Clipper Folly: A Sad Chapter in Horse Care History from World War I

11 November 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

In the Middle East during World War I, horses arriving from Australia would have had winter coats and required clipping to withstand the heat of the desert campaigns. These men are using the hand clippers that were standard for the task at that time; it would take three men a long time to clip each horse, compared to today. The British military had horses in the winter mud in Belgium and France, and in the searing heat of Palestine. Clipping was a godsend for the desert, but what did mandatory clipping mean for the wet horses shivering on the Western Front?

When war was declared in 1914, the British were not prepared. They had only about 25,000 horses and mules ready for war; they also operated five Remount Depots and four Remount companies, with a remount strength of approximately 1,200 horses and mules. They were going to need a lot more than that. And they needed them almost overnight.

Kentucky Derby Hoof Tech: Calculated Hoof Repair for Heel-Quarter Blow-Outs in Racehorses

Last week we showed you Ian McKinlay's video clip of a quarter crack, and tried to paraphrase Ian's description of the various types of "blowouts" that can fracture a racehorse's hoof wall, and showed a foot with a wall separation ready for repair. That photo showed a foot that might look something like what Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown's feet looked like when his injuries occurred. They have now been repaired and the horse's trainer, Richard Dutrow, commented to the press today that he is pleased with the condition of his horse's feet and the recovery that has been made possible by a combination of hoof repair and cushioning of the injured area, coupled with glued on "gasket" shoes.

The shoe design and rationale has already been explained in previous posts but this serious of photos will show you a horse that is NOT BIG BROWN, but that received a similar shoeing solution. Ian McKinlay has provided these additional photos to give people a broader view of how streamlined and non-intrusive the repair process is, compared to the older ways of bar shoes and laced and layered patches.

A blog comment last week brought up a good question, regarding his ignornance that Pyro had won his two previous starts wearing glued-on shoes. A few years ago this might have been a handicap, but that racing observer wondered if shoes shouldn't be disclosed to the betting public because high-tech enhancements might offer an advantage to a horse, similar to the new Speedo "skin suits" with ultrasonic welds instead of seams, which will be used in the 2008 Olympic swimming competitions. That is, unless they are ruled to be performance-enhancing equipment.


The shoe (race plate) package ready for application. The heels are fully cushioned where the wall has been removed. The copper "clips" are not clips in the sense of those used on steel shoes; they are providing more surface area for the adhesive. They are just thin tab-like strips of copper. Remember that this shoe will be glued on, there is no issue with nails having to penetrate the rubber.


The heel is rebuilt and the shoe is on. The temptation is probably to incorporate the heel repair into the shoe but the two have to maintain separate entities so that the shoe can be removed. The artificial heel will be trimmed as it grows down. Only the copper tab crosses the frontier between the shoe and the real/artificial wall. Remember that the padding under the heel is the full width of the shoe only in the heel area, which is why you see the black line fill with adhesive in the quarter.


I am not sure whether or not this horse had blowouts (wall separations) in both heels, possibly caused by subsolar abscesses, hard racetracks, or gait changes, so both heel walls were trimmed out and replaced with artificial wall. It's also possible that the the adhesive and heel cushion were used on both heels to provide symmetrical heel architecture and encourage normal gaits and stride characteristics.

The finished feet. This horse will have the benefit of pain relief from the cushioning and the realigned support of the artificial heel wall to stabilize weightbearing over the entire foot (or where the foot would be). This procedure hopefully encourages normal circulation and a normal gait pattern. The finished job does not look very different from a patch for a quarter crack or a wall rebuild for a thin-walled horse so you can see why a trainer would just refer to the injury as a "quarter crack".

Thanks to Ian McKinlay for sharing this technique, and for interrupting his work to take these photos. Racetrack repair technology is continuing to evolve as more horses are being shod and supported as their needs dictate. Ian is a career specialist in quarter crack repair and is bringing new ideas and materials to the racetrack to help horses stay in training. He is very generous to share information from the racetrack with the world through this blog.

Links to previous stories from last week on Kentucky Derby hopefuls' feet:
Click here for quarter crack explanation and Ian McKinlay's video
Click here for glue shoes on Kentucky Derby favorites and Ian McKinlay's explanation of heel separation
Click here for interview with Big Brown trainer Richard Dutrow about the horse's feet.