Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness: School

Showing posts with label School. Show all posts

Friday, January 30, 2015

Blacksmith Buddy Junior: The New Hoofcare Education Tool for Teaching, Practice, and Demonstrations

Sponsored Post from Blacksmith Buddy

Practice makes perfect...sense, when a new student practices on a Blacksmith Buddy or Buddy Junior. Even an experienced vet or farrier can benefit from experimenting with a trimming or shoeing technique or even a crack repair using a plastic hoof before trying it on a living horse. The lightweight new Buddy Junior fits on a standard Hoof Jack and is portable for travel.

There’s a new kid in town. Kind of a little guy, but he fits right in. He hangs out with one of the most popular pillars of the hoofcare world, and the two of them work together like a couple of old pros. He’s a chip off the block, a new age version of his old man, The Original.

Click this link to read the rest of this article

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A Career on the Hoof: Does Geography Matter?

If you're considering a career in hoofcare (or know someone who is), this video might be helpful to you. The requirements of the job, according to South African racetrack farrier Andy Rivas, are pretty much the same all over.

Click this link to read the rest of this article

Friday, August 10, 2012

Cornell Vet School Adds iPads for Portable Radiograph Display

Cornell's Dr. Cheetham shows a client his horse's radiograph right in the farrier shop!

Cornell University Hospital for Animals is excited to share that they have initiated the use of iPads in both the small and large animal hospitals to provide a convenient way to show clients high resolution medical images.

The new Retina display is very good on the iPad 3--possibly better than most of the computer monitors around the vet school's hospitals!

Also, with 64GB storage, these iPads will become a mobile reference library for each hospital section.

Cornell technology also allows a clinician to monitor a horse's heart rate with an iPhone. The iPhone ECG uses AliveCor's technology and displays highly accurate readings without attaching any leads to the animal. The results are uploaded to the "cloud" where the data can be converted to a PDF, printed, emailed and shared with the owner, vet and trainers.

The 22 iPads were made possible by a grateful client's charitable annuity, which specified that the gift be used for educational purposes. Cornell is excited to use this technology towards the advancement of education and service!

Thanks to Cornell Veterinary Medical Equine Performance Clinic.

You can have a lot of fun with an iPad...image by (T)imothep

Call 978 281 3222 or email books@hoofcare.com to order your copy. Supply is limited!

© 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.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Tell Us About This Shoe...


Not much information was passed along with this photo. Is this a Quix shoe? That was my first guess, what's yours? It looks like it's a big shoe on a big foot, but maybe it's a tiny foot and it's actually an Imprint and just looks yellow? Thanks for your help! (Photo courtesy of Nottingham Vet School, Great Britain)

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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Nicholas Frank, Noted Laminitis Researcher, Will Chair Tufts University's Cummings Vet School Department of Clinical Sciences

(Edited from press release)

Nicholas Frank, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, an equine clinician and researcher with expertise in laminitis, metabolic syndrome and endocrinology, has been named the chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

As chair of the veterinary school’s largest department, Frank will lead a group of nearly 50 academic and clinical faculty who serve clients in the Cummings School’s hospitals, teach throughout the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, and undertake ground-breaking research to improve animal and human health.

Dr. Frank

Dr. Frank comes to Tufts from the veterinary faculty at the University of Tennessee, where, as an equine internist, he was section chief of large animal medicine and led the Center for Equine Veterinary Research. He is an award-winning teacher and also serves as a consulting member of the University of Nottingham faculty in the United Kingdom. Dr. Frank has excelled as a clinician-scholar in the field of equine internal medicine and endocrinology.

“To join Tufts as department chair of such a talented and accomplished faculty represents a wonderful challenge and a true honor,” Frank said. “Several of Tufts’ clinical programs are renowned nationally and worldwide, and I look forward to building upon the clinical, research, and teaching programs already in-place.”

Hoof Blog Note: Dr. Frank is the lead author of this Consensus Statement on Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) for the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), as published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. The paper is available for download at that link.

Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is located in North Grafton, Massachusetts.

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Monday, May 23, 2011

The Royal Thoroughbred Tour: Irish Farriers Greet Britain's Queen Elizabeth at National Stud

When Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth set her royal foot on Irish soil last week, it was the first of her family's to do so since the Republic of Ireland gained complete independence from British rule.

But she didn't waste much time getting to the bits of Ireland that she'd probably been dying to see, like the Irish National Stud, the Aga Khan's Gilltown Stud, and the legendary Coolmore Stud. All are leading Thoroughbred breeding establishments where forebears of the Queen's horses may have begun their lives or where she may have sent her mares to be bred, or where the horses originated who beat her own at Epsom or Newmarket or Ascot.

And at her first stop, the legendary Irish National Stud in County Kildare on the edge of the sweeping Curragh plains gallops, the Queen was appropriately greeted by a group of farriers.

Stud director Chryss O'Reilly escorted the Queen around the National Stud. I'm sorry I don't know who the gentleman in black is. Notice the shoe boards and signage about Irish farriery in the background. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/Fotoglif

When I saw this press photo with the shoe specimen boards in the background, I was soon on Skype to Martin Leahy, farrier at the Stud. It's hard to imagine, but even Martin seemed a little excited by what had transpired that afternoon. "She's actually a very nice lady," Martin reported, "and I'd say she'd be quite spry for her age, now." (The Queen is 85 years old.)

In other words, yes, he had met her and Prince Philip and he was quite pleased about it.

Also meeting the Queen were Irish Farrier Authority directors John Brennan, John O'Connell, and Jeremy Stanley, and Irish Farrier School coordinator Sue Lilley, who was widely interviewed in the press, as well as a crew of apprentices who were set up and working to impress the Queen. You can hear their anvils in the background of the video when the Queen is watching the jockey student on the simulator horse.

I think the Queen enjoyed herself at the Irish National Stud. Pool/Reuters/John Stillwell photo

This looks like the smile of someone who is really enjoying herself. I imagine it was snapped when she saw the farriers up ahead and she knew she could relax a bit. Somehow I think relaxing was probably the farthest thing from their minds but I'm sure she left with a good impression of Irish farriery and farriers, and with an anvil ringing in her royal ears.

Congratulations to Martin and all our friends in the Irish Master Farriers Association and at the Irish Farrier School and the Stud for what Sue Lilley described as "the biggest day of our lives."

© 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.

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Friday, January 07, 2011

Favorite Rap Video of 2010: Equine Biomechanics Researcher Jacob Setterbo's "Stay in School" Message

Who says engineers can't be creative? Or cool? Score (another) one for Jacob Setterbo, PhD candidate in the J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He's been part of the California-based research efforts to find some basic truths about the relationship between galloping horses' legs, hooves and racetracks--and his work there will ultimately mean that some horses' lives will be saved. He will soon receive his doctorate for his efforts in engineering the systems that measure the hoof-track interface.

But he can still have some fun. Jake has volunteered at a local elementary school and came up with the idea for a little rap music video to get kids to connect the dots between thinking what he does in his research is "cool" and the idea that they can do it too...if they just stay in school.

The first time I watched this video I couldn't believe it, and I've been forwarding the link to it to teacher friends ever since. I hope you will do the same, as well as show it to any school-age kids in your social circle.

Jake's backup singers, by the way, are some fifth graders.

For my part, I'd make a very similar one, but I'd be encouraging people to go back to school. It's never too late! In 2010, I spent a week at Michigan State University's McPhail Equine Performance Center taking Dr Hilary Clayton's Equinology class for non-veterinarians on gait analysis and biomechanics.

For me, it was almost better than a week on the beach at St Bart's. True, we just pretended to do research, but it was a hands-on experience with real horses at one of the world's leading centers for equine biomechanics research.

If nothing else, being in the class reminded me of all I don't know about horses, all I need to learn, how much things are changing and the fact that these courses are out there--all you have to do is sign up. You don't have to move away for a seminar or a year, you can try things out first, see how you like it, and spend time with people like Hilary Clayton and her staff and graduate and doctoral candidates, who will have suggestions of what you might do if you want to pursue education goals once you've been out of school for a while. Progams like Equinology are amazing!

Universities are full of comeback kids like you (and maybe even me, someday). Like most things, once you take that first step, the rest seems much easier. Sitting in a lecture seems more natural, and the whole idea is much less intimidating when you're looking at it from the inside than it ever was from the outside.

The Equinology course required pre-arrival anatomy study but it was still a challenge to apply the gait analysis stickers in exact locations. In other words, before we could connect the dots, we had to place the dots, and there's no wiggle room when you're palpating a joint to mark it for gait analysis. (Sarah Miles photo)

To learn about the 2011 Equinology gait analysis course at Michigan State with Dr Clayton, visit www.equinology.com. Dr. Barb Crabbe will also offer a course in lameness identification before the gait analysis course; the two courses can be taken together.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

Olds College Fills First Two-Year Farrier Degree Program

New students in the classroom at Olds College in Alberta, Canada last week. They'll be together for two years in the new program.

They said it couldn't be done. They said farrier students demanded short courses. They said that farrier schools should emulate the barefoot trimming training programs that compete with them with home schooling and weekend or weeklong on-site formal programs peppered through the program. They said students these days don't want to work as hard as you have to to become a good farrier.

They said Olds College would never fill the new two-year degree program for professional farrier training when they announced it last year. Not in this economy.

But they did. Students sat down at their desks for the first day of classes in a filled-to-capacity program at the Alberta, Canada campus last month.

A horseshoe is one big learning curve for a student farrier. Photos by Thowra_UK via Flickr. Thanks!

“Olds College was already commended by the equine industry for its one-year program, considered the best in the industry,” said Jeff Suderman, Director of Student Recruitment. “We are encouraged to see that the move to a more comprehensive program has been well received.”

The previous program at Olds was one year in length. But Olds holds the belief that horses today represent a significantly greater investment for owners and that society calls for a heightened awareness of animal welfare and how it is achieved. According to the program's new rationale, by doubling the Farrier Science Program’s length, Olds College will ensure that students graduate with increased knowledge of equine anatomy, horse handling and horse husbandry as well as sufficient proficiency in welding, basic blacksmithing and advanced corrective and therapeutic horseshoeing.

In keeping with the college’s emphasis on real-life, hands-on learning, the farrier program now requires completion of a total of eight months of what they call "Directed Field Study", split into five-month and three-month sections, respectively.

“One thing that attracted me to Olds College was the fact that it offers more than just six-week training programs. The two-year diploma stretches out learning to ensure we understand and develop the skills we need,” said Tyler Johnson, a first-year student in the new program.

Traditionally, the number of applicants for the Olds College program has exceeded its capacity, which caps at 16 students. Existing familiarity and aptitude with the farrier profession and horse and tool handling are just some of the areas of competency students need to demonstrate before they can even be considered for acceptance into the program.

“Olds College already graduates some of the best farriers in North America but today’s industry needs them to be even better,” says Dean Sinclair, Olds College Farrier Science Coordinator.

Olds College discontinued its shorter programs. Only the two-year program is offered, showing what a commitment the college is making to in-depth training of its students.

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Monday, October 25, 2010

Steve Kraus Appointed Head Farrier at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

(The following text is reprinted without change from the Cornell web site.)

Steve Kraus will join the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine as head farrier, effective November 1, 2010. He will continue the great work of Michael Wildenstein, who has been with Cornell since 1991, and has accepted an early retirement incentive offered by New York State.

Kraus specializes in trouble shooting under-performing horses around the Finger Lakes Region of Central New York. His client list includes hunter/jumpers, dressage and event horses, polo, endurance, western performance, Morgans, and driving horses. He is the recent past president of the Western New York Farriers Association and a member of the Board of Directors for Region # 5 of the American Farrier's Association.

In the position, Kraus will assume responsibility for the work and teaching currently in progess and recruit students for the course that begins in January. His position will support patient needs within the Equine and Farm Animal Hospitals and the Farrier Shop, performing duties that include basic horse shoeing, corrective hoof trimming/shoeing, therapeutic methods, splint fabrication, and other relevant needs.

“My primary goals are to insure the continuity of the farrier program for the students (both current and incoming), as well as to meet the needs of the patients of the Cornell University Hospital for Animals,” said Kraus. “I also intend to bring more horses into the program, which will give the students an opportunity to practice what they’ve learned while serving horses whose hooves need attention. This combination will provide a great foundation of theory and practice.”

A graduate of the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a bachelor’s in Animal Science, Kraus is an American Farriers Association Certified Journeyman Farrier. He has shod many types and breeds of show and performance horses for more than 40 years. In addition, he has worked for Mustad Hoofcare since 1976 as their farrier consultant, representing the organization across the country at farrier and horse owner clinics and events, as well as testing and developing horse nails, horseshoes, farrier tools, and the hoof care products that Mustad produces and markets. Since 1968, Kraus has also been the farrier for all the equine programs in the Cornell University Athletic department, which includes the Cornell Polo Team, Equestrian Team, and Physical Education Riding Program.

kraus

An avid rider and polo player, Kraus owns and trains five polo horses at his farm in Trumansburg, N.Y. He plays outdoor polo during the summer and coaches and umpires for indoor polo at the Cornell Equestrian Center during the rest of the year.

“I’ve trained many apprentices over the years,” Steve said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to teach at Cornell’s world-renowned Farrier School and helping horses by preventing or fixing lameness.”

(end of Cornell text)

Hoofcare and Lameness congratulates Steve Kraus on his appointment and wishes him the best. I also look forward to continuing my personal friendship with Michael Wildenstein.

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Friday, March 05, 2010

Friends at Work (But for how long?): J. C. Maloyed at Virginia Intermont College

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

Virginia farrier J. C. Maloyed has survived back surgery and 25 years of ups and downs as farrier for the equestrian program at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia. But could the wavering economy be affecting the ability of families to send daughters off to college with an equitation horse and an allowance to keep up with a show schedule? JC wonders about his future, as the college--which has won 13 national riding championships, by the way--looks for cash to keep the program going and the stables full. Read an article about J.C. and the job he loves in today's Bristol Herald Courier. What affects the equestrian program at a school like Virginia Intermont affects us all.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Canadian College Expands Farrier Program to Two-Years

18 February 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

The following is a press release from the farrier program at Olds College in Alberta, Canada:

Responding to industry demand, Olds College will be changing its already acclaimed one-year Farrier program to a two-year program in October of 2010.

The college’s new Farrier Science diploma will see students emerging with increased knowledge of equine anatomy, horse handling and horse husbandry. As well, emphasis will be increased on welding, basic blacksmithing and advanced corrective and therapeutic horseshoeing. In keeping with the college’s emphasis on real-life, hands-on learning, program completion will now require a total of 8 months of Directed Field Study, split into five-month and three-month sections respectively.

Mark Hobby, President of the Western Canadian Farriers Association, believes that new farriers today need more training than can currently be found on the continent. “Olds College is to be commended for its current one-year program. It is the best in North America by far,” says Hobby. “It is still not long enough, however. The proposed two year program is essential if we are going to be fair to equines, owners and students.” Hobby adds that Europe, generally considered to hold farriers to a higher standard, requires four years of training for farriers and requires them to be licensed by law.

Traditionally, the number of applicants for the Olds College program has exceeded its capacity, which caps at 16 students. Existing familiarity with the farrier profession and horse and tool handling are just some of the areas of competency students will need to demonstrate prior to acceptance into the program.

“Olds College already graduates some of the best farriers in North America but today’s industry needs them to be even better,” says Dean Sinclair, Olds College Farrier Science Coordinator. “Horses now represent a significant financial investment for most owners and there is also a heightened awareness of animal welfare and how it is achieved. This program will set a new standard and we are quite proud of it.”

Sinclair’s sentiments are echoed by the American Farrier’s Association (AFA). “All too often, farriers don’t survive their initial entrance into our profession because they arrive ill-prepared for success,” says AFA President Richard Fanguy. “By providing students with ample opportunity for both classroom instruction and practical experience, Olds College is helping to provide stability and professionalism within our industry.”

(end of press release)

Editor's note: Mark Hobby was probably misquoted in this press release. He may have been referring to the mandatory four-year farrier training program in Great Britain, which ends in an examination, rather than all of Europe. In other countries in Europe, the qualifications and education for farriers vary widely from formal to informal to non-existent although efforts by the EFFA hope to make standardized farrier training a reality across Europe in the future. Note that trimming and soft-shoeing (boots and non-steel shoes) do not require training or registration in most countries, but farriery (defined by the application of steel shoes) often is a regulated trade with a lengthy mandatory apprenticeship.

© 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.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Danny Ward Teaches Horseshoeing as a Sound Survival Skill for a Lame Economy

16 December 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

Danny Ward's Horseshoeing School is featured on Blue Ridge Public Television this month.

Virginia's Blue Ridge Public Television made a field trip recently to a place many of us know very well: Danny Ward's Horseshoeing School in Martinsville, Virginia. But this time the reason wasn't the huge gathering of the farrier clan held there every November, or the visit of a horseshoeing guru from abroad, but an economic sidebar on the value of becoming a farrier as a second career in the stressed economy that is making finding a job difficult for many people who want to work.

Danny's school has been there since 1964, when his father, Smoky Ward, began teaching his skills, and it has weathered all sorts of economic boom and lean times in those 45 years. Danny just keeps on doing what he does. The world keeps beating a path to his iconic forge's door. It's kind of comforting to know he's there.

It's amazing to hear the optimism in his students' voices. I hope there is plenty of work for them out there. And I hope they are listening to every word Danny says, and staying up late practicing because they will need that sort of dedication to make it in the real world, no matter what shape the economy is in.

Thanks to Blue Ridge Public Television, JobQuest, and Carol Jennings for sharing this video.

© 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.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Another Silent Anvil: Reggie Kester has died

Horseshoeing school owner Reggie Kester of Ardmore, Oklahoma has died. Reggie owned Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School and has taught thousands of people to trim and shoe horses. His school has always been one of the most popular farrier schools in the United States and Reggie was a leader of independent farrier educators. He called a meeting in 2005 that lead to the establishment of the American Farrier Educators Council; he was elected the first president.

Reggie had cancer and had been hospitalized since Thanksgiving with complications of pneumonia.

I thoroughly enjoyed knowing Reggie Kester and enjoyed working with him in the old days of the informal "farrier educators" group meetings facilitated by GE Tools' Beth Garner. That group grew into the Registry of Professional Farrier Educators (RPFE), which I believe no longer exists. Reggie called a crisis meeting of private horseshoeing school owners in Oklahoma City in 2005 in reaction to a perceived threat or intervention on the ability of private schools to continue to run their businesses, which lead to the formation of the AFEC.

Reggie was a "can do" man who I think of as having one foot in the past and one in the future, while looking the present right in the eye. He started his school in 1975, just before the beginning of the boom in private horseshoeing schools, and his school was very well known. He believed in what he was doing, he believed in being involved in the bigger farrier industry, and he and his family are friendly, genuine ambassadors for farriery. They have launched the careers and advanced the skills of so many people, but they have also enriched many more lives with their enthusiasism and warmth, including mine.

If you would like to write to Marcella, Regan or Kathy, the address is
Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School
4802 Dogwood Rd
Ardmore, OK 73401.

Update: A funeral is planned for Friday, January 2nd, handled by the Craddock Funeral Home in Ardmore, where a complete obituary has been posted about Reggie. You can order flowers from the Yellow Rose Florist in Ardmore: 580 226 5116.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Mike Wildenstein and Cornell Vet School Unveil Enlarged Farrier Shop; Dedication to Former Instructors Is Built In!

Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York has a newly enlarged farrier shop and teaching area at the large animal hospital. Thanks to farrier student Richard Mercer for his reporting of the completion of the project.

The enlarged shop will enable Adjunct Professor Michael Wildenstein FWCF (Hons) to increase the enrollment of students in the basic program and accommodate more working farriers and veterinarians who wish to study foot science and problems under his direction at Cornell.

Left to right above are current Cornell farrier students Ryan Poole, Chad Blasch, Jon Grigat, and Richard Mercer. Standing behind is instructor Mike Wildenstein. Notice the five draft horse shoes that Mike forged and laid when the concrete was poured, cementing the legacy of Cornell’s past resident farriers. Each shoe contains the name and years of service. Left to right Henry Asmus 1913-1939 (Asmus was also the school’s founder), Eugene Layton 1931-1965, Harold Mowers 1965-1976, Buster Conklin 1976-1991, Michael Wildenstein 1991-?. Mike’s previous class would not allow him to stamp an end date.

This long view shows the length of the shop with the new work stations for forging. Notice the shoe case on the wall above the Belgian; it contains specimen shoes made by German immigrant farrier Henry Asmus almost 100 years ago. Asmus is widely regarded as the most influential farrier in American history. He was a tireless educator whose heart lay both in the veterinary school and in the farms. He believed in educating farriers working in the field, and in helping horse owners learn more about proper hoof care. He was a visionary man with an extraordinary combination of intellect to understand lameness in horses and artistic skill in blacksmithing. He was the only professor of horseshoeing in the United States, until Mike Wildenstein's appointment in 2007, and was an adviser to the US Army and the US Department of Agriculture. Farriers who studied under him at Cornell received advanced rank when they enlisted in the military to serve in World War I. Asmus died in 1939.

The shoeing area is also enlarged; note another case of Henry Asmus’s shoes hangs in this area. The expanded shop has doubled in size, with six forging stations, and an expanded safer area for the horses. The school now takes four students for each semester (up from three, for the first time in the course's history) and has sufficient space for those wanting to take advanced classes or for visiting farriers.

To learn more about Cornell’s farrier school and farrier services, visit http://www.vet.cornell.edu/education/farrier/

Mark your calendar: Cornell will host the 25th Annual Farrier Conference on November 8-9, 2008. Confirmed speakers include British farrier instructor Mark Caldwell FWCF of Myerscough College and Neil Madden FWCF, formerly of the British Army farrier school. For information about attending or exhibiting at this excellent event, email Amanda Mott in the Office of Continuing Education or call (USA) 607.253.3200.

Special thanks to Mr. Dick Russell for handling "Belle" and to Debbie Crane for taking these pictures and for the use of "Belle" and "Fantasy".

Blogger’s note: I can’t believe how clean it is! And the designer dousing buckets must have a story behind them! For non-farriers: the metal contraptions on the counters are not robots from Star Wars, they are gas forges for making or heating steel horseshoes so they can be worked (shaped) while hot, making the steel more malleable. Obviously Cornell believes in the future of metal horseshoes!

If you double click on the photos, you should be able to see them at full size and look at more details. Thanks to Richard for sending high-res photos!

All HoofBlog text and images © Hoofcare Publishing 2008 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 Direct “subscribe now” link to Hoofcare & Lameness Journal: http://www.hoofcare.com/subscribe.html Contact Hoofcare Publishing anytime: tel 978 281 3222 fax 978 283 8775 email bloginquiry@hoofcare.com