Laminitis-Survivor Overdose Wins in Germany, Sets New Course Record

Overdose, the Hungrian wonder horse who survived a long layoff for what was described as laminitis, broke a track record in Germany yesterday. (Photo via Flickr.com's Gabor Dvornik)

Some quick good news for a Sunday afternoon: Hungarian wonder-horse Overdose is back to his winning ways. Once undefeated, the horse went into an extended layup when he was suffering from some form of laminitis, as reported on this blog last May. Last year he suffered his first defeat but yesterday, after another seven-month layup, he not only won, he set a new course record!

Much of Overdose's successful return to racing had been credited to his American glue-on shoes, made by Sound Horse Technologies, and his British farrier, Stuart Packham who is apparently something of a national hero in Hungary.  I don't know if Stuart is still with Overdose, but something is working.

In a race last year, Overdose lost one of his glue-ons during the race but still won. I think that lost shoe was the most famous shoe story in many years!

Stuart Packham's shoeing of Overdose was featured in a step-by-step story in one of the many Hungarian blogs about Overdose. (This is not meant to be an advertisement for the shoes; it is a great photo story for anyone who'd like to see one of these shoes applied.)

The Racing Post, as usual, has more details about yesterday's win. It sounds like he may be headed for Royal Ascot if all goes well. Wouldn't you love to see him against Black Caviar?

 © 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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Overdose Is Back! Champion Euro Sprinter Wins After Laminitis Layup

Great news from Bratislava, Slovakia this weekend: Champion Hungarian sprinter Overdose, a.k.a. "The Budapest Bullet", remained undefeated when he won a race. This was his first start since being sidelined for 15 months by laminitis. Overdose's recovery from laminitis was featured in the Hoof Blog in May. Should Overdose stay sound and fit, he is slated to run in England this summer.

© 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.

The Long-Awaited Comeback of Overdose: Laminitis Recovery for the Hungarian Wonder Horse

"Does he look ready to you, Hoof Blog Friends?" Hungarian Thoroughbred trainer Sandor Ribarszki holds the left front foot of his country's idol racehorse "Overdose" in Neuenhagen near Berlin, Germany, last week. Overdose suffered from laminitis more than a year ago. He seems to have hoof casting tape or a wrap (as suggested by one reader--I assumed it was tape since it is so prevalent these days) on this left front and a glue-on shoe on his right front. The Hoof Blog has had a lot of readers from Hungary in the past year; perhaps they are learning about laminitis treatments used on their national hero. Overdose's folkloric comeback is reported on web updates in all sorts of languages. Photo from fOTOGLIF EPA/TIM BRAKEMEIER

Overdose's return to racing has been pushed back again: the racing press in Europe reported him scratched from a race in Berlin, Germany today, but entered in a race at Royal Ascot in England over Memorial Day weekend. That's a tall order for a horse recovering from laminitis. The five-year-old has a huge following all over the world and over 1,000 Facebook fans. They call him "The Budapest Bullet". He's the winningest racehorse to come out of Hungary in generations. Photo from fOTOGLIF EPA/TIM BRAKEMEIER

This video slide show of images of Overdose has a soundtrack of one-liners from the US film Seabiscuit. There are a lot of parallels between the two horses. Overdose was purchased for 2000 pounds in England and went on to win there and in Germany, Italy, Hungary and France. He is the national hero of Hungary and the Hungarians want to see him run again.

Just watch him run; this race was at the beautiful Baden-Baden spa in Germany. It's fun to watch this clip just to listen to the call.

16 May 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

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Good Luck for the Easter Bunny: Tiny Hungarian Horseshoes Decorate an Ostrich Egg to Remember

This egg is decorated with more than 1000 tiny horseshoes. 

Gyula Laszlo is the egg farrier. That's right. He shoes eggs. And he does it in a most beautiful way.

Hungarian tradition calls for Easter eggs to incorporate horseshoes into the design or pattern. But the shoes aren't painted on or even glued on. Over the centuries, talented artisans have perfected the ancient craft of actually applying--nailing!--tiny horseshoes to the fragile eggs.

Amazing artists like Gyula Laszlo create hundreds of horseshoe-adorned eggs each spring.

Watch this video to see some of his work:

© 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).

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.