Rood and Riddle Podiatry Joins with The Sanctuary to Offer Hoof-Related Services in Ocala Area; Seminar with Vets March 27

17 March 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

Dr. Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky gluing shoes on an aged pony after cutting the deep digital flexor tendon (tenotomy) as a treatment for chronic laminitis.

The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Center in Ocala, Florida and the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Center in Lexington, Kentucky are joining forces to improve advanced services available for hoof problems. Rood and Riddle will be offering podiatry services from The Sanctuary to farms and trainers and horse owners in the Ocala area.

The Sanctuary is a new 30-acre therapy facility with stabling for 42 horses located outside Ocala. Facilities include an equine hyperbaric oxygen chamber, Ferno AquaPacer Equine Underwater Treadmill, cold saltwater leg spa, equine swimming pool, training track, and many state-of-the-art therapeutic systems and services.

On March 16, Dr. Scott Morrison, director of the clinic at Rood and Riddle, said that one of three of the Kentucky clinic's hoof-specialist veterinarians--Raul Bras DVM, Vernon Dryden DVM, and Dr. Morrison himself--would be available to clients on a rotation basis at the Ocala location throughout the year. All three veterinarians are also trained and accomplished farriers.

Morrison said that they look forward to serving the diverse horse breeding and training operations in the Ocala area and that Rood and Riddle clients from throughout Florida and the southern states will also be able to haul their horses to Ocala for hoof treatment by the Rood and Riddle veterinarians.

Brenda McDuffee, The Sanctuary’s general manager, is enthusiastic about the new services her facility will be offering. “Rood and Riddle is one of the largest and most prestigious veterinary hospitals in the world," she said. "Dr. Morrison is a leader in equine podiatry and we are very excited to offer our clients a Rood and Riddle Podiatry Center at The Sanctuary.”

Horse owners, breeders, and trainers interested in booking appointments for horses with laminitis and other podiatry-related problems can call the Sanctuary (352 369 4325) or the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital (859 233 0371) . The first cases will be seen March 28.

To introduce the central Florida horse community to the Rood and Riddle concept of podiatry services and expertise, The Sanctuary will host a Foot and Lameness Symposium at the center from 6-9 p.m. on March 27.

Anyone interested in the free symposium should call the Sanctuary at (352) 369-4325 to reserve a place.

© 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.

Rood and Riddle, AllTech and AAEP Partner to Add Education for Veterinarians and Horse Owners to 2010 World Equestrian Games Experience

19 November 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

(received via press release; please note that this event will immediately precede the opening of the Games. For those who may not know, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital is a large referral equine healthcare complex outside Lexington, Kentucky.)

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital’s role as the Official Veterinary Partner of the Games will not be limited to providing veterinary support during the competition but will also include hosting educational forums for veterinarians and horse owners. Rood & Riddle, Alltech and the American Association of Equine Practitioners have joined forces to sponsor a sport horse symposium for veterinarians and another for horse owners, to be held in conjunction with the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which opens September 25 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.

The continuing education program for veterinarians, titled “Promoting Peak Performance in Equine Athletes,” will be held from September 22-24, 2010, at the Marriot Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington, KY. An international roster of speakers will present in-depth, current information on orthopedic problems, diagnostic imaging, equine podiatry, lameness versus neurological disease, upper and respiratory disease, muscle disease, and nutrition with focus on the veterinary care as it applies to the equine athlete.

Featured speakers include orthopedic surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage, and internal medicine specialist Dr. Steve Reed from Rood & Riddle, and Dr. Kent Allen, Dr. Wayne McIlwraith, and Dr. Jean-Marie Denoix.

A one-day horse owner workshop is scheduled for September 24, 2010 at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. The workshop will be conducted by veterinarians and nutritionists to provide horse owners, trainers, managers, and riders with valuable information for managing injuries and maintaining peak performance in the sport and performance horse.

Registration will be available for both programs in June 2010. Final program and schedule information is expected to be ready for release in early spring 2010. A group of rooms will be available at the Marriott at a special symposium rate for veterinarians registered to attend. This information will be available on the Rood & Riddle, AAEP and Alltech websites with announcements distributed to multiple media outlets.

In addition to these excellent programs, Rood & Riddle will also host hospital tours, short lectures and demonstrations throughout the weeks of the Games. Some of these offerings will be available in the exhibit area at the Kentucky Horse Park. Schedules and appointment information for these special events will be posted at www.roodandriddle.com in May 2010, and will also be promoted through other media releases.

© 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.

Rachel's Hoof Blog Confidential: Hind Hooves of the Hottest Filly in the USA

by Fran Jurga | 29 June 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The jock in the shower: Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra enjoyed a bath after her 19-length romp in Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes at New York's Belmont Park. She set a new stakes record, in spite of being eased to a rolling canter by rider Calvin Borel at the finish.

Photographer Sarah K. Andrew (Rock and Racehorses) followed the filly back to the barn and waited patiently for Rachel to do a little dance so you could clearly see at least one of the four fleet feet on this filly.

As far as I know, Rachel is still being shod by David Hinton from Oklahoma.

Rachel has now moved to the Asmussen training camp at Saratoga Springs, where the rest of the racing world will join her in a few weeks.

Hoofcare & Lameness and The Hoof Blog will be there, too. Join me on Tueday nights at The Parting for speakers and social time, and plan to be at our special Hoofcare & Lameness night at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Tuesday, August 4, where we will celebrate the addition of lots more horseshoes and hoof paraphernalia to the RideOn! exhibit on horse health.

Horseshoes from the Rood and Riddle Podiatry Clinic are prominently featured in the new exhibit, along with hoof boots from Castle Plastics and Hoofeez from New Zealand, another handmade shoe by Cornell vet school's Michael Wildenstein, the new hoof pads from Vibram, a Plastinate hoof model from HC Biovision (formerly featured just in photos) and much more. Watch for speaker and sponsor announcements!

Did I just say that Rachel Alexandra was the hottest filly in the USA? Make that the hottest racehorse, period, in the USA, although I would still give equal time to her older rival, Zenyatta. The buzz surrounding these two horses is enlivening a racing scene that had been written off by the doom-and-gloom set a few months ago.

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© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. 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.

Lost Legend Found: Meet Man o' War's Horseshoer (Finally)

by Fran Jurga | 28 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The statue of champion racehorse Man o" War is the centerpiece of the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington, Kentucky. (Frank Parsons photo, used with permission)

Today is Man o' War's birthday. An announcement that 1987 Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba died last night made me think again about Man o' War and how little anyone seems to know about who shod him, or how he was shod.

Is the Biggest Horse Around Here the Biggest in the World?

Shoeless or shod, New Hampshire's "Tex" is pretty big. But is he big enough? (Concord Monitor photo)

To make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, a Belgian pulling horse named Tex had to have his shoes pulled. Farrier Rick Sharp pulled the shoes for an official measuring ceremony recently. Guinness requires that the horse be measured both with and without shoes.

According to the Concord Monitor newspaper, the six-year-old Belgian stands about 7 feet, 6 inches from hoof to head and weighs 2,450 pounds. This hoof is ten inches across, according to the article.

Tex is trying to tower over Radar, a Belgian in Texas who currently holds the Guinness honors, according to the newspaper. It's not clear whether Guinness goes by the overall height of the horse or the actual hands at the withers. His owners are hoping he makes 20 hands.

Shire horses in Australia and England are also trying to claim the title.

You can see why Guinness requires the shoes to be pulled before a horse is measured. This is not Tex, but another very large Belgian pulling horse that I saw worked on at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky a few years ago. Tex is probably shod in a similar way for the competition season. This horse had laminitis, but farrier Aaron Gygax managed to get him sound enough to keep pulling. This horse was shod in a very low-tech way for a high-tech place like Rood and Riddle: Aaron made the horse's new shoes. In this photo, you see his old shoes. I think he could climb telephone poles, too.

Bryan Fraley Will Speak on Laminitis Therapy at North American Veterinary Conference on January 17

Bryan T. Fraley DVM will present a full day's program on laminitis and foot therapy at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, January 17. Dr. Fraley is a foot-specialist veterinarian at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, where he is works with Scott Morrison DVM on laminitis and other hoof problems. Morrison recently made headlines for his consulting role in treating racehorse Barbaro's laminitic left hind foot at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.

Fraley's topics will be: Acute Sinker Syndrome Diagnosis and Therapeutic Options, Management of Severe Foot Infections, Treatment Options for Acute and Chronic Laminitis, Brief Review of Some Interesting Podiatry Cases, and How to Apply Foot Casts with Axial Support for Sinker Syndrome and Cast Shoes for a Multitude of Foot Conditions.

The conference, which continues through the weekend, will be held at the Gaylord Palms resort and conference center in Orlando. It is one of the largest meetings of veterinarians in the world.