Derby Day: Thoroughbreds Start Running Toward the Roses From the Day They Are Born--If They Can, That Is

The foals in this video from Juan Carlos Blazquez, farrier at the University of Madrid 

in Spain, may not be American Thoroughbreds but that hardly matters. "JC" is
someone who obviously enjoys the challenge of helping foals in need--and the reward 

they give him when they respond to treatment.

It happens every year: thousands of Thoroughbred colts and fillies hit the straw bedding of foaling stalls in breeding farm barns across the United States. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 future racehorse foals are bred each year, according to Jockey Club statistics.

This year, 21 of them made it to the Kentucky Derby.

Today, when the Kentucky Derby comes on tv, think about the foals eligible to race in 2015. They're on the ground now, although some just barely are.

And some are on the ground, literally, because they can't get up. Maybe they can barely stand to nurse. Their spindly little legs give way beneath them like rubber stilts. They walk on the fronts of their fetlocks, or the backs of their pasterns are on the ground. Their hind legs might cross when they try to walk forward. They stand bow-legged. Or even cross-legged.

At most farms, foals go through periodic evaluations by the farrier. Their legs change as their bodies develop and change--for better or worse--can be rapid. (Richard Clay photo)

Phones ring in equine clinics and farrier shops around the country. "Can you come out and take a look?" There will be x-rays, there will be examinations. Decisions will be made based on dollar signs and question marks that will hang in the air.

Some will be sentenced to an early and perhaps merciful death, in spite of their expensive breeding.

The fate of others will be left to the "wait and see" approach.

Some will respond naturally--and positively--to the forces of weightbearing and increasing maturity. A tendon will almost overnight go from lax to taut, while its opposing tendon will go from taut to lax. The foal is soon not only standing, he's walking and jumping around just like the rest of them.

For others, especially those whose problems are in the bony column and joints rather than in the tendons, there will be weeks of splints on, splints off, braces on, braces off. For some, surgical intervention will be needed; for others, the prescription is for special shoes, glue-on levers, massages.

Some foals respond naturally, by themselves to the forces of weightbearing and simultaneous growth. (Richard Clay photo)

More x-rays. More evaluations. As with the tendons, sometimes the legs will start to straighten as the chest develops and the weight changes the pressure of gravity on the tiny hoof at the bottom of the column. Maybe he doesn't toe in so badly after all.

For others, the newborn foal looks fine and a problem in the limb will only become obvious after a week or two. Or a kick in the pasture creates a pain reaction that in turn leads to a club foot.

Heads will be scratched. Tears might be shed.

Foals may only need to wear splints or bandages briefly. (Richard Clay photo)

Maybe while we're all watching the Derby, the potential winner of the 2015 Derby will be trying out a new set of glue-on baby shoes that re-direct its weight down the leg where the foot should have been. An extension will stabilize the tiny hoof and it won't buckle anymore. Maybe it will never buckle again.

It is possible: each year we hear about colts running in the Derby against the odds. Colts so crooked they never made it to the sales. Colts who grew up in a vet clinic. Colts who defied the odds. And each year that goes by, the body of knowledge of foal deformities expands. New products come on the market. This might work...

People try new things. People try old things. They look in the historical books by breeders and vets and farriers and re-try methods that have been forgotten or ruled out of date. Everyone knows Assault had a club foot. And Big Brown won the Derby with a wall separation. Mine That Bird toed out as a yearling. Swaps had a chronic hoof infection. Sir Barton, the first winner of the Triple Crown, was as famous for sore feet and lost shoes as his racing ability.

Removing the bandages is a suspenseful moment. Did the plan succeed? (Richard Clay photo)

The horses running in the 2012 Derby weren't all born with perfect legs and feet. They don't all land flat, some of them wear bandages because they need to protect their front legs from hooves that don't land exactly where they should. The old timers used colorful terms like cross-fire, scalp, paddle, dish, forge, interfere, over-reach, brush, wing, rope walk,  step on themselves--all descriptive terms to put a word on a horse's not-quite-straight path through life.

Splints and bandages and shoes are worthless without people who know how to use them--people who also know and care about a foal. (Richard Clay photo)

Against all the odds, some of those foals grow up to be racehorses. Some grow up to be extremely fast racehorses. Sure, they're always pulling shoes and whacking themselves. And there's a good chance their careers won't be as long as the straight, strong and truly conformed Thoroughbreds they race against.

Two years from now, their first foals may be on the ground.

Foals soon catch up when the bandages come off. (Richard Clay photo)

Sometimes it gets really crowded in the winner's circle after the Kentucky Derby but there are always a few people in a horse's past who deserve to be there, but never are.

You know who you are. Your work and care put these colts on the road to the Derby, whether they were--or are--crooked or straight. They're running for the roses today because they can, thanks to you.

If the crowd only knew, 100,000 or so Derby hats would be rightfully tipped to you.

Note: Richard Clay's beautiful photos were taken in Virginia on May 5, 2009. That's right: three years ago today. Is that little black colt running in the Derby? He could be. If so, it's because the people you see in these photos gave him extra attention and care and concern. Thank you, Richard, for documenting that foal and his people.

About Juan Carlos Blazquez: In his notes to this video, he remarked that he had donated his services to one of the foals. He said that he hoped that someone somewhere might see this video, realize how many lives of horses have been wasted, and be moved to work for the betterment of future horses; if knowledge can be shared, he will be satisfied. I think he speaks for all of us.

© 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.

Dick Reid: One of the Last Traveling Horseshoe Salesmen Has Died

Dick Reid, left, shown with Dan Burke of Farrier Product Distribution, right, sold Diamond Horseshoes for more than 30 years. He was a familiar face and phone voice in the US farrier industry.

There are professions that have sort of faded away. There aren't too many milkmen. No one delivers telegrams. And the age of the traveling salesman seems to have been taken over by online shopping carts and email confirmations. If you own a store and you want to see what's out there to buy, you have to go to a trade show if you want to see it, touch it, smell it and throw it against the wall to see if it sticks.

But it wasn't always that way. Companies had salesmen who came around to stores and businesses and showed their clients new products, took orders, and acted as informal business advisers about what should be in the store, how and where it should be displayed, and what color a shop owner should paint the barn. They'd figure out a name for a puppy or help you decide which cash register to get.

There was an intimacy between these salesmen and their customers--if the salesmen were any good, that is. They made themselves indispensable.

For most of the second half of the 20th century, it was the Diamond horseshoe salesmen who knit the farrier industry together.  Diamond, headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, was the leading brand, and Dick Reid was one of their leading sales experts. 

The Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota once employed 800 people.

Diamond was sold to the Triangle Corporation in 1981, and plans were made to gradually phase out the Minnesota factory and move the company to South Carolina. Dick Reid retired from Diamond soon after that. He started a regional sales rep firm with his wife, Ruth, in 1986. They called it Farrier Products Marketing and represented then-independent Cooper nails, Russell Breckenridge Company, Bellota Rasps (Kentucky Farrier Supply) and GE Tools in ten midwestern and northern states.

But Dick's heart condition didn't like the idea of not being retired, and after a few years Dick left the farrier scene, only to return for special visits.

Dick died on Saturday, October 22nd. He lived in Urbana, Ohio and was 89 years old. I guess he must have known an awful lot about horseshoes but I know he knew even more about people.

The vast network of farrier supply stores, warehouses, internet shops and trade shows that farriers enjoy today grew out of a few lonely outposts scattered around the country until the farrier industry boom in the 1980s. What exists now was built on the shoulders and hard work and dreams and good will of generous people like Dick Reid.

A monument has been erected in Duluth to the memory of the employees of Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company. The buildings have been razed.

© 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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The World Would Be a Better Place If There Were More of These

Farrier Vane, originally uploaded by Dave Angood.

Weathervanes, that is. They are one of the best ways to make a statement. A silhouette against the sky can be seen from afar and a good blacksmith can create a work of art to go atop a barn's cupola, a vet clinic, or a mobile home. Or a car dealership, clam shack or tipi.

It takes the observer's eye up to the sky and there's something uplifting about that, it more ways than one.

I just wish it wasn't so hard to get a good photo of a weathervane! It seems like there are always power lines or something in the way, or I can't get a good angle from the ground.

This is my new favorite weathervane, captured on film by Dave Angood, who tells me he found it atop an old barn inside some fortress-like gates near Swaffham in Norfolk, England. He allowed me to share it with Hoof Blog readers. I kept staring at it for the longest time this morning.

It reminds me of the beautiful weathervanes made by a farrier and heavy horse expert named Richard Gowing in England. If Richard didn't make it, surely his past work helped inspire it. Our friend the late Edward Martin from Scotland made beautiful weathervanes too.

Weathervanes carry some responsibility, of course. They have to be aligned with the earth. In our little seaside village, my salty old neighbor died and left a provision in his will that money from his estate be used to get steeplejacks to come and re-orient the weathervane on top of the church which, over the years, have drifted out of alignment.

It really bothered him. He saw the vane as a tool to check the wind as he drove toward the harbor each morning rather than the beautiful ornament on the church that the rest of us saw.

It's fixed now.

What--and where--is your favorite weathervane?

Thanks to Dave Angood for his hard work in getting such a good shot of this beautiful weathervane. Dave's trying to find out more about it and I'll add more details if he reports back.

Gustav vs Louisiana: Picking Up the Pieces

Radar screen of a hurricane-tracking plane, courtesy of NOAA archives.

The news crews are pulling out of Louisiana, now that Gustav is gone. They are labeling it a blow-over, but was it really?

Back in 2005 when Katrina hit, farrier Dick Fanguy was supposed to be at home in bed recovering from back surgery, but instead reported to work at the Louisiana State University horse triage station at the showgrounds...and stayed there for weeks, shoeing horses and treating wounds and helping the vets.

He checked in here on Sunday, saying he had been in touch with the vets, and was ready to hunker down until it passed. He'd report to work if they needed him. He ended up hunkering way down. His friend Danvers reported this afternoon that Dick exited his house near Baton Rouge with the help of a chainsaw, as all the trees surrounding his house had come crashing down. (Dick's advice: Bring the chainsaw into the house before the storm hits. You might need it to get out.)

It's not over for Dick.

Further south, Molly the (Amputee) Pony's barn is partially flooded, with plenty of roof damage. Her owner is still living in a FEMA trailer from Katrina, and you can imagine her concern as a tree almost toppled on the construction site of her unfinished replacement house.

It's not over for Kaye and Molly.

No doubt more stories will be heard as the power returns and people can communicate better. Just remember that a storm is a storm, even when CNN is disappointed that it wasn't a bigger story or when FEMA wants to take credit for an evacuation well-orchestrated. Maybe Hanna or Ike will be better for broadcast ratings, but any storm, anywhere, is a danger to people and animals.

The lights may be back on in New Orleans' French Quarter by tomorrow night. But the people out in the countryside may have to sit and wait a while (in the dark) before they can tell us what happened or send photos. It may not be over yet, for them.

Big Brown's Big Switch: New Shoes, New Heels for Tomorrow's Preakness

This morning, I stumbled out onto the lawn and grabbed the paper before the sea gulls could target it (or me). Once inside, I propped the paper up, set to peruse it with coffee in hand, when I sputtered in amazement: Hey! Hey! Hey!

There on the front page of the Boston Globe was not a photo of the Boston Celtics in their playoff bid for the NBA championship, nor a photo of the Red Sox, but rather a huge photo of Big Brown getting new shoes (and heels) yesterday at Pimlico in Baltimore, in preparation for tomorrow's Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown for three-year old Thoroughbreds.

(Sports, by the way, are front-page news here in Boston.)

I was surprised. Trainer Richard Dutrow obviously made a big change in plans here. Earlier this week, he said that Big Brown would not be re-shod for the Preakness, but that he would have Ian McKinlay work on the horse when he arrived in New York for the Belmont Stakes, the third race in the series.

Following the Kentucky Derby, farrier Tom Curl, who had worked on the horse through the winter in Florida, said that the feet came through the Derby very well and the adhesive wasn't cracked and the Yasha shoes were stable.

Obviously, they decided to give his feet a tuneup. The horse also went out for a light work over the Pimlico surface wearing bell boots to protect his new glue and a mud knot in his tail.

Other news this week was that Big Brown will not race as a four-year-old. He will go to stud sometime later this year. Also, if he does not win the Preakness tomorrow, he will not go on to the Belmont. But will he go on to Saratoga for the Travers and on to Santa Anita in the fall for the 2008 Breeders Cup?

Thanks to Yahoo.com sports desk for the following shots from a slide show of hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay of New Jersey working on the Kentucky Derby winner.

Apparently, Ian drew quite a crowd yesterday, including Tom Hammond and Donna Brothers of NBC, so you may see Ian (or, more likely, the top of his head while he's working) on tomorrow's telecast of the race. Let's hope you see him in the winner's circle!

PS Friday Afternoon Update: Ian checked in and said that Big Brown's feet are "just fantastic", but that they had gotten a bit long. He just trimmed up the feet and reset the Yasha shoes and pads. He said that when he started, there was one guy standing around to watch and by the time he was into the job, the word was out and it "turned into a free-for-all".

Big Brown’s Trainer Richard Dutrow Says Kentucky Derby Favorite Benefited from Expert Farrier Care Before Florida Derby

In this fun video, you can watch Big Brown gallop nimbly around the track at Gulfstream Park, winning the 2008 Florida Derby in near-record time last week while wearing glue-on shoes to help his front feet, both of which have suffered painful wall separations. What could he have done that day if he was 100 percent? Listen closely to the altered-lyrics of this familiar Jim Croce song; glue-on shoes are having their praises sung!

In an interview today with Hoofcare and Lameness Journal editor Fran Jurga, trainer Richard Dutrow shared some insights into the hoof problems that have been in the headlines lately.

If his horse Big Brown, owned by IEAH Stables Inc., can win the Florida Derby in near-record time from the outside post position with two hoof wall separations and special shoes glued on his feet, what might this horse be able to do if he was sound?

Dutrow said that when he arrived at his barn, Big Brown already had suffered one quarter crack, or wall separation, which was repaired in New York by hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay. Later, the horse developed a second separation, in his “good” foot, after being shipped to Florida. This repair was handled by Tom Curl, a Florida-based hoof problem specialist who works with Ian McKinlay.

Among the horses on Curl’s resume are Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold and famed leading money-earner Cigar. He also helped Afleet continue his racing career as he ran in stakes races with the first glue-on race plates back in the mid-1980s.

Dutrow consulted his calendar and said that it has been 40 days since Curl repaired the second foot. He said the first one is all but “history”, but on the second (newer) one, the problem is still visible above the glue holding on the shoe.

On his hind feet, Big Brown wears normal shoes, but with turndowns. A turndown is an exaggerated heel calk, formed by twisting the heel of the shoe toward the ground like a spike. Turndowns are not allowed in New York.

Big Brown will not be in the spotlight at Churchill Downs and Keeneland, where most of the other Kentucky Derby candidates are training.

Dutrow said that Big Brown will stay in training at Palm Meadows in Florida, almost right up until the Kentucky Derby. He will fly to Louisville on the 28th of April, according to Dutrow’s current plans. The Kentucky Derby will be run on May 3rd.

“I see no reason to move him,” Dutrow said. “He’s better off. I’m happy to get him ready right where he is. He’s happy here.”

Dutrow had nothing but praise for McKinlay, who he said has helped him with hoof repair situations before, and Curl, who is close by in Florida. He said that it was great to have experts like them to turn to. “This horse is dodging his problems,” he said. “And he’s going to keep doing that.”

Please click here to learn more about quarter cracks and see a short video from Big Brown's consulting specialist Ian McKinley of a horse with a quarter crack.

Note: Most of the information published so far on Big Brown's glue-on shoes are about their very high cost. I am not sure how or why that information was given to the racing press, or if it is correct and whether or not that price included the patching, which is an involved procedure. There are many expenses involved in treating a complex wall separaton or crack and in gluing on special shoes. What matters is what the care and shoeing and patching allowed the horse to do. I hope to have more details about the shoes to post shortly.

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