¿Habla usted del casco? Grayson-Jockey Club DVD on Thoroughbred Hooves Now Available in Spanish

The DVD is one segment of the Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee's efforts to study and improve the safety for racehorses through hoof-related education.

The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit’s Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee has released a Spanish-language version of its educational DVD, The Hoof: Inside and Out, entitled, El Casco: Por Dentro y Por Fuera.

“Spanish-speaking individuals constitute a significant percentage of our horses’ caregivers, so it is only natural and in the best interests of the industry to provide a Spanish-language version of our hoof care DVD,” said Bill Casner, Thoroughbred owner/breeder and chairman of the Summit’s Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee. “We hope the Spanish-language version is embraced as enthusiastically as the original, because it will further enhance the care our horses receive on a daily basis.

The Hoof: Inside and Out was released in June 2009. Since then, more than 1,000 copies on DVD have been distributed and the online version has been downloaded more than 2,500 times by individuals in 57 countries.

Both the English- and Spanish-language versions can be downloaded at no charge at www.grayson-jockeyclub.org/summitDisplay.asp?section=39; or a physical copy can be ordered through that website for a $5.00 shipping and handling fee.

The 65-minute DVD includes seven segments:
* Introduction and Overview
* Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit
* Physiology — The Equine Limb
* Basic Hoof Care and Trimming
* The Basics of Horse Shoeing
* Types of Shoes
* Farrier’s Role and Communication (with trainers and owners)

The DVD features the insights of a number of hoof experts and industry professionals, including Mitch Taylor, director of the Kentucky Horseshoeing School; prominent Kentucky-based farriers Steve Norman and Colby Tipton; Dr. Scott Morrison of the Podiatry Center at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital; Dr. Sue Stover of the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission; Kentucky Derby winning trainer John T. Ward; champion Thoroughbred owner and breeder Bill Casner; and Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation President Ed Bowen.

The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, coordinated and underwritten by Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club, convened a wide cross-section of the breeding, racing, and veterinary community for two-day workshops in October 2006, March 2008 and June 2010.

The Summits, which were hosted by Keeneland Association, have been the catalyst for many initiatives that improve the safety and integrity of the sport, including the Equine Injury Database, the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, recommendations concerning traction devices on front shoes, and bloodline durability indices.

Additional information about the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit is available on the summit’s website at www.grayson-jockeyclub.org/summitdisplay.asp.

Safe and Sound: All Eyes on Keeneland for Tomorrow's Grayson-Jockey Club Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Dr Larry Bramlage will be a key speaker at this week's third Grayson-Jockey Club Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky as racing experts gather to address concerns inherent to racing. Chief among these concerns will be racing injuries and the choice of surfaces.

This Reuters video was made back in the spring, before the 2010 Kentucky Derby. Dr. Bramlage enjoys--or endures--a flurry of interviews and activity at Derby and Breeders Cup time, or whenever racing comes into the consciousness of the media.

Dr. Bramlage is the principal spokesman for the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) "On Call" on-air media-consulting program. He routinely answers questions for NBC, ESPN and newspaper journalists at Churchill Downs, and other tracks; who could forget his as-it-happened commentary on Barbaro's breakdown?

This year, Dr. Bramlage provided the Associated Press with essential information about steroid use in horses. The article, Racing Seeks Balance in Regulating Some Steroids, ran in over 200 newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and USA Today during Derby week. The article addresses the current ban on anabolic steroids and the uses of corticosteroids, which can have many beneficial effects, but can potentially be more dangerous than anabolic steroids if misused.

Just as the media turns to Dr. Bramlage to put it all together, the industry will do the same this week at the Welfare and Safety Summit.

The Keeneland Association will provide a live video stream when the Summit is held on Monday and Tuesday. All of Monday’s sessions and one session on Tuesday will be open to the public and available by video stream at keeneland.com.


The Hoof Blog will be quiet for a few days; Fran Jurga is a delegate to the Summit and will be working hard in Kentucky.

Information from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Reuters, and the Associated Press was utilized in the preparation of this blog post.