Haydn and all the nations' farriers had a big role in the elevation of these horses to scores that had the judges wondering that a 10 was simply not a good enough measure of the movement the horse had performed.

Please scroll down in this blog to read yesterday's story and see one of the horses frozen in a moment of strength and beauty.

© 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.

Golden Horseshoes: German Farrier Shoes the Olympic Champions

Dieter Krohnert, Official Farrier of the German Equestrian Teams

Since 1990, the German equestrian teams have not left home without him. And since 1990, they have won all the Olympic team gold medals in dressage.

Dieter is an enigmatic globe-trotter. If he sat down next to you on an airplane, you might think he was a spy. Or a race car driver. Or a hundred other things...but probably not a farrier. He is clever, inventive and thinks on his feet. Dieter pushes the envelope by narrowing his eyes and nodding, ever so slowly....and coming back from the anvil five minutes later with an answer to your problem cradled in his big hands.

Dieter brought my attention to spider-plate shoes and thumbprint heels and Luwex pads. A seminar for farriers he gave at Rochester Equine Clinic five (or so) years ago was exceptional.

Dieter's English is very good, although he is one of those people who tells you a lot if you pay as close attention to what he doesn't say. He is proud of his country and its horses and of his work.

Dieter has his own farrier clinic near Hamburg, Germany and also works with a vet clinic, so his lameness cases are as interesting as his sport horse tricks.

If they gave gold medals for farriery, Dieter's neck would be very tired from holding them all up.

Congratulations, Dieter, on Germany's three gold medals in these Olympics. One to go!