Impactful Hoof Research in New Zealand: Computer Model to Gauge Equine Limb Reaction to Change in Surface Condition

Researchers at New Zealand's Massey University are creating a dynamic computer model of the racehorse limb in motion. Their goal is to use it compute the effects of a change in surface on the limb.

Research: Hoof Conformation and Flat Feet in New Zealand Thoroughbred Racehorses

In a previous article, the Hoof Blog described a study conducted in New Zealand to survey the way sport horses in that country are shod, and what management aspects may affect the condition of feet. (Please see the article "Research: farriery and hoof care trends for dressage, showjumping sport horses in New Zealand".) Now the New Zealand hoof researchers move on to the racetrack.

Research: Farriery and Hoof Care Data Collected for Dressage, Showjumping Sport Horses in New Zealand

Not too long ago, a sport horse at an international show could trot by and you could tell what nation he was from by the way he was shod. Those days are gone, but there are still distinct differences in some parts of the world. We'd do well to document them, while we still can. And in at least one country, they have.

There was once a time when you could look at a foot and practically see the national flag. Those big, broad Dutch toe clips. The heel-to-heel fullered shoes of the British. The daring of an American rider to compete in a heart bar shoe. The way farriers of all nations displayed subtle national preferences in how and where they drew their clips or executed a nailing pattern or finished their heels or chose where to position their stud holes, or even how many stud holes they drilled.

Laminitis Researcher Ray Geor to Leave US for Post in His Native New Zealand

Edited from a press release 

Beginning in 2015, Massey University's College of Sciences in New Zealand will be led by internationally-recognized veterinary and agricultural science specialist Professor Raymond Geor, BVSc, MVSc, PhD, DACVIM.

Professor Geor is currently Professor and Chairperson of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in the United States. In recent years, his research and publications have been invaluable to the understanding of obesity and Equine Metabolic Syndrome in horses, and how it may relate to laminitis, as well as more than 180 other research papers in equine nutrition and physiology.

The university Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey announced today that Professor Geor will replace the current Pro Vice-Chancellor of the college, Professor Robert Anderson, who is retiring later this year.

Professor Geor is a Massey Bachelor of Veterinary Science graduate (1983) who has worked in tertiary education in the United States and Canada for most of the past 30 years. He was raised in Havelock North and attended St John's College in Hastings, both in New Zealand.

He has a Master of Veterinary Science from the University of Saskatchewan, a PhD in Physiology from The Ohio State University and breadth of institutional experience in veterinary medicine and agriculture as a leader/administrator, professor, clinical veterinarian, teacher and researcher.

That experience includes his current role at Michigan State, as well as posts at Virginia Tech University, Kentucky Equine Research Incorporated, University of Minnesota, the University of Guelph and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, as well as a practicing veterinarian in New Zealand.

Geor has been a frequent presenter in the research program at the International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

He will join the university in March next year.

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