What makes a farrier tick? And what makes a farrier tick after 30 years on the job? Maybe it's those horses who hug you back. Maybe it's a walk on the beach with your truck dog in between barn calls. Maybe it's living in a beautiful place like Maine.
Or maybe it's just being comfortable in yourself and loving what you do every day.
I think that's what we have here.
I've known John Deans probably for as long as I've been around the hoof world. We've sat through some of the best and some of the worst lectures and clinics that the farrier associations and vet clinics in New England could organize.
Watching this video made me realize just how long that's been, and how we all get a little sentimental about our jobs when we settle in and realize we've been doing it for a very long time--because it's what we want to do and because we live where we want to live.
I have a feeling that many people could fit the template of this video, but with different landscapes behind them and different truck dogs. It's a fitting template for someone who fits right in in their environment, and is as comfortable with themselves as they are with the animals who share their days.
Technical note: If you're looking closely at what John's doing in this video, you might be confused if you're not from a snowy part of North America. He's applying what we call "snow shoes". They are standard-issue around here. It's hard to see the shoe, but the pad has a big bubble in the center that pops the snow out so that no snowballs form in the foot. The shoe might have borium (hardsurfacing) on it or tiny studs, both for traction, or John might have driven in a couple of tungsten-tipped nails that add traction.
Thanks to Emma Deans (left) for making this video. Emma is John's daughter; she recently graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington and is pursuing what will surely be an exciting career in multimedia journalism. You can learn more about Emma and her adventures at http://emmadeans.com/. Something tells me we'll be hearing more from her!
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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.
The University of Pennsylvania built a world-class equine hospital and research center outside Philadelphia in the 1950s. "New Bolton Center" is now a household word to Hoofcare and Lameness readers, but it was big news when the clinic opened almost 70 years ago. It was such big news that legendary radio commentator Paul Harvey had to tell America "the rest of the story". The equine surgery unit is known worldwide for its innovative anesthesia-recovery pool.
Update: I am sorry that the original recording of the 1950s Paul Harvey radio program describing the futuristic wonders of the Penn Vet New Bolton Center equine hospital is no longer available.
It seems like a long time ago, but as soon as I hear the voice, I'm taken back in time.
At our house, there was a radio on the kitchen counter. It came on when a blizzard or a hailstorm was predicted. It came on when Something Big happened in the news. It told me that Martin Luther King had been assassinated, that Nixon had resigned, that Secretariat had been syndicated and retired to stud.
That radio played right through mealtimes and while our bodies were fueled, our brains were alternately bombarded and enriches with the news of the world and, on summer afternoons, the Red Sox games. It came on at breakfast, lunch and dinner: the news seemed especially important at lunch.
Lunchtime was especially important. My father came home from his office to check the farm every day at noon, and lunch was on the table at exactly 12. We might talk right through the news but a few minutes after noon, the room went silent and we all listened for about four minutes.
A man's voice filled the kitchen and he told us a story.
Radio storyteller Paul Harvey
It wasn't the stories he told, but how he told them. Many of the stories were about everyday things. He had a sing-songy voice, though, and the story was always a puzzle. He'd talk in a staccato rhythm that almost hypnotized you.
On and on he rambled and then, bam! He'd hit you with an ending you weren't expecting. And every day's story ended the same way: "And....now...you...know the REST of the story..."
We'd look at each other. Usually, none of us had any inkling what the rest of the story was until Paul Harvey let the storyteller's cat out of his bag.
I don't think I was listening the day he described the medical wonders of the University of Pennsylvania's new futuristic medical center--with the punch line that it was horses, not people--but I know my family would have cheered.
How did he come up with those stories, day in and day out? I don't know, but if he was writing now, he'd surely be a blogger.
I didn't grow up with the tradition of radio as my primary source of news and entertainment; I was a product of television (Thanks, Bullwinkle! Thanks, Mr. Ed!), to be sure, but I think there must have been such magic to gather around the radio in the days before television and be carried away by the talented people who finessed that medium.
There's a little of it left today, and you can hear it on Christmas when NPR broadcasts the radio play of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, or on some of the great NPR, APR and BBC radio shows like This American Life.
I experienced what I call one of my "Paul Harvey moments" when I listened to a radio documentary tribute to John Lennon on the anniversary of his death last December. I was driving through New Jersey on my way home from the AAEP Convention, serenaded by song after song by John Lennon. It took a while before I realized that what I was listening to was actually a documentary. As I continued to listen, the documentary ended and the broadcast went live.
I started to listen a little more closely.
Then it happened. At precisely the moment when John Lennon had been shot outside his Manhattan apartment 30 years earlier, I realized I was leaving New Jersey and climbing up the ramp onto the George Washington Bridge. I'd be driving over the Hudson River, with the lights of all of New York and New Jersey twinkling as far as the eye could see.
New York's George Washington Bridge
I knew that people would be gathering in Central Park's Strawberry Fields far below me. I didn't know, though, that Yoko Ono would light two candles on the windowsill of the dark apartment where she and Lennon had lived, as a signal to the fans standing vigil in the park. But I do believe that at just that moment, when the radio played Give Peace a Chance and I was crossing the middle of the span, all the lights of Manhattan below me blinked off and then came back on.
I had to keep driving. You don't take your eyes off the road for more than a second on the George Washington Bridge. You can't stop and ask the guy in the toll booth, "Did that really happen?"
A minute later I was in the Bronx, rocketing toward Connecticut and home.
I don't know what will happen one week from today, on September 11, to mark the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Towers attack and disaster. But I wish I had the bird's eye view from the top of that bridge, and I wish Paul Harvey was still alive to talk to me from that little radio, so he could tell me the rest of the story.
I think I'll turn off the television that day, and turn on the radio, so I can really hear what someone has to say. Radio has a power all its own, as I've known all my life but just realized now.
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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.
If there is one thing that we all learned by watching the Kentucky Derby this year, it was the term "condylar fracture". Watching first Battle of Hastings and then Archarcharch load into the horse ambulance was the low point of the day.
Are you one of the people who just shrugs and says, "That's racing!" or are you one of the people who asks, "Why? Why? Why?"
Maybe this article will raise the eyebrows of people in both camps and get them both saying, "What if..."
So what if...
What if a standing MRI could help identify horses with potential fetlock problems before any injury ever even happens? It's possible, and that's the prospect that equine practitioner John Peloso of Equine Medical Associates of Ocala, Florida put forward in March in an article in Thoroughbred Times.
Little did he know how timely the article would be six weeks later!
Let's start with the injury. Condylar fracture means that the portion of the long bone that was broken was the condyle. When you look at the end of the cannon bone, you see a ridge in the middle, between two rounded bulbs, called condyles.
The fetlock joint surface can be subject to a lot of wear and tear, as well as evidence of a degenerative condition, that might now show on a radiograph but might be visible via MRI. (John Peloso DVM photo)
The condyles sit in the fetlock joint and rotate within it, like balls in a socket, as the horse flexes his lower leg. Battle of Hastings' fracture was the medial (rough translation: inner side of the limb) condyle, whereas Archarcharch's injury involved the lateral (rough translation: outer side of the limb) condyle.
Racehorses are especially prone to condylar fractures. Something (trainers like to call it "a bad step") causes increased pressure on the condyles in the fetlock joint. Normally a horse is fine but sometimes the condyle fractures, to varying degrees. A radiograph will show what looks like a crack in the cannon bone in the condyle area.
Thoroughbreds "Make It or Break It"
In his article, Dr Peloso reminds us that the process of building and creating an equine athlete is dependent on the horse's ability to "remodel" his bones.
The rigors of training cause a horse to continually lose bone and then replace it. In a healthy normal horse, the resulting replacement is more dense than the original.
But in some horses, the lost bone is not adequately replaced or fortified. This is called non-adaptive bone modeling. The effects of training may actually weaken the bone rather than fortify it.
If you have looked at a good radiograph of a horse's fetlock and cannon bone, you know that bone has different density values, and yet the inadequate bone modeling syndrome is deep in the bone and difficult for a radiograph to show. The depth of the problem means that the tissue around the joint doesn't swell, either. It's invisible.
MRI scans the fetlock in 3-D
Which horse would you bet on? The horse on the left had not begun training; the horse on the right shows mild thickening of the subchondral bone in the condyle region. (John Peloso photo)
Dr Peloso recommends the use of standing MRI to evaluate racehorses. MRI scans the fetlock in three dimensions and shows what's going on with the soft tissue in and around the joint as well as the architecture of the bony column itself. And with standing MRI, the horse does not need general anesthesia; trainers are reluctant to schedule their horses in training for anesthesia.
Standing MRI allows the horse to stand in a natural position while the scanning goes on. The horse is sedated but does not need general anesthesia. (Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging photo)
Certainly there is no way to know how many injuries can be prevented by monitoring fetlocks for non-adaptive bone remodeling. But in human medicine, MRI is the modality of choice to routinely detect almost-invisible stress fractures in athletes.
Dr Peloso noted that standing MRI screening of the fetlock is commonly performed in England, Ireland, France and Dubai, where many vet clinics are equipped with standing MRI units and may screen as many as two to three racehorses per day.
What veterinarians like Dr. Peloso hope to help trainers avoid: two examples of the early stages of condylar fracture of the fetlock. The red arrows are pointing to white crack-like lines that indicate a fracture has begun. (John Peloso photo)
Of course, you have to wonder why this happens at all: why are some horses normal? Why is it that the bones in other horses--horses who look and act perfectly healthy--just don't adapt properly?
Those are big questions. MRI can't answer those but a racehorse monitoring protocol of standing MRI sounds like a hopeful proposal that could possibly save some American horses' lives, careers or months lost from training. It could be that famous "ounce of prevention" that is worth many pounds of surgery, layup and rehabilitative cure.
Thanks to the kindness of our friends at Thoroughbred Times, we're able to post the entire article by Dr Peloso here on the Hoof Blog. You'll find an interactive window at the end of this article. Use the controls at the bottom of the document window to enlarge the text or scroll through the pages.
To contact Dr Peloso about his work on bone remodeling in Thoroughbreds, please contact John G. Peloso, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS, Equine Medical Center of Ocala, 7107 West Highway 326, Ocala, Florida 34482.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Hoofcare Publishing contracted to receive compensation for compiling this post but the veterinary expertise and opinions in the article were provided by John Peloso DVM and Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging. The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only, and should not be used to replace professional veterinary advice for your horse. Visitors to the website are responsible for how they choose to utilize this content. 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.
When I first found out that John Edwards was only 22 years old, I thought that was pretty young. But when I listened to what he had to say about his chosen career as a farrier, I changed my mind, and I think you will, too.
John Edwards has the necessary sense of humility to understand that working with horses is a process, not a top-down delivery. And in almost any career you choose, when you work with horses your feelings for your career will go through changes. John Edwards may be keen on shoemaking now, but a few years from now he might get sidelined by working on some foundered horses or get fascinated with natural horsemanship or equine behavior.
All work with horses has many facets and phases, and he's absolutely right when he says that your learning is never done...and that anyone who claims to know it all or have all the answers must be very new to the scene.
John Edwards is a farrier in Navan, Ontario whose bio at the end of the slideshow gives the intriguing information that he plays the fiddle and curls. (Curling is that amazing ice sport played in the Olympics by players armed with brooms chasing what looks like giant spinning hockey pucks.)
This story originally was published in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario. It was written by Bruce Deachman, who called John "One in a Million".
I know from personal experience that there are a lot more than "one in a million"...but we could still use a whole lot more young farriers like John Edwards.
Thanks to Bruce Deachman for making this multimedia file available for The Hoof Blog.
The New York Times has a slide show today that allows readers to see Zenyatta in her new life at Kentucky's Lane's End Farm, including a visit from horseshoer John Collins, who took care of her feet when she was a yearling.
The New York Times has given us something to brighten up this January day: a great Zenyatta-at-home slide show. The most talked-about new resident of Kentucky, Zenyatta has been going through a makeover that will ultimately, with luck, see her turn into an equine domestic diva.
The Times peeks in at Zenyatta like she's a celebrity hanging out at a spa ranch. Watch the highlights of Zenyatta's day...none less important, of course, than having her hooves trimmed by John Collins. Love the tongue, Zenyatta.
What the Times didn't tell us is that Johnny Collins and Zenyatta go way back. The Georgetown breeding farm specialist took care of Zenyatta's hooves when she was a baby. Zenyatta "wrote" in her diary about life at Lane's End:
"My blacksmith here at Lane’s End is the same person who took care of my feet years ago when I lived in Kentucky! His name is Johnny Collins. He is the same man who put on my shoes when I went to the Keeneland Sale in September, 2005! He took care of my feet when I was a little girl!
"Now, here he is taking off my shoes at the farm several years later. This is absolutely adorable! Johnny told me he’d been keeping track of me and all of my progress since then! It was so great to touch base with him, my first blacksmith, after all of these years!"
Zenyatta stays in touch with her fans through daily diary entries on her popular Zenyatta Blog; she probably has more followers than anyone in the horse business!
She wrote? I know, I know. But if you read Zenyatta's blog every day, you really will start to believe that the mare is talking to you. If someone is ghostwriting for Lady Z, or channeling her thoughts, he or she is doing a great job!
Still not announced: which of Kentucky's eligible stallions will be selected to sire Zenyatta's first foal? Which one would you choose? I'd go with Medaglia d'Oro, I think.
by Fran Jurga | 2 September 2009 | Fran Jurga Hoof Blog
I had an idea for this blog post: Everyone turn the sound off when you watch this video, and then you won't be influenced by the location. Because for nine minutes and thirty seconds, this video takes you into a universal setting. This shoeing forge could be in Colorado or Sweden or Turkey or Japan or New Zealand, with few changes. It's a pretty universal scene.
However, the sound is very nicely recorded and adds a lot; after a while, the apprentice's voice comes on and you'll hear what it's like to train as a second-year apprentice farrier in remote Donegal, on the northwestern edge of Ireland.
I play a lot of games when I watch farrier videos (and I watch a lot of them). I love to watch the background activity (and give bonus points for multiple dogs) and in this case, the shoe pile jumps out of the background and dominates the whole forge. Obviously they aren't worried about earthquakes in Donegal or else John and Heather will be buried in old shoes some day.
A game I like to play with non-US videos is to try to pick out the countries where tools and clothing and shop decor were made. In this video we see Kevin Keegan's ubiquitous Hoof Jack--is there a country on earth that the Hoof Jack hasn't conquered? I'm staring at one in my office right now as I write this.
Readers: send in photos of your Hoof Jacks in a native setting showing what it's like in your part of the world where you live and work. Just make sure the Hoof Jack is in the photo somewhere. I'll post them on the blog.
I wondered where the loop knife came from: Canada? Australia? Montana? Germany? and John's apron has a made-in-the-USA look to it. The "w" on the shoes is the forge is a giveaway that they are by Werkman and from Holland.
That's just a start, you can take it from there. Many thanks to the gentle director and editor who refrained from a voiceover narration, intro music and splashy graphics. They had the good sense to just let this scene speak for itself so those of us who know what to listen and look for, can. And I hope you will.
It's just ten minutes out there in the farrier universe.
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.
by Fran Jurga | 3 May 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
On Wednesday, The Hoof Blog wrote about The California Cripple, a.k.a. Swaps, the winner of the 1955 Kentucky Derby. Today we'd like you to meet The Club-Footed Comet, the unflattering nickname for Assault, winner of the 1946 Kentucky Derby, and the entire Triple Crown.
Poor Assault was plagued with health problems and it almost seemed like his mashed up hoof was the least of them. But he was lucky enough to be born in Texas on the expansive King Ranch, where he would receive the best care and be sent to the great trainer Max Hirsch.
Mr. Kleberg, owner of King Ranch, believed that his million acres of Texas was the ideal place to raise racehorses both because of the climate and because the feet could develop naturally.
According to the archives of the New York Times, Kleberg's theories of raising horses would be in line with the natural horsemanship theories of today. He did not think young horses' hooves would develop correctly if foals were kept in stalls.
Unfortunately, the wide open spaces backfired on his most talented colt.
The story is that Assault stepped on a stake while turned out as a foal and that his foot was not actually deformed but that he did walk with a limp that would make you think he could never run. But run was about the only thing he could do.
If Assault was around today he would probably never make it past the regulatory vet.
The nature of his injury is vague and radiographs were not available back in the 1940s, but perhaps he lost part of his coffin bone; it really could have been any sort of a traumatic injury.
The official King Ranch biography of Assault tells us that the injury caused the foot to "become infected and the damaged hoof to be cut almost entirely away.
He wore a special shoe on that foot for the rest of his life and limped at a walk or a trot...It is incorrect to say that he was club-footed; when he was in a standing position, the misshapen foot showed no discernible defect."
One writer described the frog as looking like a block of wood.
John Dern was Assault's horseshoer and it was always said that his shoe for Assault was a secret design, but it is described in the Assault's biography from the Blood-Horse's "Legends" book series as being nailed at the heels and having a very broad toe clip or perhaps even being a rockered toe, to aid in keeping the shoe on.
No photos of the bottom of Assault's foot are ever shown; it's likely that the deformity showed loud and clear on the bottom, even if the hoof capsule looked pretty normal in shape and size.
Max Hirsch recalled, "He never showed any signs that it was hurting him... I think that when the foot still hurt him, he got in the habit of protecting it with an awkward gait, and then he kept it up. But he galloped true. There wasn't a thing wrong with his action when he went fast."
Assault had some unorthodox training under Hirsch, who took several months off from racing each winter and shipped his clients' horses to the fair grounds in Columbia, South Carolina for the winter. They stayed in training, but all had their shoes pulled. Whether he made an exception for Assault or not is not known.
by Fran Jurga | 16 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
UPDATE: Steffen Peters' freestyle score on Saturday night was high enough to put him over the top and declare the USA winner of the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup in Dressage in Las Vegas. This is the first-ever non-European victory in the World Cup. Peters bested Germany's Isabel Werth on Satchmo by only .45 points; Dutch defending World Cup champion Anky Van Grunsven on IPS Painted Black--her #2 horse--was third.
The following story was written on Thursday night when Peters and Ravel won the Grand Prix, the first event in the World Cup competition. That was a shock in itself; this overall victory is astounding.
Two important bits of horse history were made and celebrated in the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada today: First of all, an American horse and rider combination won the Rolex FEI World Cup Final Grand Prix, first leg of the Dressage World Cup Finals.
This is akin to an American soccer team winning in the FIFA World Cup! Steffen Peters and the black Dutch gelding Ravel bested second place rider (and defending World Cup champion) Anky Van Grunsven of The Netherlands by 3.8 points in a sport that is usually decided by decimals--and has never been won by an American!
But the Hoofcare and Lameness community will want to know that this was more than a sporting victory: it was a technological victory, as the San Diego-based duo did it the new-fangled way. Ravel has now won 11 shows in a row in the USA and finished fourth in the 2008 Olympics wearing glued EponaShoes on his front feet. Ravel is shod by Stephan Tournier of Fallbrook, California.
It was a great night for innovators in the hoof technology world.
I spoke with John Craig of Eponashoes tonight, who said that he and his wife, Monique, are thrilled for Steffen and Ravel; they are also the developers of Metron software for quantitative hoof measurement analysis. John said that the shoes are held on by glue and a couple of nails, as well, in the case of this large warmblood. Ravel is owned by Akiko Yamazaki of California.
The World Cup will be decided on Saturday night when the top horses from today's Grand Prix compete in the musical freestyle. Stay tuned: a lot can happen, but Steffen has a solid lead.
Top photo of Ravel links to www.clubequestrian.com, the social networking site of the US Equestrian Team. Thanks to Joanie Morris and John Craig for information used in this post.
What will people pay for a dirty horseshoe? We'll find out soon. (Amy Manning photo)
Last week was a tough one for horses and horseshoes. When an Appaloosa named Mouse held up the Inaugural Parade for an hour while he was being extricated from a bumper-mounted winch that he somehow stuck his leg into, people were calling for horses to be banned from future parades. (The incident happened even before the parade began.)
The next thing that I heard was that the incident happened because he was shod with steel shoes. Had he been barefoot, I was told, he would not have slipped and fallen.
Photos showed the horse down on the ground with his hind legs up in the air, but these pictures were taken only after he was sedated, so that the SUV's bumper could be dismantled.
In earlier photos, the horse is standing stock still, with his hind leg caught between the winch and the bumper. This smart Appaloosa did not struggle or panic.
Brooke Vrany of Days End Farm Horse Rescue was on hand with the farm's ambulance and the horse was vanned off with a police and veterinary escort.
I thought this story was over, but it's not.
Enter the horse's owner, who was not, in this case, the rider. Amy Manning gave lots of background about her horse and the incident; her story matches Brooke's: Mouse backed up, encountered the winch on the bumper of the SUV and kicked back at it. When his leg was trapped, he waited for the vets, in this case, two US Army Veterinary Corps practitioners.
It turns out Mouse is a veteran of many parades and had stayed calm during a helicopter landing earlier in the day.
One reason Mouse stayed on his feet may have been that his shoes were liberally sprinkled with Borium. Without it, they would have been slippery on the pavement, it's true.
And tonight, Mouse's shoes have been pulled by his regular farrier, John Haven of Henderson, Maryland, and they are not hanging on a fence. Not laying on a tack trunk. Not bouncing around in the back of John's truck.
They're on eBay.
Amy Manning is very grateful to Brooke Vrany and Days End Farm Horse Rescue for the expertise that Brooke brought to the scene, and for their professionalism in spiriting the horse off through a crowd estimated at two million.
Days End Farm's ambulance and crew were at the parade site as volunteers, and received no compensation for their time or services, as is often the case when they attend to horses at the bottom of a ditch or crashed through the ice into a pond.
So the shoes that helped keep Mouse on his feet while he kept the new President of the United States waiting can be yours, and the money will go to Days End Farm Horse Rescue.
The shoes, by the way, are St Croix Xtras, and both the owner and the farrier reported that all the horsemen in the parade were given a manual for preparation, which included the requirement that every horse must be shod on all four feet with steel shoes and Borium or a similar hard-facing for traction. As you can see in the photo, Mouse's shoe has puddles on the toe and big nuggets on his heels.
Amy added another point of order from the rule book: she had to sign a release saying that she gave permission for her horse to be euthanized without warning in the event of a mishap during the parade.
One of the shoes has already had 12 bids and the auction only began today. A third shoe will be added tonight, and Amy will keep the fourth for her own memento.
I think one of them would look great hanging in the White House. Or your house!
Click here to view the first shoe and its eBay auction.
Click here to view the second shoe and its eBay auction.
Click here to view a news video showing Mouse recovering at the Days End Farm Equine Rescue Center in Maryland.
Click here to view the Days End Farm account of the mishap and learn more about their rescue operations. Days End works only with law enforcement cases and takes in only horses taken from owners, not those voluntarily surrendered. Its equine ambulance and emergency rescue service is active in teaching equine rescue and handling, as well as being out there on the front lines.
If you are not the eBay type and would like to send a donation, mail your check to Days End Farm Horse Rescue, Attn: Inaugural Parade Thank You, P.O. Box 309, Lisbon, Maryland 21765 USA.
The Farrier Conference at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention in San Diego wrapped up last Wednesday night at a "meet the speakers" reception that included some key figures in the world of hoof research, education, and innovation. All farrier conference attendees were invited to the reception.
Many of the people reading this blog have been the beneficiaries of the hard work and even harder thinking that the men and women in the room that night have brought to the art and science of caring for horses' hooves. It was an honor just to be in the room!
The conference was moderated by Dr. Steve O'Grady, who somehow escaped the camera, as did speakers Jay Merriam and Ian McKinlay.
Thanks to everyone who had anything to do with the conference, especially John Suttle, who encouraged farriers to attend--which they did! The audience was an interesting mix of vets and farriers, young and old, from all over the country--and the world.
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.
posted by Fran Jurga | 24 November 2008 | www.hoofcare.blogspot.com based on information from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP)
John Castle posed with his Appaloosa horse Spot as the horse suffered tragically from laminitis. The mystery of the disease led Mr. and Mrs. Castle to become leaders in encouraging and funding research and new treatments for laminitis. (photo courtesy of John K. Castle)
Philanthropists John K. and Marianne Castle are the 2008 recipients of the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ George Stubbs Award, an honor that recognizes contributions made to equine veterinary medicine by individuals other than veterinarians. The AAEP will present the award on December 9 during the association’s 54th Annual Convention in San Diego, California.
Laminitis had a devastating effect on the Castle family when their beloved Appaloosa, Spot, began to suffer recurrent bouts of laminitis and crippling chronic founder. Mr. and Mrs. Castle worked with a team of respected AAEP members, led by Dr. James Orsini, and then-farrier Rob Sigafoos at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center to test innovative treatment techniques while maintaining Spot’s quality of life. Their total dedication to the quality of life of their horse led the treatment team at the New Bolton Center to new levels of inspired care.
In 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Castle announced a gift of $1 million to support the establishment of the Laminitis Institute, an international laminitis research initiative at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
Mr. and Mrs. Castle are well-known to many readers of Hoofcare and Lameness Journal and have forged a lasting bond with the farrier/vet community around the world through their sponsorship of the International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held bi-annually in West Palm Beach, Florida. They play an active role in the scientific, practical and social aspects of the popular conference.
In honor of their contributions to equine medicine, the third edition of the Dr. Tom Divers and Dr. Jim Orsini book, Equine Emergencies: Treatment and Procedures, is dedicated to the Castles.
Mr. and Mrs. Castle will travel from their home in New York to receive the AAEP award and, no doubt, share their enthusiasm for the ongoing campaign to resolve the mystery of the disease that affected their beloved horse and continues to challenge researchers, practitioners, farrier, trainers and owners.
About the award: The Stubbs Award is named for George Stubbs (1724 – 1806), the artist and teacher who played a vital role in veterinary education. His reference book, Anatomy of the Horse, published more than 200 years ago, is still universally recognized as an authoritative equine anatomical depiction.
John K. and Marianne Castle are friendly and enthusiastic supporters of professionals involved in laminitis research and treatment. (Fran Jurga photo)
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.
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A horse trains over the hilly Pro-Ride covered training track at Lindsay Park Training Center in Australia. (Photo at www.prorideracing.com)
(NOTE TO EMAIL-SUBSCRIBER READERS: This blog post contains two video clips. To watch the videos, you will need to click here and read this post on the blog's web site.)
“Training on dirt, you know exactly where you are going into a race. Synthetics? They all seem to train well over it but they don’t all run well. So, it’s a question mark.” (Trainer Todd Pletcher earlier today)
"Sure, I guess it is good publicity if a horse wearing my shoes wins the Breeders Cup but right now I don't care if my horses win or lose. I just want them to all come home safely. None of us wants to see an injury in the Breeders Cup, or any race, but on Saturday, well, I can't wait until it's over. And they're all home safe and sound." (Horseshoe manufacturer)
If you haven't been following the Breeders Cup, here's the nutshell version (Readers: if you are already up to speed on the Breeders Cup, please skip past this recap): America's biggest race series has expanded to two days this year, culminating in the Breeders Cup Classic, where 2007 Horse of the Year and all-time leading money earner Curlin will face off against the best American horses left standing and some of the best horses that Ireland and England have to offer.
Interest in the Classic was toned down several notches with the defection of Big Brown a few weeks ago, when a training mis-step ripped his heel and sent him to the Breeders Shed instead of the Breeders Cup.
The x factor in the Breeders Cup is that while the championship has been hosted at Santa Anita Racecourse outside Los Angeles, California in the past, this is the first time that it will be raced on an artificial surface. Santa Anita agreed to host the 2008 races years ago and installed an artificial surface last year, but had to rip it up and installed a different one in September of this year. The dark-colored Pro-Ride surface from Australia has not been raced on by most of the horses.
To make matters more interesting, most of the European horses have never raced on anything but grass. (And some Euro runners are entered in the turf races.) Classic entries HenrytheNavigator and Duke of Marmalade are running on a non-grass surface for the first time. The Euro excuse for poor performance over dirt in the past when running in the USA is that the horses hate having dirt kicked in their faces. And Pro Ride claims little to no kickback.
As Todd Pletcher says, horses all seem to train well over artificial tracks but they sometimes run differently than they would on dirt.
This video clip will give you an idea of how the hoof hits the surface; you can also see how dark the material is:
Colonel John and Tiago are two horses in the Classic who have won on an artificial surface; Japan's undefeated Casino Drive shipped in a month ago and ran in an allowance race in order to see how the undefeated colt did on the new track. (He won.)
According to the Pro-Ride web site, the new surface "has minimal kickback, provides greater hoof support and is the most consistent surface available." And, most interesting of all, it does not require watering.
The company estimates that the hoof penetrates 20 mm into the surface. Comments from farriers include that the surface does stick inside the foot, especially along the frog, and that some horses appear to be shedding the back parts of their frogs.
Horses need to adjust to a surface for exactly those kinds of reasons. Many Thoroughbreds have intentionally-thinned soles to create a cupping effect, but if the cup fills with track surface, it can make the horse sore until the horse gets used to it and the sole hardens. If a horse's sole fills with dirt or his frog is sore, he may adjust his stride to land more toe first, or heel first, as need be to avoid pain.
Trainers watch for this type of change in action and will pack the feet or poultice them or work with the horseshoer to adjust or change the shoes. Some horses in California now train over the artificial surfaces without shoes while trainers try to figure out what the best foot solution is for an individual horses.
Trainer Bobby Frankel is quoted in the New York Daily News yesterday as one who is having troubles with his horses' feet. He blames it on the heat: "When it's 90 degrees out, the (synthetic) track surface heats up to 160 degrees."
And many horses just take the changes in stride!
Here's a video clip, courtesy of Horse Racing TV, of Curlin in a public work last week at Santa Anita. I know this is pretty boring, but watch behind him as he gallops. There is very little, if any, displacement. Also notice how deeply (or not) his feet penetrate the surface.
John Sherreffs, trainer of Tiago, said on September 25: "I've looked at the course a couple of times, but the one thing I like about any racetrack is the ability of the horse to get a hold of it and get a little rotation of the foot into the track. Some of the synthetic tracks, they just stop the foot from going into the track at all so that...they don't slide. So, there's a little jarring and, personally, I don't like that for racehorses. I prefer that they get a little hold." (NTRA quote)
Other factors affecting the championship are that the temperature continues to be in the 90s, which is very hot for the Europeans, and which may affect the track, which is not supposed to need watering...but watering has been done during this hot spell. There are also wildfires in the hills around Arcadia, which could affect air quality on some level.
Trainer D. Wayne Lucas is one who avoids racing his horses on the artificial tracks. His quote: "I'm on all dirt tracks. I gear our program to that."
Four horses have broken down since the Oak Tree meet opened on September 20th, according to the Daily Racing Form.
Hoofprints in a Pro-Ride racing surface show distinct impressions; the manufacturer claims that the hoof sinks 20 mm into the surface. General observations about artificial surfaces are that the hoof slides less. (Pro-Ride photo)
Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online or received via a daily email through an automated delivery service. This post was originally published on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at www.hoofcare.blogspot.com.
To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal, please visit our 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.
Comments to individual posts are welcome but are moderated; please click on the "comment" icon at the bottom of the post.
,Veterinarian John Steiner has died in the hospital in Albany, New York. As reported here last week, he was injured while performing services at the Rhinebeck Equine practice in Rhinebeck, New York. Dr. Steiner suffered massive head injuries. Scroll down to read more about this tragedy in last week's posts.
Rhinebeck Equine has posted a biography of John Steiner. He had recently moved back to New York to his family's farm after many years living and working in Lexington, Kentucky as a reproduction-specialist veterinarian.
Theriogenologist John Steiner DVM, Dip. ACT is hospitalized in Albany, New York this weekend after being injured in the head during a procedure on a Morgan stallion.
Dr. Steiner is in a medically-induced coma, according to local newspaper reports, with severe brain injuries. He is reported to be in critical condition.
This news brings home the message to all professionals that working around horses can be (and is) a dangerous job and that every precaution should be taken while on the job.
Dr. Steiner was a very experienced veterinarian and certainly this was a freak accident.
He is known for his work for many years in the field of equine reproduction while on staff at the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Kentucky and had recently moved to New York where he joined the Rhinebeck Equine group practice in the very horsey Dutchess County area, outside New York City.
A statement from his family said that notes and cards may be sent in care of the Rhinebeck Equine Clinic at 26 Losee Lane; Rhinebeck, NY 12572 or to the New York State Veterinary Medical Society.
(By the way, a theriogenologist is someone who specializes in reproduction.)
Kind, healing wishes to Dr. Steiner. And be careful out there, friends.
A feet-first introduction: Meet Visionaire, trained by Michael Matz. He's wearing a Kerckhaert aluminum race plate, imported from Holland. Visionaire's farrier is Todd Boston.
One shoe is worth a thousand words for Kentucky's Colonel: Look at this shoe shape. It's the "Fast Break" raceplate from Kerckhaert, also imported from Holland. Notice how broad the toe bend is. Colonel John is owned by WinStar Farm and trained by Irishman Eoin Harty. His farrier is Steve Norman.
Blog readers must wonder if there are other horses entered in Saturday's Kentucky Derby besides Pyro and Big Brown. The blog has focused on the special footwear worn by those two...but the other 18 horses have feet and some special shoes, too!
Our friend Dan Burke of Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) must have some sort of a VIP backstage pass at the Derby. He seems to show up at the stakes barn every year and usually has some great photos to share.
Thanks to Dan for sharing these photos. I guess it is no coincidence that these two horses are wearing Kerckhaert plates, as was War Emblem a few years ago. Dan's company imports Kerckhaert shoes to the USA. Thanks, Dan!
PS For all the racing people checking in to this blog, especially the ones referred by the New York Times (thank you!): Look at these feet and you will see why we put so much store in the size, shape, and fine points of a horse's hooves. You can easily see that the frog (triangular tissue protruding on base of foot) is very different in each horse, as is the shape of the foot. There are always differences between front and hind shapes, and often between left and right, on the same horse, but the difference from horse to horse may not be obvious until you see two photos together, as we are showing you here. Unfortunately, the horse with the best feet is often not the fastest, or else we'd have cleaned up at the betting window years ago. However, the horses with better feet stand a chance of racing longer and staying sounder. If you are going to race a gelding, you want him to have great feet!
