Barefoot by the Numbers: Swedish Standardbred trotters are faster without shoes, but risk breaking gait

Researchers at Sweden's University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) at Uppsala have analyzed the performance records of trotting Standardbreds based on varied configurations of fully shod,  front or hind shoes only, or without shoes entirely. 

History on the Hoof: Who Shod Dan Patch?

It doesn’t seem like a holiday, but there it was, noted on the hoofprints.com calendar. “Dan Patch born this day, 1896.” I wondered, "How many people know who Dan Patch was?" And then I remembered that I've been meaning to write about his farrier.

Welcome to the story of the greatest horse you’ve probably never heard of.

New Horseracing Integrity Act Introduced in US House of Representatives

The establishment of a single federal authority to oversee horseracing would give the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency jurisdiction over racehorse medication testing under the tenets of new legislation filed in Congress. Congressmen Andy Barr (R-KY) and Paul Tonko (D-NY), the Co-Chairmen of the Congressional Horse Caucus, introduced H.R. 2651, the Horseracing Integrity Act in the United States House of Representatives on May 25, 2017.

Shoes, Half Shoes, or No Shoes At All: Swedish-Trained Trotters Ruled Hambletonian Day

Think Swedish: Some of the most interesting horseshoes come from Sweden. But just as interesting is the way that the shoes are used. Swedish-trained and shod Father Patrick, the 4-5 favorite, and Trixton, the winner, both went to the post wearing cut off American-made Thoro'Bred Queen's Plates with Grand Circuit Flapper pads that farrier Conny Svensson cut to fit. (Conny Svensson photo)

Say "Sweden" and what comes to mind: Saabs and Volvos? Singing along to an Abba song? Swedish warmbloods? Mustad nails? Furniture shopping at Ikea? Lars Roeppstorf's hoof research at Upsaala University? How about a martini made with Absolut vodka?

But you really should think of harness racing. And horseshoes. Maybe after reading this article, you will.

Equine Obesity Research: Breeds Respond Differently to Changes in Diet and Exercise

Does it take a university research study to prove that horses need exercise and diets?

If spring weight gain isn't on horse owners' minds right now, it will be soon. Many horses now come through the winter in robust condition, thanks to modern feeds, warm barns, snuggly blankets and owners who don't ride often in winter...if ever.

Trot on! Hambletonian Winner Muscle Massive is a Jersey Boy But Might He Be the Last?

"Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated," is a line attributed to Mark Twain. The same could be said of The Meadowlands racetrack in urban New Jersey. Rumors from Trenton this summer suggest that the governor and state legislature might like to bypass support for casino-type gambling there in favor of other venues in the state. New Jersey's horse industry--much of it based in small Standardbred racing and breeding operations--is up in arms.

So when the $1.5 Million Hambletonian, the world's most famous trotting race, went off at The Meadowlands on Saturday afternoon, a crowd of 26,712--the highest attendance in five years--was on hand to watch, and a plane flew overhead with a banner asking them to "Save the Meadowlands".

The winner of the Hambletonian, a sparkling and regally-bred three-year-old bay colt named Muscle Massive, is a Jersey Boy and could be the poster child for Save the Meadowlands. He was bred right in New Jersey, at Perretti Farms. He's the son of Muscle Yankee, winner of the Hambletonian in 1998 and sire of 2008 Hambletonian winner Deweycheatumnhowe and 2009 winner Muscle Hill.

Muscle Massive clocked the second fastest final in Hambletonian history. The record was set by his sire.

If the horse is sound and that fast, credit must go his farrier and this horse has a good one. Congratulations to Conny Svensson (left) on shoeing his third Hambletonian winner. He also shod Malabar Man in 1997 and Scarlet Knight in 2001. Conny's most famous charge was the great and legendary globe-trotting mare Moni Maker.

Conny didn't comment about how the horse was shod--he had shod three horses in the race--but the trainer had this to say to Hoof Beats: "We raced him in steel shoes last week and I did that just for safety because he pulled a muscle, just to make sure he wouldn’t go off stride. I put aluminum shoes on him for today."
  
Harness racing is much more popular in attendance in Canada and in Europe than it is in the United States and yet The Hambletonian is still the one that every owner in the world would like to win. International wagering was nearly $2.4 million, up from $1.97 million wagered on the 2009 simulcast. Total wagering worldwide was $8,391,600, on the full card of yesterday's races at The Meadowlands.

Ah, but then in other parts of the world horse racing is often the only form of gambling, and the sport is a little more secure.

Muscle Massive is owned by a consortium of Swedish and Canadian interests and trained by Swedish native Jimmy Takter, who said in an interview that if The Meadowlands closed he would probably look for a different job.

A plane pulled a banner over the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday during the Hambletonian. The USA's richest Standardbred racetrack is endangered.

It seems like wherever I go, there is a crisis in the horse industry, and it usually has something to do with expanded gambling and state legislatures. I'd like to know how much better off the states with gambling really are; I think it is too soon to tell. What I can tell is that the pressure is on. New Jersey is caught between Delaware and Pennsylvania, where gambling is in at the racetracks; it is promised to come to New York at Aqueduct, a long stone's throw across the expansive marshland that gives The Meadowlands its name. The squeeze is on.  Kentucky feels the same kind of pressure. Maryland has struggled. Texas feels threatened. And here in Massachusetts,  our governor flatly refuses to save racing and insists of backing resort casinos identical to the ones in the state next door. Politics and horses have never mixed, but this is the future of all the horse industry that is at stake here. When the racing goes, other services go with it. Sport horses and pleasure horses will suffer, vets and farriers will suffer, hay and grain supplies and prices will suffer. And those are just the big ticket items at the top of the list. It's one big chain of dominoes. Just ask the owners of Perretti Farms, the largest Standardbred farm in New Jersey, where Muscle Massive's sire stands.

To learn more:

New Jersey Star Ledger's analysis of the effects of racing changes on vets, farriers, and sport horse industry in the state by Nancy Jaffer

Article about winning trainer Jimmy Takter and his comments on a future without The Meadowlands

© 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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Video: Laminitis in Standardbreds at Ohio State's Vet Hospital

by Fran Jurga | 2 June 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Part 1 features Ohio State clinician/researcher Dr. James Belknap

Part 2 features farrier Trey Green

The US Trotting Association's magazine Hoof Beats has a feature on laminitis this month and the magazine sent a video crew to the veterinary hospital at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Columbus, Ohio to film a supporting video to accompany the article.

I hope you will check out the article, and also watch these two short videos. The first features Ohio State's Dr. James Belknap, a respected leader in the study of the mechanism of the disease and of medications' effects. The article in Hoof Beats was written by Dr. Belknap. He obviously works in a hands-0n role at Ohio State, as well, and you'll see him giving some of his opinions about the clinical aspects of the disease.

On the second clip, you'll see Dr. Belknap work on the foot of the patient, and then Ohio State farrier Trey Green goes to work and finds the case ideal for the applicaion of a heart-bar shoe.

I wonder where and how the horse is now.

Many thanks to the USTA for posting the video.

© 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.

New Extreme Hoof Makeover Video: Ian McKinlay and Conny Svensson Combine Glue, Nails, Adhesive and New Shoe Designs for 11th Hour Pre-Race Hoofcare

In July, a Standardbred named Before He Cheats needed major hoof renovations before he could race in a big stakes at The Meadowlands. Harness shoer specialist Conny Svensson and hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay went to work and, when they were re-done, rebuilt and reshod all four feet.

Luckily, Ian had his video camera and he created a start-to-finish documentary of the process and is allowing the Hoof Blog to share it with you.

The segments are roughly nine minutes each, since YouTube.com has a ten-minute limit for clips. So, settle back and watch this horse's feet change shape. Remember that this is an 11th hour makeover. In reality, the horse should not have been allowed to get to this stage. Conny and Ian were asked to transform it for a race a few days afterwards. This is stop-gap therapy. Hoof triage. It certainly could have been prevented.

Here's part one:



And here's part two (with a very happy ending):



© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. All images and text protected to full extent of law. Permissions for use in other media or elsewhere on the web can be easily arranged. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online or received via a daily email through an automated delivery service.

This post was originally published on October 2, 2008 at http://www.hoofcare.blogspot.com, with the permission of Ian McKinlay and www.tenderhoof.com

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness, please visit our 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. Comments to individual posts are welcome; please click on the comment icon at the bottom of the post.

Still Thinking About Eight Belles? Leading Vet Hogan Suggests That Thoroughbreds Could Learn A Lot From Standardbreds

Dr. Patty Hogan in surgery

Carol Hodes, former media relations director for the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has posted a terrific interview with one of my favorite sources, Patty Hogan VMD, ACVS of the new Hogan Equine Clinic LLC in Cream Ridge, New Jersey. Two years ago, it was Hogan who testified against her veterinary brethren in front of the US Congress, and explained why she was not aligning herself with AVMA and AAEP political positions regarding slaughter of horses for meat. She didn’t like the idea of the whole horse meat slaughter industry and she gave poignant compelling reasons why. Congress listened. So when Eight Belles died tragically on the track at the end of the Kentucky Derby, journalist Hodes turned to Hogan for insight. Hogan, after all, is often described as the veterinarian who saved Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, and she is the AAEP’s “On Call” veterinarian for some harness races that are televised. Carol’s entire interview with Hogan is posted on the HarnessLink web site in New Zealand. I highly recommend you follow this link and read the entire interview, but here are a few savvy comments from one of the best industry’s most independent thinkers and leading surgeons. This fall, Hogan will take over as head surgeon of the new Ruffian Equine Medical Center at Belmont Park, owned by IEAH, who also own 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown. Hogan: “I’ve seen horses break both ankles, in fact I repaired one this past week that came to me with a fracture in one hind leg, and I repaired it. When he got up, the other leg was broken. He was a thoroughbred with bilateral injuries, similar to hers, but not so severe. But that’s so rare. “For it to occur at the end of the race is very unusual. She [Eight Belles] must have had enormous fatigue, and that’s just puzzling. I know she was very well taken care of. I don’t think there was any smoke and mirrors there. That trainer [Larry Jones] is very honest. I don’t think the jock [Gabriel Saez] deserves the criticism he’s received at all.” “I’m sure genetics has played a role because [catastrophic injury] has increased in recent years. A lot of horses that have retired to be bred are not necessarily the most durable horses. They’ve hurt themselves after one or two races, and then they are sent to be bred.” From there, the interview heads in a new direction: why don’t Standardbreds break down the way that Thoroughbreds do? Hogan’s practice is evenly divided between the two breeds. Hode digs for some answers and Hogan supplies some good ones: “(Standardbreds) are being bred for speed and they’re getting sore, but they don’t kill themselves. The horses that end up going to the breeding shed, at least with the stallions, they’re the ones that have performed incredibly well and raced well.” “The prognosis is always better for standardbreds than it is for thoroughbreds. They always come back from everything. I definitely have a different set of prognoses that I can give for a standardbred vs. a thoroughbred even if it is exactly the same injury. It’s rare for a standardbred to founder or have laminitis as a result of having an injury in the other leg. With a thoroughbred it’s a huge priority.” Thanks to HarnessLink.com and Carol Hodes for the good work on this interview.

Laminitis Makes Strange Bedfellows at New Bolton: Pacing Stallion Artsplace and Barbaro Fight Founder Side by Side

According to the web site harnessracing.com, and as quoted on the US Trotting Association web site, leading pacing (harness racing) sire Artsplace has been moved from Southwind Farm in New Jersey where he has been standing at stud. The 18-year-old sire of no less than 14 $1 million winners has been suffering from laminitis for some time, and will now be treated at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center outside Philadelphia. This is the same hospital where Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is recovering from a fractured hind leg and contralimb laminitis.