British Equine Veterinary Association Announces Foot and Farriery Topics, Speakers at 2014 BEVA Congress

The 2014 "BEVA Congress" or annual convention of the British Equine Veterinary Association, has announced the addition of a full day program on farriery and foot lameness for Saturday, September 13. The Congress will be held at the ICC in Birmingham, England, where five separate scientific programs will run concurrently in five lecture halls over the three days of congress,.

Mustad Equilibrium Shoe Debut with Dieter Krohnert at Germany's Luwex Festival

Before: Dieter Krohnert's spider shoes had been on this horse for a year. The horse has developed an infection in the back of the heel bulbs and up the pastern (blue arrow) and was possibly neglected. (Fran Jurga photo)

In October, I was on hand at the Luwex Hufsymposium in Krueth, Germany to see the first horse shod in public with Equilibrium shoes, the new shoe design from Mustad that was developed using research techniques pioneered by Meike Van Heel during PhD studies at the University of Utrecht in Holland.

But first, the horse! One of the interesting things about the Luwex event is that they brought back the horses that the speakers had shod the previous year, and they discussed how the horses were doing. He was a mature Hanoverian stallion training at the Grand Prix level.

Dieter Krohnert,
German team farrier

They spoke in German, of course, but I think I understood. This horse had been shod with spider shoes by Dieter Krohnert, farrier to the German international teams, in 2005. He developed the shoe, which is similar to our aluminum spider plates that are riveted to shoes as an interface device.

Dieter said he thought the shoes had been successful the year before but that the horse had not been well cared for and perhaps had gone long periods without trimming. The heel bulbs contracted and thrush or some other bacterial infection had gone up the back of the pastern. The horse had medial quarter cracks in both front feet.

This is the same foot, re-shod with one of the brand new Equilibrium rolled toe shoes from Mustad for a demonstration. There was a big crowd around, photography was difficult. The shoe was "invented" via research protocols to test characteristics of horseshoes at Utrecht University in The Netherlands during the PhD research of Meike van Heel. Mustad is now manufacturing the shoe. (Fran Jurga photo)

Dieter re-shod the horse with the new Mustad Equilibrium shoes, which are designed for easy breakover across the entire toe surface of the shoe.

Meike van Heel, researcher

The horse strode out very freely after standing for three hours to be shod in the demonstration. Dieter asked his helper to really trot the horse out and show what he could do, which he did, and then took a flying, bucking leap into the crowd. About 50 farriers ducked and ran, missing the flying hooves by inches.

I think I saw Dieter's hair turn gray right before my eyes but, as always, he kept his cool, shrugged, and said with classic understatement, "See, he's sound now."

For more on the festival, visit http://www.luwex.de

For more about Dieter Krohnert, read "High-End Hoofcare for High-Flying Horses : Dieter Kronhert and Steve Teichman" by Fran Jurga in Hoofcare + Lameness: Journal of Equine Foot Science, Issue 76. (print only) Also search the blog for articles about Dieter.

All HoofBlog text and images ©Hoofcare Publishing 2006 unless otherwise noted.
To learn more about new research, products, and treatments for the horse's hooves and legs as reported to veterinarians and farriers in the award-winning "Hoofcare & Lameness Journal", go to http://www.hoofcare.com
Contact Hoofcare Publishing anytime: tel 978 281 3222 email fran@hoofcare.com

Dutch Hoof Balance PhD Thesis "Distal Limb Development and Effects of Shoeing Techniques on Limb Dynamics of Today's Equine Athlete" by Meike Van Heel Published

"Distal Limb Development and Effects of Shoeing Techniques on Limb Dynamics of Today's Equine Athlete" has been published in The Netherlands! Dutch researcher Meike van Heel PhD has assembled her papers and dissertation on hoof balance into the pages of a lovely book. It is 174 pages, with color photos and art (though not enough of either).

Here's the blurb from our sale flyer on this book:

A landmark study of hoof balance and growth uses traditional and high-tech research modalities to bring new information to equine hoof science. Pressure mats, force plates, video gait analysis, radiography and keen observation of equine posture and behavior yield a document rich in the use of science to back up common sense. Studies examine the prevalence of uneven feet (so-called “high-low syndrome”). Documents how a horse compensates for hoof growth to maintain balance and how a rolled toe shoe aids in efficient movement and joint mechanics.

Chapters:

• Lateral grazing behavior induced by foal conformation 
• Potential consequences of uneven feet in foals 
• Effect of trimming on dynamic pressure measurements of hoof balance 
• Changing center of pressure and hoof-unrollment over 8-wk shoeing interval 
• Hoof growth effects on P3 vs P2 joints 
• Compensation for changes in growth between shoeing sessions 
• Rolled toe effects on breakover in sound warmblood horses 
• Discussion and Summary

Watch for Meike to be a lecturer at conferences later this year or next year. She will be consulting for Mustad on innovative development of products and trends from her base in Holland.

Meike was a featured speaker at the International Conference on Equine Locomotion, hosted by Dr Hilary Clayton at Michigan State University in 2004. Her research was featured in an article on gait analysis and videotaping of horse movement in Hoofcare & Lameness #78.

Note: Meike's book is no longer available for sale. If a new edition is printed, it will be announced on The Hoof Blog.

Text and photos © 2006 Hoofcare Publishing. Text and photos posted on “The HoofBlog”, a casual news source for subscribers and friends of Hoofcare & Lameness: The Journal of Equine Foot Science. Learn more (and subscribe online using our secure server) at http://www.hoofcare.com or write to Hoofcare Publishing, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930 USA. Tel USA 978 281 3222; Fax 978 283 8775, or email hoofblog@hoofcare.com

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