Kentucky Derby: Horseshoes (and a Horseshoer's Daughter) Ready to Run for the Roses

Here's the Kentucky Derby news you won't ready anywhere else. And the photos no one else would think to take. But by the time you've read this, you'll have to admit that it makes a good case for ESPN adding a hoof analyst for the Triple Crown. It's not just the shoes and hooves, either, as you'll read. It's the people.

Hoofcare and Lameness will be watching the Kentucky Derby from the comfort of home (darn it) this year but that didn't stop us from deputizing Dan Burke of Farrier Product Distribution in Shelbyville, Kentucky to snap a few backstretch photos for the blog this week.

Dan was at Churchill Downs to peek over the shoulders of the horseshoers and see if his Kerckhaert race plates were being nailed (or glued) on the stakes horses. It sounds like his trip to Louisville was not in vain; Plum Pretty (shod by Tom Doolan) and St Johns River (shod by Sonny Broaddus) finished 1-2 in the Kentucky Oaks today, wearing the European plates imported by FPD. By Dan's count, at least 9 of the 20 starters in the Derby will be wearing his shoes.

Mark Dewey was working on the hind end of Mucho Macho Man. You may remember that this horse, who is one of the people's favorites, pulled a shoe leaving the starting gate in his last race at The Fair Grounds in New Orleans. He ran the race on three shoes, swapped leads an awful lot, and still finished third. The gate crew returned the lost shoe, but trainer Kathy Ritvo opted for the glue-ons for Kentucky. (Dan Burke/FPD photo/ © Hoofcare Publishing)

Mark Dewey checks the fit of a Kerckhaert shoe on Mucho Macho Man's right hind. The New York Times says this horse is THE story of the Derby. Did you know he was born technically dead? I have never seen a medical explanation of what his problem was, but all his biographical materials remind us that his life is missing its first ten minutes. He only needs about two minutes to win the Kentucky Derby. Secretariat still holds the record for the fastest Derby at 1:59 2/5.  (Dan Burke/FPD photo/ © Hoofcare Publishing)

Last year's big winner in the Kentucky Derby was New York's Ray Amato.  Does this sound familiar? Trainer Todd Pletcher seemed headed for a Kentucky Derby win with the speedy Eskendereya. Pletcher had tried and failed to win the Derby with dozens of top colts. His horseshoer Ray Amato had been trying for half a century. He thought he had a winner when he shod Sham in 1973. In spite of scratching Eskendereya when he was injured right before last year's race, Todd and Ray ended up with their first Derby winner when Super Saver captured the win. Don't count them out of this year's race, either: Uncle Mo may be out, but Stay Thirsty is still in the race to keep hope alive for a Pletcher-Amato repeat. (Dan Burke/FPD photo/ © Hoofcare Publishing)

An intimate look at the horse with the name most fun to say: Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch. These hands should belong to Teddy Fires, brother of the horse's trainer, Jinks Fires. This will be Jinks' first starter in the Derby, although he has been training horses at Churchill Downs since 1961. According to the Blood-Horse, there are three shoers in the Fires extended family, including Justin Court, who is the son of the horse's jockey, John Court, who is riding Archarcharch. And it's his first-ever Derby mount. And Jinks is his father-in-law. (Got that?) (Dan Burke/FPD photo/ © Hoofcare Publishing)

No go. Isabel Escobar holds Uncle Mo while he gets a bath on the mats during the week. The two-year-old champion was scratched Friday morning after a week of speculation. He kept galloping but was reported to be ill with a GI tract problem. I'll keep drinking Vitamin Water; the company was started by the colt's owner, Mike Repole.  (Jessica Chapel of Kentucky Confidential and Raceday360 photo / © Hoofcare Publishing)

Uncle Mo's reinforced right hind foot didn't even enter into the conversation of his scratch from the Derby; hoof repair is pretty commonplace these days. An artificial hoof wall has been constructed from the quarters to the heels on this hind foot and the shoe is nailed into the PMMA adhesive, which is structurally similar to hoof wall and will hold nails. (Jessica Chapel of Kentucky Confidential and Raceday360 photo / © Hoofcare Publishing)

Jockey Rosie Napravnik is the daughter of New Jersey horseshoer Charles Napravnik. She'll ride Pants on Fire, who is not trained by the Fires family. Rosie thrilled the world today when she rode St Johns River to a roaring second-place finish to almost catch Plum Pretty at the wire of the $1 Millions Kentucky Oaks. Maybe that was just a warmup for Saturday. Watch for Rosie on the television broadcast of the Derby. (Read all about her career, including being this year's leading rider at The Fair Grounds, on kentucky.com) (Kentucky.com photo)

Although we don't have any photos of him, partly because he just got here, I wouldn't mind if Ireland's Master of Hounds won, either; his hooves are under the watchful eye of Dr. Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic and were probably most recently under the hammer of Rood and Riddle farrier Rodney King. Dr. Morrison also worked on three of the Derby starters as foals and yearlings. That gives him 20 percent of the race. 

There are people who think that the world of Hoofcare and Lameness is on the fringe of the horse world, that's it a niche. A specialty. A quirky aspect of the game. If ever there was a group of people more at the heart of the Kentucky Derby than the hands-on-the-horses people you've just met in this article, I'd be surprised.

Just try racing without them. The horses wouldn't get far and the backstretch would be a much less interesting place.

So we'd like Stay Thirsty to win for Ray and Mucho Macho Man to win for Kathy and Mark and to show off his glue-on shoes and ArchArchArch to win for everyone in the Fires family and Pants on Fire to win for Rosie Napravnik and her horseshoeing dad. And Master of Hounds for everyone in all of Ireland and the great people at Rood and Riddle. And those are just the horses I've heard about so far; there are plenty more horses in the race, and each one of them has someone (or more than one) watching out for its feet.

Look for Uncle Mo in the Preakness, maybe, or check him out this summer in Saratoga.

We'll have a whole new web of connections by the time we get there. The Derby is only one race; these people are out there making things happen every day.

Thanks to Dan Burke and Jessica Chapel for their great photos from Churchill Downs. Please respect their loan of these photos.

© 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.

Trim Toes for Zenyatta

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.

Check it out: At Home with Zenyatta, in the January 14, 2011 online edition of the New York Times.

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 a blog post about her hooves' history in and out of horseshoes, including a nice tribute to her longtime California shoer, Tom Halpenny, who has been so generous with information to the Hoof Blog throughout her career.

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.

Thanks to the New York Times for the great slide show!

 © 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 Video: Inside the On-Site Veterinary Hospital

You can also view this video at this link, if it is not showing up here.

Note: Blog visitors may or may not see a video in this space. The video is provided by WKYT in Lexington, Kentucky and shows the temporary veterinary hospital built on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park for use during the World Equestrian Games.

Horses with serious injuries or illness have been transferred to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, which is only six miles away. Some eventing and endurance horses have been treated there but, as the video says, the injuries have been relatively minor and few in number so far. That's something to be thankful for!

The on-site hospital includes a veterinary podiatry unit provided by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in the form of a Stonewell Forge equine podiatry rig. (I learned last week from Brent Chidsey at Stonewell that this truck is not the same as a farrier truck, no matter how much it may look like one.) Dr Raul Bras DVM of Rood and Riddle, who is also a certified journeyman farrier with the American Farrier's Association has been on site several times. He speaks Spanish and has been able to assist some of the South American teams, who also found their way downtown to the Breeders Supply farrier store.

A special guest at the hospital was Professor Jean-Marie Denoix of France, who provided diagnostic ultrasound expertise at the hospital and spoke at the veterinary conference that preceded WEG.

All my knowledge of the hospital is secondhand, since security there is very tight and they won't allow media (that's me) in, hence the posting of this video, which may be as close as I ever get!

© 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: Rob Renirie's Dutch Gold Shoeing Keeps It Simple

The Dutch have dominated the dressage at the World Equestrian Games with a sweep of all three gold medals. In this photo you see Exquis Nadine, ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud, giving an uncharacteristic bolt which showed off her front shoes. All the Dutch horses were shod with straightforward quite uncomplicated shoes applied by a highly skilled farrier. (Dirk Caremans photo courtesy of Alltech)

The star of the World Equestrian Games, so far, has been the spectacular black Dutch Warmblood stallion Moorlands Totilas. He won two individual Gold Medals and led the Dutch to a team Gold Medal. The Dutch have a good sense of humor so he trotted into the arena for the medal ceremony in "solid gold" bell boots. His shoeing is very straightforward. (Detail of a Dirk Caremans photo courtesy of Alltech)

The man behind the Dutch team horses' hooves is farrier Rob Renirie. He has been the team farrier for The Netherlands for many years. He's caring for the hooves of all the Dutch horses at WEG; this photo was taken at the endurance race. (Fran Jurga photo)

It was really quiet in the office last night. I was uploading photos from the camera and a farrier came in. He'd just arrived from out west and we chatted about what he'd missed. He said something that really surprised me; it stopped me in my tracks. He said he wanted to see the feet on the gold-medal-winning Dutch dressage horses, especially Moorlands Totilas, because he figured that they must have some special gaited-horse type shoeing to get them to move like that. (Totilas has a lot of expression and almost impossible joint extension.)

I had to tell him that the shoeing doesn't have anything to do with that horse's animation, unless it is that the shoeing stays out of the horse's way. I hope that people watching the Games on video don't think that the horse is manipulated by shoes or pads or weights. The shoeing is surprisingly simple on these horses, although every aspect of the balancing and trimming of the feet is no doubt very, very carefully managed. The shoe is just the icing on the cake.

The man managing that hoof balance is longtime Dutch team farrier Rob Renirie. Having him in the United States for ten days is quite a treat. On Wednesday, he left the gold medal celebration in the Dutch camp (perhaps figuring there would be more champagne in the days to come--and if so, he was right!) to go to dinner with 16 American farriers, many of whom were from the local Lexington area. He was very friendly and generous with his information and encouragement for everyone. He hadn't met about half the farriers before, and met some of their spouses for the first time.


He also met Doug Watkins from Breeders Supply, the farrier supply store in Lexington, which he said he wanted to visit before he headed home, Mitch Taylor from Kentucky Horseshoeing School, and a delegation from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic, plus many others.

An article about Rob's presentation at the Global Dressage Forum in Holland last year, describes his basic shoeing philosophy as this: 

"The coronary band usually makes the shape of the foot and thus the shoe. For front shoes, he prefers a slightly rolling toe which covers one third of the hoof wall. He doesn’t use concave steel on dressage horses, preferring to use quite light flat steel (but not aluminum as it’s very slippery) front and back so that the shoe stays on top of the surface and allows the horse to turn easily. He thins the toe until it’s wider by about 3mm and then he lifts it a little bit, with no clips where possible, and small nails. He files as little as possible of the wall, wanting it to stay nice and straight and strong. For hind shoes, again, he hammers the toe of the shoe to create a rounded toe that so it rolls easily; he doesn’t take the toe too far back and leaves only 4.5mm over the shoe at the back. "

One of Rob's popular sayings is that "You can't make a Ferrari out of a Fiat" and that the horse needs to land on its entire foot. He believes in preserving the horse's toe and frog to absorb shock and create energy for the next stride.

He told me that he worries that single points from articles are often taken out of context and championed by horse owners who disagree with their farriers or veterinarians. He receives many emails and phone calls from U.S. warmblood owners asking for advice on horses he can't see and said he would prefer to hear from the farriers if they feel they need help.

Rob presented a masterclass in sport horse farriery at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2007.

Past Hoof Blog articles featuring Rob Renirie:
2009 Global Dressage Forum courtesy of EuroDressage
Rob Renirie at 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong

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Hoofcare@WEG: Cutest Farrier Rig at the World Equestrian Games

I don't know how Sandy Johnson gets any work done. Everyone is so curious about her cute little shoeing trailer that she has to keep showing it off. But she doesn't seem to mind.

Shoeing trailers have become the road fashion accessory of the American farrier for the past few years. Some farriers work out of them on a daily basis, and get to enjoy having a truck that functions as a truck. Or they can pull a small trailer with a smaller truck or SUV, as Sandy has done with this Honda Pilot.

The little black trailer was built this spring from Sandy's scale drawings by Stonewell Forge in Genoa, New York.

Sandy lives in Wellington, Florida, where she and her husband, Joe, operate their International Farrier Service. Horses shod by IFS competed in the Dressage at WEG in the first week and will compete in the Para Dressage in the second week. Sandy was credentialed in horse handling operations for WEG and you might have found her out on the runway at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, riding the high-low up and down with a bouquet of leadlines in her hand. Joe and Sandy were the US Team Farriers for show jumping at the World Equestrian Games in 1996 in Rome, Italy.

The black trailer is only used to service clients in the north during the off season. Sandy's is one of many clever designs rolling down the highways that are saving space and gas and making convenient unhooking locations or even transporting shoeing trailers within cargo containers for overseas work or inside big horse vans or moving vans. Try doing that with a truck.

Sorry it was raining when these photos were taken!

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Hoofcare@WEG: Educational Events for Hoof Blog Readers

Ok, horse world, it's time to plan how and when you're going to take in the opportunities waiting for you in Lexington, Kentucky over the next few weeks. And the opportunities abound, with more events being announced each day. Whether you come for a day or a week, and whether you stay in a penthouse or pitch a tent, you'll never forget this.

Think of it as Woodstock for the horse world.

The World Equestrian Games, along with downtown Lexington's International Equestrian Festival, have a great lineup of both hoofcare and lameness related events coming up over the next three weeks. Both events have trade shows with horse health exhibits; there is a third horse expo in Georgetown, Kentucky (on the north side of the Kentucky Horse Park) as well (featuring legendary trainer John Lyons), and the wonderful Secretariat Festival on Saturday, October 2 in Paris, Kentucky sounds like fun.

The education kicks off on Wednesday with the AAEP/Rood and Riddle/Alltech Veterinary Sport Horse Symposium . Familiar speakers from the Hoof Blog at the conference include Drs. Jean-Marie Denoix, Scott Morrison, Scott Pleasant, and Jeff Thomason among many others. Dr Simon Collins from Dr. Chris Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland was a late cancellation.

On Friday, the AAEP and Rood and Riddle will host A Winning Edge: Promoting Peak Performance in Equine Athletes with speakers like Dr. Hilary Clayton and farrier Rodney King on the roster of widely respected names.

The Games begin on Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park, with the opening ceremonies. The hoofcare education continues with daily lectures and demonstrations at Rood and Riddle's pavilion within the huge Alltech exhibition hall. Farrier Michael DeLeonardo will be working on thermography imaging demonstrations for Equine IR, the company that is providing free scans for the competition horses. USA team farrier Steve Teichman is speaking at the Draper Equine Therapy booth, and the Horse Park's farrier shop has just received a decor upgrade, thanks to Farrier Product Distribution.

In downtown Lexington at the International Equestrian Festival, hoofcare activities range from the Kentucky Horseshoeing School's live demonstrations to a six-lecture full seminar by Dr. Ric Redden and the heart-warming encore of Ada Gates Patton's Hoofcare@Saratoga presentation, "Debutante to Blacksmith".

The American Farrier's Association has assembled a rotating able-bodied crew of volunteer farriers who are covering various phases of the Games. Watch for farrier chairman Thom Gabel and his crews to be both providing services to teams as needed in the barn area and to be standing by ringside during events in their "official farrier" capacity. And if they need administrative support, they won't have far to go, since their national headquarters office is located right in the Horse Park.

Last but not least, Lexington opens its heart on Sunday night, October 3rd, for the premiere of the new Disney film, Secretariat, starring Diane Lane and John Malkovich. You can bet there will be plenty of Secretariat fans among the eventing spectators in Lexington that weekend. Ironically, the premiere will be the night before the anniversary of the day that Secretariat died, October 4th. Surely this will bring to mind why Secretariat died--he had laminitis--and stimulate discussion about how progress is coming on preventing and treating and understanding one of world's most elusive, painful and frustrating diseases.

Watch the Hoof Blog for lots of news and a full schedule about all these activities and many more as they approach. No matter what your interest in horses or hooves, the new few weeks in Lexington will be a feast for your senses and your mind. I hope to meet you while we're there! Send an email if you'd like to get together: blog (at) hoofcare.com. Follow the Blog's hoof-related Tweets from WEG on Twitter.com under @HoofcareJournal and general WEG Tweets under @FranJurga.

© 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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Ready, Vet, Go! Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital Shares World Equestrian Games Plan to Serve Horses, Educate Visitors

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington will make technologically advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment and personnel  available to any horses that may become sick or injured during their stay in Kentucky. This horse is being worked up on the Rood and Riddle high-speed treadmill so that his metabolism and airways can be evaluated.

Many of the people who read this blog would be just as happy being backstage at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington this fall as they would be with front row seats. Of course we all hope that no horses are injured or become sick during the Games but if that happens...the vet bases backstage are very well-covered. In fact, if you do the math, there may well end up being more veterinarians than horses at the World Equestrian Games!

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital is only six miles from WEG.

To explain, here are some insights to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's role as the Official Equine Hospital and Veterinary Partner for the Games. Rood and Riddle is, of course, one of the leading equine veterinary medical centers in the United States and the world, and its location in Lexington is serendipitous to insuring the finest possible care for any veterinary needs that arise for horses at the Games. Rood and Riddle's college-campus style setting accommodates horses of all breeds for referral surgery, medical treatments, diagnostic imaging and a very special service, equine podiatry. 

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital employs 50 veterinarians and 200 support staff. Four of the veterinarians are specialists in hoof problems and three farriers are employed in the podiatry clinic and technicians have specialized skills in hoof-related procedures. Interns and trainees can change the number of people working in the podiatry department on a given day.


During the World Equestrian Games, Rood and Riddle will work closely with Dr. Kent Allen, the official veterinary coordinator of the Games. Dr. Chris Newton, a veterinarian and partner at Rood and Riddle who is also an avid equestrian and eventing competitor, heads the Rood and Riddle team of veterinarians and veterinary technicians assembled to provide medical support to the Games.
 
When the horses arrive in Kentucky from all over the world, their handlers will pay close attention to how well they survived the stress of travel and are settling in to their new surroundings. However, these horsemen and their equine charges will have access to one of the most extensive arrays of advanced veterinary services available at a competition. 

The Horse Park will offer an on-site veterinary clinic that will provide 24-hour care ranging from basic medical treatment to high-level diagnostics.  Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, less than six miles away, will be staffed and ready to address any emergency or injury in need of specialized medical care.

The diagnosis of musculoskeletal injuries is a specialty at Rood and Riddle. Experts in equine imaging have precise criteria for selecting between MRI, CT, nuclear scintigraphy, ultrasound and digital radiography for the best evaluation of an injury, depending on whether a soft tissue or bone may be injured. This photo shot through the observation window into the MRI suite shows an anesthetized horse with a limb inside the MRI magnet. The monitor in the foreground shows preview images.

During the Games, a minimum of six Rood and Riddle veterinarians with numerous veterinary technician assistants will be on-site daily. During the more taxing competitions, such as Eventing Cross-Country, Endurance, and the Driving Marathon, the veterinary staff will increase with additional support from the Rood and Riddle medicine and surgery specialists at the on-site veterinary clinic.
 
In addition to the Rood and Riddle veterinarians, every National Federation will send a minimum of one team veterinarian. The Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), the governing body of equestrian sport, will also have veterinarians in attendance. The FEI veterinarians’ primary function is to ensure that all rules are being followed, allowable medications are administered correctly and the horse’s welfare is placed above the competition.
 
The Rood and Riddle Pavilion at the Alltech Experience
One of the most exciting aspects of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for Rood and Riddle is the opportunity to educate the world about the hospital and the advances in equine veterinary medicine. WEG attendees will find the Rood and Riddle Pavilion, located within the Alltech Experience compound, to be a must-see destination on their tour of the extensive exhibit areas at the Kentucky Horse Park. 

The pavilion (design plan at right) will provide an educational experience for young and old with multiple interactive stations and video displays covering the latest veterinary technology including diagnostic imaging, equine medicine and surgery, and stem cell therapy. 

Visitors can use touch screen controls to choose which type of horse they would like to see on a treadmill followed by the endoscopic view of the throat, use an ultrasound probe on a phantom uterus to locate a pregnancy, and see an actual surgery table anesthesia machine set up complete with a 900-lb. model of an equine patient in position and ready for surgery. 

The pavilion also includes a theater section where daily lectures will be presented by Rood and Riddle  veterinarians and other equine professionals including Hall of Fame jockeys and World Games competitors.
 
Rood and Riddle Hospital Tours During WEG
Rood and Riddle is also hosting tours at the hospital, Monday through Friday, at 10am and 12pm during the Games. Tours are by reservation only and may be booked at www.HorseCapitalTours.com. Tickets are $12.95 per person (ticket required for children aged 5 and up; strollers not permitted) with $5 from every ticket purchase going to the Kentucky Equine Humane Center and the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation.

After years of planning and anticipation for the big event, our friends at Rood and Riddle are ready and say that they are honored to participate in this extraordinary event. They're eager to see World Champions crowned in eight disciplines. Let the Games begin!



 
If you enjoyed this story, or if you are planning to attend the World Equestrian Games, you may also want to read Fran Jurga's new blog, Discover WEG with Fran Jurga on the discoverhorses.com web site. It will only be around for a few months--the Games will soon be here!

© 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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Irish Farrier Wins Alltech's World Equestrian Games Trip

Irish farrier Damien Gallagher let some sparks fly when he learned he would be coming to America as the guest of Alltech to attend the World Equestrian Games next month.

Damien Gallagher, a farrier from remote County Donegal in northwest Ireland, will be coming to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games next month at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

No, he's not one of the Irish team farriers. No, he's not a personal farrier to an Irish rider. He won't be packing an apron, and he probably won't be checking a toolbox through customs. What he will be is a VIP. Damien is on the list to be a guest of Alltech, title sponsor of the Games and international horse feed manufacturer.

Customers were invited to fill out entry forms accompanied by a “golden ticket” that was affixed to thousands of Gain Horse Feed bags in Ireland over the past number of months; the contest was to devise a slogan extolling the benefits of the feed, which is the official Irish Animal Health and Nutrition Partner of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

After an exhaustive trawl through more than 5000 slogans submitted, the judges agreed that Damien’s entry best summed up the objectives and achievements that go hand in hand with Alltech and Gain Horse Feeds products.

Damien wrote: “The best thing about Gain Horse Feed is empty feeding pots, happy healthy horses and red rosettes!”

For his winning entry, Damien will receive a pair of tickets to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games along with flights and hotel accommodation. When notified of his win, Damian commented “I am delighted to have won this great prize, it is a trip of a lifetime and I am really looking forward to going on it. Thank you very much to Gain Horse Feeds and Alltech!”

Damien qualified as a farrier in 2005 after completing the four-year apprenticeship program of the Irish Master Farrier Association. After qualifying, he set up his own business in County Donegal.

"Each year it has gradually expanded and I find myself shoeing a wide variety of horses from leisure to competition horses," Damien told Hoofcare and Lameness by email. "I always enjoy working on our native breeds--namely, the Irish draught and Connemara pony--and look forward to our summer when I get the opportunity to carry out corrective work on foals. I mainly work from a mobile unit traveling from yard to yard.

"Both my wife and I are active members of the Letterkenny riding club," Damien commented, regarding his own involvement with horses.  "Although we only compete at amateur level we take great enjoyment from show jumping, cross country and dressage."

"My wife, Nadine, and I will be in Kentucky from the 5th to the 11th of October," he said. "I would love to meet up with some American farriers."

The 2010 World Equestrian Games, by the way, might be quite naturally linked to Ireland; title sponsor Alltech has its roots in Ireland, where its founder, Dr Pearce Lyons, was born. Thirty years ago, he established his animal nutrition company in Kentucky and the rest is history! Alltech now has headquarters in the USA, Ireland, and Thailand. The Games will feature an "Irish Village" promoting Irish horses and horse culture in addition to many more exhibits and pavilions. Damien should feel right at home.

(Note to American readers: when you leave the USA you may be surprised to learn that our blue ribbon is second prize in many countries, and the red ribbon is first prize!)

© 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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Springs in the Bluegrass; Fine-tuning a Thoroughbred Yearling's Hooves 30 Days Before the Sale

A funny thing happened on the way to the airport.

I had a chance to look over the shoulder of Dr Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic, and who would turn that down? The patient was a perfectly healthy yearling colt being prepared for an August sale. But with 30 days left until the sale, the growing colt was showing a slight tendency to be "a bit upright" and some finetuning was in order.

Make no mistake: this colt’s hoof conformation wouldn’t be of much, if any, concern other than the fact that he’d be under the microscope at the sale and every detail has to be considered. Every detail, after all, can make the difference in a bidder's enthusiasm for a horse and where the colt would be ranked on a bidder's wish list. In the end, it comes down to dollars and cents but in the climate of recent yearling sales, it could be the difference between a sale and no sale.

Dr. Morrison’s solution to this horse’s problem was at once right out of the textbook and equally unorthodox in that it might have come out of two different textbooks. He arrived with two spring shoes, which would be on the menu of recommended shoes for a case like this. But the shoes for this horse were made of two different materials.

The solution to working on two front feet with different levels of contraction? 
Spring shoes made of two materials, one more flexible than the other. The aluminum 
shoe also had a hinge in the toe to open the right front more.

On the left front, which had the least amount of deviation, the horse now wears a Burns Polyflex shoe, into which Rood and Riddle added a spring wire, which is a v-shaped wire roughly the size and shape of the frog. The wire, however, does not touch the frog.

Polyflex spring shoe glued on, before cutting the horizontal keeper wire and adding
Equipak to fill the sole. The spring (frog-shaped wire) does not touch the frog.

The Polyflex shoe is made for glueing; it is composed of nearly-transparent polyurethane with a wire spine inside. The shoe was glued on with Equilox  hoof adhesive and then the sole was filled with Vettec’s Equipak, a clear cushioning urethane. Before pouring in the liquid padding, Morrison clipped the temporary horizontal keeper wire to release the spring action of the wire.

The Polyflex shoe did not have a hinge, but the spring action of the wire and the forgiving material of the shoe would help keep the foot open, Morrison believes.

Completed left front foot with polyurethane shoe after Equipak is solidified. Just to clarify: soft urethane-based Equipak fills and cushions the sole and frog; harder PMMA epoxy-type adhesive Equilox glues on the shoe.

On the right front, which was slightly more problematic, Rood and Riddle’s shoe fabrication specialist Manuel Cruz created an aluminum hinged shoe with a spring wire. The hinge was in the center of the toe, as typically described for hinge shoes to relieve club feet and contracted heels in more advanced cases. Equilox, the clipping of the horizontal keeper wire, and Equipak again followed.

Shoe fabrication specialist Manuel Cruz fabricates a vast repertoire 
of shoes and devices for the vets and farriers at Rood and Riddle.

Aluminum hinge shoe fabricated back at Rood and Riddle by Manuel Cruz. 
The spring is the same as in the Polyflex shoe, but the shoe has a 
hinge in the toe to open the foot. 

I asked Manuel about the discrepancy in thickness between the two shoes but he said that it was an illusion and that they were almost the same.

Morrison and McAninch tackled the application of these results-oriented horseshoes to the colt's front feet as if it was routine; with yearling sales season approaching, that may be the case. The organization at the clinic to prepare what's needed for supplies and to fabricate shoess must be impressive when you see how easily the work gets done without searching for things.

The case itself was intriguing but equally interesting was the process, especially the speed and efficiency with which Morrison and his technician Loryn McAninch completed the job. I know from my travels that this would have been a half-day job at most clinics but the feet had been traced and trimmed in advance, the shoes fabricated to the tracings, and the adhesive and support materials were ready to go.

Another good point about the way this case was handled, from an outside observation, was that the young horse had to stand for a minimal amount of time since the measuring, tracing and trimming had already been done. The unorthodox unmatching spring shoes may have been an insurance policy on this horse's value. We'll never know what his feet might have looked like without this intervention but prospective owners will appreciate the picture-perfect feet that they will see on this horse at the sale.

Thanks to Dr Morrison, Loryn, Manuel and the farm staff for allowing me to observe this procedure and photograph it. Good luck to the colt!

To learn more: A valuable detailed reference paper by Dr. Morrison, Foal Foot Care, is available for download from the Proceedings of the 2009 CanWest Veterinary Conference.

All photos © Fran Jurga | Hoofcare Publishing.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com
© 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.