What's on your screen? Update on Professor Chris Pollitt's Illustrated Horse's Foot Web Site and Book

There's been a secret in the hoof world for the past year, and it's time to make sure that you know about it.

When Professor Chris Pollitt's new reference book, The Illustrated Horse's Foot, debuted in 2016, the detailed illustrations stole the show--and all the publicity. But was some of the message lost?

Do You Speak Farrier? The 2010 New Dictionary of Farrier Terms Will Help!

3 November 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog from Hoofcare.com

To order your copy, call 978 281 3222 or email books@hoofcare.com

Cost is $19 plus $4 postage in USA; $8 elsewhere.

This little slide show from author David Millwater gives a preview of the new edition of the outstanding reference, New Dictionary of Farrier Terms. We have always tried to make this book available over the years, but the book is now all grown up, with a spine, glossy cover and expanded listings.

I hope this book will become the accepted reference for defining farrier words so that authors and editors can all speak the same language. I don't always agree with Dave, but he is such a good writer and a diligent compiler of the lexicon of his profession that I don't mind losing out to him (sometimes).

Farriers will (or should) know all the terms in the book, but may be stuck sometimes to define what a London pattern anvil is or what "interdigitate" really means in the laminar bond. This book will help.

For everyone else, this book helps de-mystify the language of the back of that truck and the furthest corners of the smithy. It won't cure your horse or keep your shoes on, but it will help you sound like you might know what you're talking about. How you string the words together is up to you!

The New DFT belongs on the shelves of authors, editors, translators, veterinary hospitals, educators, lawyers, insurance companies, breeders, trainers, horseowners, merchants and, of course, libraries. Did I forget anyone?

I hope the sales from this spiffy new edition will encourage David Millwater to continue his calling as a word detective and delve more into the origins of farrier terms (one more time: why do they call it canker?) and that this project will flourish and my arguments with him never end.

Take my word for it: if we all agreed, Hoofcare's world would be a much less interesting place.

© 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 b

ox 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.

Applied Anatomy: The Painted Horses as Teachers

by Fran Jurga | 30 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

How did we teach (and learn) anatomy before we had super-markers to paint directly on horses' bodies? I believe that this clever technique was popularized by American clinician Susan Harris in the 1990s, or at least she was the first to make an educational project out of horse-painting.

We've seen an expansion lately, in the art of painting on horses. Dr. Gerd Heuschmann uses the horse as a canvas in his terrific video, If Horses Could Speak, and there's a beautiful new book on the Hoofcare & Lameness list (ordering info below) called How Your Horse Moves that documents painted horses going through gaits and stretches.

The problem, of course, is that you can only suggest the surface structures, and so much lies beneath. And should you choose the skeleton or the muscles?

Nicole Rossa solved that problem by painting the muscles on one side and the bones and joints on the other. Nicole is an equine therapist in England who has written some interesting papers, most notably one on asymmetry of the pelvis in racehorses and the effect on performance. Now she has teamed up with horse insurance company PetPlan and is consultant to the most ambitious web site project in the horse health world, Yourstables.co.uk.

On second thought, don't click on that link. Yourstables.com is a distraction demon. It's an absolute vortex where hours can pass while you wander around inspecting the minute textures of the stable mats and what it says on the plaques of the walls in the office. You'll emerge hours later, blinking.

Yourstables is a setup for teaching horsecare through consulting professionals, with the guidance of eventing legend Lucinda Green as an avatar. A 3-D horse barn (British style) is equipped with the newest and best of everything. You mouse over items and navigate through videos and printable articles explaining everything from grooming to diseases. It's quite good and Nicole Rossa is the consulting therapist. This list video is an out-take from a video made for the web site.

Back to the painted ponies: I just have one question. Why stop with horses? Do dog health educators paint anatomy markers on greyhounds? Who wants to volunteer their Jack Russell or maybe a Pug to be anatomically decorated? Nicole Rossa might find some work on humans when Halloween comes around.

Heads up: How Your Horse Moves by Gillian Higgins can be ordered now. Super reference on anatomy, gaits, biomechanics, jumping, tendon function, back function, etc. All full color photography; most of the horses are anatomically enhanced and very nicely photographed. The cover does not do this book justice. Hardcover, 153 pages, indexed, 350 color photos. Intro by Chris Bartle and Bettina Hoy. I expect I will be seeing a lot of the photos in this book in other people's PowerPoints soon! The good news: $30 per book plus $6 per book post in USA, $13 per book elsewhere. To order call 978 281 3222 or email books@hoofcare.com.

NOTE: Gillian Higgins will be on the program at a conference with Dr Hilary Clayton February 13-14, 2010 in Grantham in Great Britain.

© 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.

Take a Peek at the Perfect Gift Book: EQUUS by Tim Flach

As the holiday season dawns, please take a look at a few sample images from our featured gift book for 2008. EQUUS by Tim Flach is a deceptively simple name for an extraordinary collection of images of the horse. Just the horse. Not always the whole horse. And a collection like you have never seen before.

This will be the feature book in the Hoofcare booth at the AAEP convention in San Diego next week. If you can't be there to order one, reserve your copy now.

Specifications: Hardcover with heavyweight jacket, 14.3 x 11.3 x 1.5", (huge!), 300 thick pages of new ways to look at a horse.

Cost: $60 per book. $12 shipping in USA. No overseas orders as this book is too heavy for air mail.

To order: Fax orders to 978 283 8775. Phone orders to 978 281 3222 (office closed 12/5 to 12/12 for AAEP convention). Mail orders to Hoofcare Books, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930.

Payment: Checks payable to Hoofcare Books in US funds only. Visa or Mastercard accepted (need account number and expiry date).

Fulfilment subject to availability.

Click here for fax/mail order form.

All orders subject to the schedules, delays and whims inherent in the US postal system.


EQUUS is stunning, thought-provoking and inspirational, without any text to get in the way of your own reactions. (Although there is text elsewhere in the book, should you care to read more.) This book has no connection to the magazine by the same name.

This book will never grow old. You will, but this book will grow with you. You'll see it again for the first time, every time you open it.

And you'll know horses as you never have before.

I will try to post more images from this amazing book but these are among my favorites that feature the hoof.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. Images are the property of the photographer, who kindly loaned them.

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.

Book Announcement: "Leg and Hoof Care for Horses" Sorts Out Lameness for Horse Owners

Leg and Hoof Care for Horses: A Complete Illustrated Guide
by Micaela Myers with photographs by Kelly Meadows
256 pages, 450 color photos, soft cover, November 2008

Hot off the presses this week is "Leg and Hoof Care for Horses" by Micaela Myers, former editorial staffer at Bowtie Press in California. Micaela has done a great job of compiling information about almost every imaginable disorder of a horse's hoof or leg.

Maybe readers of Hoofare and Lameness Journal and this Hoof Blog don't think they need this book, but most horse owners surely do. The reason? We have lots and lots of books on the foot and on lameness that explain every disorder and treatment but this book takes the novel approach of spreading information and photos about each problem over two pages, showing the problem in nice color photos and adding colorful boxes with notes.

This means that if an owner or junior rider or a parent needs to understand what stem cell therapy for a tendon injury is, or what ringbone is, they can just open up the book and voila! there it is. No looking things up in three different chapters. No footnotes. And there's that aha! moment of "Oh my gosh, that is just what Moose's leg looks like!"

Never underestimate the value of the simple approach. Or big, colorful photos.

As I flipped through this book, I was reminded of a quote I read earlier today, something to the effect of "If you can't explain your subject in a few simple words, then you probably don't really understand it yourself."

Also on the plus side, Micaela Myers dances like a prima ballerina around the subject of whether horses should be shod or not. Like everything else in the book, it gets two pages. She does differentiate between normal and therapeutic shoes, and she does include photos of Natural Balance and AANHCP (Jaime Jackson) trims, and discusses Strasser hoofcare briefly.

On the down side, the book is inconsistent in the quality of photos and their labeling. Many photos are nicely enhanced with arrows and callout text, not always pointing to the right thing. Some photos would only confuse an owner, such as a photo showing the bottom of a foot with a bar shoe and pad to illustrate a keratoma.

The book really shines in the veterinary sections more than the hoof sections. The radiographs are big and sharp. The section on how to sweat a leg with DMSO and plastic wrap could help a lot of people stay out of trouble; seeing the sweat section next to the poultice section helps people understand the difference between these two leg wrapping treatments.

The feet in the photos are pretty average, and the shod ones are not wearing notable, fashionable or even clipped shoes, usually. They appear to be normal horses of the Quarter horse persuasion, which is pretty much what most American horses would look like. There is virtually nothing on racing or even sport- or breed-specific problems.

We live in an age where few people are going to sit down and read a book unless they have to. For a book to earn its place on a shelf, it has to be a tool with a specific job to do. Micaela Myers has given us a book that can point you to a photo and detailed explanation of an annular ligament injury or a capped elbow in five seconds or less.

The other great quality of this book is its price: just $25. It's a great price for such a thick, colorful book. It's a nice bright package, but we all know better than to judge a book by its cover. Use this book as an asset to keep next to your more serious, in-depth library of lameness books. Don't loan out those icons--Denoix, Pollitt, Van Nassau, Clayton, Dyson--but offer Myers instead. Be generous: It's a book anyone can understand, navigate, appreciate...and afford to replace.

Ordering details: $25 plus $6 post in USA, plus $15 air post to other countries. Pay in US dollars. Visa/Mastercard accepted. Allow a few weeks for delivery. Available 18 November 2008. Mail orders to Hoofcare, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930. Telephone orders to (01) 978 281 3222 (leave details on voice mail); fax orders to (01) 978 283 8775. Click here for fax/mail order form. Email orders to books@hoofcare.com.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission.

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.

If You Liked MOLLY THE PONY, You’ll Love THE GOAT LADY!

Following the incredible success of MOLLY THE PONY through this blog, it's time to add Molly's friend, THE GOAT LADY by Jane Bregoli.

Here’s what THE GOAT LADY is about:

Who’s that funny-looking lady in old clothes down at the end of the street? She walks with a limp and her yard is filled with goats.

On a street of beautiful new homes with perfect lawns, the old farmhouse looks out of place. The children can only wonder what goes on there. But the goats fascinate them.

One of the mothers is an artist, and she sees something beautiful in the goats and the old woman.

When the artist fills the town hall with paintings of the goats and their owner, the new residents in town get an eyeful. Children and adults learn to see the beauty in what they once thought was just a rundown house and a weird old woman in their neighborhood.

They learn that their houses are built on the fields of the old farm, and that the “goat lady” once owned it all. They learn she sold the fields to pay her late husband’s medical bills. And that she donates healthful goat milk to people who are ill, like she is. And they find out that the young baby goats go to poor families overseas, thanks to the Heifer Project, a longstanding anti-poverty program that supplies farm animals to poor families.

And the neighbors learn to start acting like neighbors, the children learn a lot about goats, and the goat lady finds out she has a lot more friends that she thought she did.

WHY PURCHASE THE GOAT LADY?

Teach children that old people have value and something to teach that they can value. That the way someone dresses or the shape their house is in are not yardsticks to their character or value. That animals make a great difference to poor people in other countries. And that people who wear old clothes and live in shabby houses may turn out to be generous and help people in need.

And THE GOAT LADY won the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Award for best children's book about animals!

BOOK DETAILS for THE GOAT LADY

Size: 9.25”w x 10.25” h, 32 pages
Hardcover, laminated cover.
Full color illustrations and paintings throughout.
Written for children in grades 3-6, much loved by many adult readers
Very similar to MOLLY THE PONY in size, shape, length.
And it is a TRUE story!
Cost: $17 publisher's list price

And don't forget Molly!

Update on Molly: MOLLY THE PONY is in its third printing!

Molly (the real pony) continues to do well at Ms Kaye’s farm down in Louisiana. Her fame through the book has not gone to her head at all. She had a tough time when Hurricane Gustave hit, but her barn is being rebuilt and she keeps limping along to schools and hospitals to share her story and her message of hope.

We need to raise enough money (or find a sponsor) for a truck and trailer so Molly can go to places beyond New Orleans, though she has plenty to do right there!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased MOLLY THE PONY and donated to her fund.

Doug Butler Will Open a Horseshoeing School in Nebraska; Butler Professional Farrier School Will Be in Crawford

Doug Butler, PhD, FWCF will open a horseshoeing school in Crawford, Nebraska this fall. Teaching alongside Dr. Butler will be two of his sons, Jacob and Peter. "Butler Professional Farrier School" will also offer a certification program for its students to progress from level to level, and will offer classes from beginning to advanced as well as personalized graduate-level training.

Learn more at http://www.butlerprofessionalfarrierschool.com