Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness: Greenwich

Showing posts with label Greenwich. Show all posts

Friday, August 03, 2012

Olympic Horseshoes: Eventing at London 2012 Saved the Best for Last

Source: sfgate.com via Hoofcare Publishing on Pinterest

This is one of my favorite photos from the Olympics so far.

This was the final obstacle on the eventing cross-country course: the horse had to jump through an Olympic-sized horseshoe, with some brush across the base. Mark Todd's horse went through the brush--he was tired--and it slowed down the time.

The shoe is great except no one can explain the heel nails; a small detail, but perhaps studs in the heels would have been appropriate given the discipline.

The horseshoe was flanked on either side by bookend sculpthres of giant jumping horses made of shoes.

Presumably, the obstacle will enjoy a second life being recycled at another cross-country course somewhere in Britain. So maybe we'll see it again. Like so many of the cross country obstacles, it is unique!

Speaking of shoes, many were lost on the course that day, including by Great Britain's Zara Phillips, whose horse High Kingdom lost both front shoes somewhere along the way but still managed to get home.

We're still waiting for a comment from Zara's mother, Princess Anne, who is former master of the Worshipful Company of Farriers and a great friend to the farrier profession in Great Britain.

It was great to hear NBC Olympics commentator Melanie Smith Taylor in the USA give a shout-out to the important role that farriers play in the safety of horses and riders in the sport of eventing.

Go to http://www.ahf-laminitis.org; learn how you can be part of global research to end laminitis.

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Thursday, August 02, 2012

London's Olympic Farriers: Brendan Murray, Team GB

British eventing team farrier Brendan Murray in his "team kit"

British eventing team farrier Brendan Murray was already on the job, even though the Olympics were still a few days away. But that's all part of his job.

It was the dawn of Brendan's sixth Olympic Games with the British team, and he knows enough of the ropes that he’s now an official part of the advance crew that sets up the stables and organizes the “kit”, as the vast trunks and trailers of equipment are called. Even though the Games are on British soil, the British team is required, as are all countries, to ship in their gear through a system that x-rays it all...and accounts for every shoe and nail.

Even though the temporary stable area in London’s ancient Greenwich Park boasts a farrier’s forge, which will be manned by British farriers, team farriers Murray and Haydn Price of Wales have a complete farrier setup of their own, buried in one of the containers stacked behind the stables. Since forges aren’t allowed in the stables, they will rely on the Olympic forge for that.

Brendan said he planned to use the same hand tools he uses every day, although he wasn't expecting that he would be shoeing any of the horses.

Brendan with German team farrier Dieter
Krohnert at the European championships.

What is involved in being the team farrier for Great Britain--besides hanging around during the competitions, in case a horse loses a shoe or needs a farrier’s help? While some nations have their team farriers take over the shoeing of the team horses before the Games, quite the opposite is true for Great Britain.

“Part of my job,” Brendan shared, “is visiting the hroses during their training. I chat with their grooms, look at the horses’ feet, ahead of time."

But he doesn’t shoe them.

Instead, Brendan Murray considers himself to be in a stewardship role as an extension of the farriers who normally shoe the Team GB horses.

“The team horses are prepared by their home farriers,” he said. “And when they are at the event, I am their caretaker. Just as I have been for the past 22 years. My role is to represent the home farriers, and take care of the horses they’ve worked so very hard to prepare for these Games.

“I am extremely fortunate and very proud to represent my country in this role, by taking care of the horses,” he continued.

Brendan was scheduled to turn over the farrier operation for Great Britain when Haydn Price arrived this week.

Brendan played a big role on and
off the camera on the film
War Horse; you can see him in
the forge scene.

When he’s not shoeing, Brendan often works as a stunt rider or a double or shoes horses on movie sets for a client who provides horses for film production companies. His most recent film is Snow White and the Huntsman, where you can see Brendan riding a horse on a beach; he recently completed the production of Sleeping Beauty, and shod a horse for the star, Angelina Jolie.

Brendan shod the horses on the set for the film War Horse last year, and had a cameo role as one of the farriers, a role he discussed in an interview for The Hoof Blog.

Among his other career starring roles was as an escort, representing his former military unit, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, for the gun-wagon caisson carrying the casket of Princess Diana as it rolled through the streets of London to her funeral.

Here's hoping that Brendan Murray writes his memoirs some day. They'd be a fascinating read!

Stay tuned for a follow-up interview with Brendan after the Games!

To learn more:

British Farrier Brendan Murray Receives Medal for Service

War Horse Farrier: Lights, Camera, Hoofcare! Who Shod Joey?

WEG Begins: British Team Farrier Interview

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

London 2012 Farriers: Meet James Blurton, Lead Farrier

Jim Blurton of Wales is one of those farriers who has more than one claim to fame. But his most recent is the one that might stick the longest.

Jim is a former world champion at the Calgary Stampede. He’s a veteran of countless Welsh national horseshoeing teams. He’s a successful farrier with a burgeoning group practice employing ten or so farriers, and a manufacturing entrepreneur whose name is on the farrier supply map for manufacturing farrier hand tools and pre-made bar shoes.

But as of yesterday--and forever more--he’ll be remembered as the “Lead Farrier”. His position is attached to the veterinary services department of the London Olympic Games’ organizing committee, a.k.a. LOCOG.

Jim said that his day begins at 5:30 a.m. and that, on the day we first spoke, it ended at 10:30 p.m. There were horses to be attended to: if not shod, they still may need to be adjusted, clenches looked at and maintenance provided. He was waiting for his team of volunteers to arrive the next day (Saturday) when the official duties would begin.

Jim Blurton, NTO Lead Farrier for the London 2012 Olympic Games

Jim’s plan is to spread the farrier team throughout the park and station farriers wherever horses are competing or training. The crew of British farriers has been through a training program, and understands what is expected of them.

There are five positions in the training center area; one farrier is needed at each of five warmup arena. A farrier also needs to be in the forge at the stables and one at the competition venue itself. For the cross-country on Monday, farriers will be at the start and the finish of the course.

Another farrier is on duty at the receiving station, about five miles away. Peden Bloodstock is there, facilitating the processing of any arriving horses. They are all checked for their proper permits and transferred from their vans to official LOCOG transports that carry the horses into the park. Everything that has been sent with a horse is x-rayed at this receiving station, and the farrier is on hand to make sure the horses didn’t have any shoe problems during transport to London.

And the forge itself? It's important to know that it's up in the air. It's built on stilts, just like all the stables and buildings at the equestrian center--even the stadium and the arena itself are built on platforms on stilts. Horses go up and down ramps to get where they're going, and back again.

This morning I spoke with Jay Tovey, an Olympic farrier from Bedfordshire, England who was one of several assisting Jim Blurton on this second day of eventing dressage. Jay has been in the Park with Jim since last Monday and spent today minding hooves at a warmup arena. The sun was shining when we spoke, but they had been through thunder and lightning and a downpour during the dressage.

“Brilliant!” was Jay Tovey’s comment on the farrier scheme. He said that people at the staging center and the park were aware of the farriers and what they were assigned to do.

One of Jim Blurton's business accomplishments has been the mass production of heart bar shoes;
this photo is a still from his video on fitting heart bars.

In the meantime, Jay and Jim are having a few encounters with farriers from other countries. As Jay looked across the arena where he was stationed, he said he could see Nigel Perrott from Somerset, England, who is the farrier for the Irish eventing team, and Dieter Krohnert, the long-time farrier for the German National Federation teams.

I asked Jim Blurton what qualified him to be selected for the job and he had to stop and think a minute. Then he reasoned it out: they needed someone who could be away from his or her business for a month--which jim can be only because of the staff he has at home to take up the slack.

They needed someone who could manage people, he added slowly, which the size of his shoeing and manufacturing business obviously proves.

“And they needed someone who’d know what they’re doing,” he ended.

Coming up: More about the forge, farriers from other countries, and a salute to some of the farriers whose hard work helped their horses get to London.

Thanks to Team Thailand's farrier, David Watson, for taking the photo of Jim in the Olympic forge.

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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Olympic Test Event: London 2012 Will Bring a Country Sport to the City

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London's preparing! The host city for the 2012 Olympics is running an equestrian "test event" over the inner-city park that will be home to all the equestrian events next summer during the Games. Photo by Ollie O'Brien.

The Olympics began this week in London. Not really, it was just the test event to get the feel of the equestrian facilities in Greenwich Park, but there's no doubt that the 2012 Olympics is only a little more than a year away, and there's no better way to make people take it seriously than to have a walk around the new facility. Forty top riders took part in the test event, which was at the two-star level and ended on Wednesday with show jumping. Dozens more riders attended as observers to check the lay of the land, or the arena, depending on whether they are eventers, dressage riders, or show jumpers.

An above-ground arena and stabling area was designed to be built in London's Greenwich Park for this week's Olympic Test Event and next year's Olympics. The temporary dressage and jumping ring means that the Olympics will disturb the historic park as little as possible. Photo by Khedara.

Notice that the grass underneath the dressage and showjumping arena was not dug up; the 5000 square-meter arena merely perches atop the grand lawn on 2100 legs. Presumably they are sunk into the ground.

Great Britain's Piggy French, the eventual individual winner, lead from the dressage phase. Just as much as everyone cares who wins, people care what the arena surface is like, how the warmup rings work, where the start for cross-country is located, and dozens of other aspects of the event. Eventing is only one of the equestrian sports, including modern pentathalon, that will use the facility.

Nina Ligon of Thailand (and Virginia, USA) rode her dressage test in the bright sun on Monday. Nina's farrier, David Watson, accompanied Team Thailand to London.

Haydn Price, head farrier for the Olympic Test Event (© photo by Fran Jurga)

The man of the hour is Haydn Price, head farrier for London 2012's test event. Haydn is from Wales and is normally Great Britain's team farrier for dressage and show jumping.

Haydn was ecstatic about the facilities that have been built at Greenwich Park--which include pop-up stables and an equally pop-up 5000 square-meter arena standing on 2100 legs. He described that setting as "lovely" by email and went on to comment:

"It is going to be an amazing event next year, (one) where the event will be taken to the people rather than the people taken to the event.

"The atmosphere here today has been incredible: the local schools have been made an integral aspect of this event by being invited to attend. Children of all ages have today experienced something truly magnificent; many of then had never seen a horse other than the occasional mounted police officers that patrol London and the district.

"Yep, the countryside has well and truly arrived in the heart of the City of London!"

The wash stall; the "pop-up" Olympic stabling area is built above ground on platforms; horses come and go on ramps. (© FEI photo by Kit Houghton)

Equestrian Route in Greenwich Park for 2012 Olympics

I had to ask what a "Saxon Tumuli" is (or are). Apparently they are ancient burial mounds.

Here's a map of Greenwich Park with the route of the cross-country overlaid, although I am not sure if this is the four-star cross-country route proposed for the Olympics or the five-minute 2-star used for the test event. What the Google Earth view doesn't show you is the undulating terrain, which made for a course with lots of tight turns and ups and downs.

This brief video, courtesy of www.greenwich.co.uk shows some action from the cross-country on Tuesday. The opening shots are from a jump where a group of vocal and local schoolchildren dominated the spectators. They added a very different dimension to the traditional course observation etiquette.

How's this for great community public relations? The schoolchildren of Greenwich are working to “design a Greenwich jump” which will feature in the cross-country course for London 2012.

The right stud for Olympic terrain

Riders chose to stud up today. From a report by John Thier on Eventingnation.com earlier today: "People were using some huge studs today. The ground was maybe a bit firm and not the least bit muddy, but it was still slick.

"I don't know how to describe the ground at Greenwich--it isn't sand but it isn't clay and it doesn't have the feel of plain dirt. It does not have much hold and after the first few rides word quickly filtered back to the barns to really stud up. With the big studs the ground rode fine."

A photo slide show from Tuesday's cross-country, courtesy of www.greenwich.co.uk.

Wednesday's program consisted of two consecutive show jumping competitions to determine both the team result (winner: Great Britain) and the individual high-scorer (Piggy French of Great Britain). A showjumping demonstration by specialist jumpers and riders also gave the arena a workout.

Leader of Greenwich Council Mr. Chris Roberts was quoted on the greenwich.co.uk web site as saying that being a host borough continued “to be a source of tremendous pride” for his district.

"(One thousand) of our residents are working on the Olympic sites, our businesses have secured something like £70million worth of contracts and we have the most iconic venues of the Games, which will continue to support our tourism in the years following the Games," Roberts is quoted as saying.

Just out of site in this shot is the Greenwich Maritime Museum, one of the greatest historical museums in the world, and the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the 0 hour by which all clocks in the world are set and time zones and meridiens of longitude are determined.

In case you ever wondered: there is no daylight savings time in GMT.

If you're looking for Greenwich on your GPS, the longitude coordinate is 0° 0' 0". Latitude, however, is 51° 28' 38"N.

At night, a green laser cuts through the night sky in Greenwich to mark the meridien.

So what happens on Wednesday night? Does someone pull a plug? Does the arena have a fold-up command, will the stables deflate, do the crowds just disappear?

The main part of the park has already been re-opened to the public, after being closed off during the cross-country.

You get the feeling that Greenwich Park--which is 568 years old--might just go back to being a place for picnics and dog walkers. There's probably a plan to fill in all the hoofprints, and leave no trace of the horses behind.

But they'll be back, and they're bringing their friends. Word is spreading around the world that Greenwich has passed The Test, with flying colors.

Let's hope that Olympic mascots Wenlock (left) and Mandeville (right) aren't allowed anywhere near the horses. (Photo by Matt Northam)

The Olympic Rings hang in a London train station; I wonder if they are pointing the way to Platform 9 3/4? There's no question that for many people, a trip to London for the Olympics next year will be full of Harry Potter symbolism. I wonder if the cross-country or show jumping designers will theme an obstacle or jump that will be recognizable as such only to the wizards in the crowd.

Travel from the coffin bone to the periople in a special microscopic image; just click here to order this poster created by Dr Lisa Lancaster at the Equine Foot Laboratory at Michigan State University.

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