More About Tex

by Fran Jurga | 7 June 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

A service was held today for Tex Cauthen, a farrier who died in Kentucky last week. At first, all the newspapers could say was that the father of a famous jockey had died, but after a few days, articles like this one ("Tex Taught People to Live") from the Cincinnati newspaper began to bring the true identity of this man to light.

Turfway Park President Bob Elliston said Cauthen was one of the best farriers in the thoroughbred business. In the article he said, "Tex was one of the classiest people I ever met. He was incredibly gifted in his craft and was equally gifted as a human being."

That is wonderful praise.

I've heard from members of Tex's family and friends and learned so much about him that I never knew. I hope you'll take a minute and read the article from the Cincinnati newspaper.

I also hope you all read Ada Gates Patton's memoir of running into Tex in Cinncinati last winter. It was very nice of her to write that all down and share it. Just scroll down to the first article about Tex from last week and click on the comments to read Ada's letter.

© 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.

Friends at Rest: Tex Cauthen

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

The racing publications are reporting that Ronald "Tex" Cauthen of Walton, Kentucky has died. Tex was a well-known horseshoer in central Kentucky and was reportedly 77 years old. 

I remember "meeting" Tex Cauthen the first time I walked through the then brand-new Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs in the early 1980s. I held my breath going around each corner, thinking that surely there would be an exhibit about horseshoeing coming ahead. But there wasn't. Instead, I turned a corner by a stairway and there was a photo, set off by itself, of a farrier's hands, working. I stared at it for a long time because it was a beautiful photograph, and seemed to have been put there just so I wouldn't go home in a huff. I stared at the name: "Tex Cauthen". I made a mental note to look him up. 

I felt like I knew him, having met his hands. 

And the name sort of rang a bell. I must have heard his name before. I

 was probably the only person in the world more impressed with the fact that Tex Cauthen was a horseshoer than that he was the father of the world-famous teenage jockey who rode Affirmed to win the Triple Crown. It took me a while to put two and two together. 

All the racing magazine stories say that the famous jockey's father died and, oh yes, he was a blacksmith. 

Let this be one place where he's remembered for who he was, and for a pair of hands that could stop me in my tracks. Rest in peace, Tex.

  © 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.

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.