When less does more: New DE Hoof Taps unshoe the horse while tapping into a healthier future hoof

The yellow dotted lines outline a DE Hoof Tap, a stainless steel, zinc-coated barbed wall insert that sits flush with the trimmed wall in this severe heel wall separation. Taps can be difficult to see. This was the second installation of Hoof Taps in this separation. The same hoof is shown further down on this page after this cycle, when the tap was trimmed out of the foot, to show the improvement. (Doug Ehrmann photo)

And now for something completely different.

When a six-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare scored 80% at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Florida last month, people were impressed. That’s a great score, at any level. And she did it without shoes.

But she wasn’t barefoot. Her hooves were "tapped".

First All-Women Farrier Class Training at Cornell Vet School

Kerry Spain, right, and Kahlan Schramm shape horseshoes as part of the Cornell Farrier Program. (Photo by Lindsay France, University Photography)

In early January this year, three women walked through the farrier shop doors at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. They weren’t vet students checking on a lameness case or horse owners picking up a freshly shod horse. These women started up the forges and went to work at their anvils--without a male in sight.

Cornell announced this week that the farrier program’s 2018 class is the first to be comprised entirely of women. Paige Maxxam, Kahlan Schramm and Kerry Spain will complete the four-month program in April.

Event Announcement: William Moyer, DVM Headlines Myhre Equine's 27th Farrier-Veterinarian Conference

WHAT: Myhre Equine Clinic's Annual Farrier-Veterinarian Conference

WHEN: Thursday and Friday, October 9-10, 2014

WHERE: Rochester, New Hampshire

WHO: Farriers and veterinarians

WHY: Dr. William Moyer, guest speaker

Farriers and veterinarians in the New England states will come together next week to share their knowledge and hear lectures by Dr. William Moyer at the Myhre Equine Clinic's Farrier-Veterinarian Conference, to be held at Myhre Equine Clinic in Rochester, New Hampshire on October 9-10, 2014. (Click the link below to read more.)

Save the Date: Cornell Vet School Hosts 25th Annual Farrier Conference in November

(Double click on image to enlarge and/or print it.)

Conference announcements are being mailed this week for the 25th Annual Farriers Conference at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, to be held November 8-9, 2008 in Ithaca, New York. The mailing was sent to all Hoofcare and Lameness Journal subscribers in the Northeastern USA, among others! If you don't receive the mailing or would like to know more about the conference, the information will be posted on the vet school web site at this link: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/education/ConEd.htm.

Cornell's conference is annually one of the premier events on the farrier education calendar. Led by Michael Wildenstein FWCF (Hons), who is now adjunct professor of farrier science at Cornell, the conference attracts farriers from around the country and Mike continually brings fine speakers from all over the world to share their work with attendees.

This year includes two British farrier instructors, Mark Caldwell and Neil Madden, who are both deep into advanced studies of hoof shape, hoof balance, and hoof mechanics, as well as the ever-personable American draft horse specialist Bruce Matthews of Vermont, who has developed a program for teaching horses to stand (safely) while being trimmed or shod.

Among the Caldwell/Madden presentations will be a tech-based demonstration comparing high-speed video with pressure-mat results in evaluating hoof landing and weightbearing, and a session on hoofmapping by British parameters. Sunday's entire program will be given over to Caldwell and Madden to present their work on static vs dynamic hoof balance in a lecture/PowerPoint format.

After a fabulous full course dinner on Saturday, Dr. Lowe will reminisce about the first farrier conference at Cornell, and veteran farrier and horseman Steve Kraus will lecture on conformation faults and how they affect performance horses.
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I look forward to this event so much every year, both for the high quality of the speakers and the chance to snoop around the Cornell vet school library. It is also special because of the people who attend--many of them never miss a year. Over the past 25 years, the group has seen the finest vet and farrier speakers on the hoof stride onto that stage; I believe the repeat attendees must be among the best-educated farriers in the world. Anyone who is asked to speak at this conference should be honored...and had better show up prepared to answer excellent questions and talk late into the night. It's a great group of people...and this conference supplies wonderful food, as well!

Note: hotel rooms can be a problem, especially if Cornell has a football game that weekend. Book early! Most people stay at the Best Western University Inn, which is the closest to the vet school. Call 607 272 6100 and ask for the farrier conference rate.

Ithaca is served by major airlines like Northwest, US Air, and United. Check flyithaca.com for fares and details. Another (somewhat) nearby airport is Syracuse, New York. New York City would be a few hours' drive. Ithaca is right in the middle of the state.

For more information, or to inquire about sponsorship or space in the trade show, call Amanda Mott in the vet school's continuing education department at 607.253.3200 or email her: amm36@cornell.edu. Amanda has been on (much-deserved) vacation and I'm not sure exactly when she will be back.

If for some reason you need the brochure and cannot reach Amanda, email Hoofcare and we will forward the PDF file to you as an email attachment.

Hoofcare and Lameness is proud to be associated with this event.