Kerckhaert horseshoes treated with a copper "shielding" process, along with copper-coated Liberty CU Carrera nails, give British runner Decorated Knight a unique flash as he trains at Del Mar in California for this weekend's Breeders Cup. The process, called Cu Shield Technology, transforms the normal plates. (Ashley Berry photo)
It’s that time of year. The best racehorses in the world have been winging their way to the USA to line up against the best of the home team. The Breeders Cup races, to be held Friday and Saturday at California’s Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, will be the Super Bowl of horseracing.
Once the horses are out on the track, they all look pretty much alike, no matter what countries they call home. Maybe you’ll see a few minor differences in tack, or the way the jockey rides. And as you watch the horses trot by in the post parade, you catch the flash in the sunlight as horse after horse shows you a glimpse of the four silver-y aluminum plates adorning their feet.
Wait a minute. What was that? As one horse trots past, the California sun catches a flash of red copper, instead of silvery aluminum. That was different...what's going on?
The state of Vermont is astir today with the news that one of its most beloved--and controversial--residents has succumbed to what is being called "laminitis". The latest victim of the merciless foot disease is not one of the Green Mountain State's signature Morgans. It's not an iconic draft horse on one of the dairy farms. It's not even a backyard pony.
This time laminitis--or something like it--has led to a sad ending for a moose.
Not just any moose, mind you, but Pete the Moose. And the citizens want to know what's been going on.
First, the setting: Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. A section of the United States inhabited by far fewer people than animals, and visited by even fewer. That said, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. You just can't quite get there from here. Or anywhere. It's a corner of Vermont wedged between Quebec and New Hampshire, but that doesn't really matter because you probably won't ever have a reason to go there.
These might be considered "normal" moose claws, or hooves. (Cathleen Shattuck photo)
Then, some background: Pete was injured as a mooseling. He was attacked by dogs and left to die. But he was nursed back to health for over a year by David the Vermonter. They became attached, best buddies, an odd couple in the interspecies world order of things. Things got messy when the state government ruled that David didn't "own" Pete. They decided that if Pete couldn't live on his own in the wild, it would be all right if Pete went to live in a hunting preserve with some imported elk.
Then the state had second thoughts. Things got even messier. Just suppose one of those elk had a disease like BSE, or "chronic wasting disease" (think: a wildlife version of mad cow disease) and Pete contracted it. Then suppose somehow Pete escaped and went back into the wild and spread the disease around Vermont.
Enter: lawyers, courts, the governor. Was this a wildlife issue or an agriculture crisis? Pete received the death sentence. But wait! Then the governor (also named Pete) stepped in and pardoned him, forcing a stay of execution.
An ABC-TV news segment on Pete in late 2009
Pete became quite a celebrity. He had over 6000 "friends" on Facebook. If you can have a big cat or a poisonous snake for a pet, why can't David have a moose?
A video of David, Pete's friend, when the state government was threatening to "remove" Pete. He was living in a 600-acre private game sanctuary for elk at the time but the state thought he was a public health risk.
Things went quiet for a while. We didn't hear anything about Pete. Then he turned up dead. Or didn't turn up, as the case may be.
The news this morning from Vermont is that Pete died on Labor Day when "tranquilized" (no further information given) in order to have his hooves trimmed.
Vermont Fish &Wildlife Department Commissioner Patrick Berry said in a press statement: "Most of the people who have been fans of Pete the Moose have never fully understood the story," he said. "It's not a good idea to trap wildlife behind a fence and feed them beer and doughnuts. This is a good example of what happens when you don't keep wildlife wild."
"The hoof condition he was being treated for likely was caused by eating corn and other foods not part of a moose’s normal diet during his years in captivity," Berry is quoted as saying in the Burlington Free Press.
According to ABC News, Pete enjoyed munching on apples, bananas and Snickers candy bars but refused to eat Milky Ways.
Meanwhile, Pete's body disappeared. According to state law, the carcass needs to be tested for chronic wasting disease.
So in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, there may still a moose on the loose but someone is going to need to produce a carcass.
Laminitis in moose around the country may actually be on the rise. North Dakota is one state that is concerned about the problem, as moose migrate into farmland and feed on grain. A study by Butler et al followed a series of necropsies on four moose believed to have died from grain overload. In particular, "Case A" from that study was described: "... was in good body condition and was presented at necropsy with moderate postmortem change. It was noted that all 4 digits had severely overgrown claws. The hind and front claws were approximately 30 cm and 20 cm longer than normal, respectively. Separation of the dorsal claw from the third phalanx was evident. Severe congestion was noted around the distal aspects of the third phalanx in both front digits.... A diagnosis of severe, chronic laminitis in all 4 feet was made." That paper was published in Alces, the journal of moose.
Research going back to 1977 in Alaska begs the definition of what laminitis is. Indications of Copper Deficiency in a Subpopulation of Alaskan Moose by Flynn et al described a copper and sulfur deficiency that caused abnormal keratinization of moose hooves. "Faulty keratinization was linked with copper deficiency by both mineral element analyses and photoelectron spectroscopy. Decreased copper and sulfur hoof content and an abnormal electron spectroscopy chemical analysis (ESCA) spectra indicated incomplete sulfur cross-linking in the hoof keratin."
According to the European Bioinformatics Institute, keratinization is defined as "the process in which the cytoplasm of the outermost cells of the vertebrate epidermis is replaced by keratin. Keratinization occurs in the stratum corneum, feathers, hair, claws, nails, hooves, and horns."
That paper was published in the Journal of Nutrition and can be downloaded for free by clicking on the link.
Hoof deformities of elk have also been studied; a poster presentation showing anatomical specimen can be viewed as a free-download pdf file: Severe Hoof Deformities in Free-Ranging Elk in Western Washington State by Han et al. Who knows what killed Pete the Moose?Someone somewhere does, and maybe the truth will out. The latest news reports are stressing that an error or adverse reaction in the use of the tranquilzer probably actually killed Pete, but still more information is needed about what was wrong with his hooves.
There is no doubt, however, that some sort of hoof condition is becoming common in moose across North America. Shall we blame it on global warming? Acid rain? Encroaching civilization?
One thing is for sure: it's not the moose's fault, and the relatively recent onset of the problem suggests that maybe something can be done to help these most fascinating animals stay on their feet. Something's not right but in studying abnormal moose hooves perhaps we'll learn something about horses, too.
TO LEARN MORE
Moosewatch blogfrom Utah: A kind human has been feeding a wild moose horse feed and hay. Includes photos of the moose's deformed claws. Interesting to see that the deformity is visible on both lateral claws of the front feet.
Presentation "Moose Management in North Dakota" by William Jensen, North Dakota Department of Fish and Game at the Minnesota Moose Summit, 2008.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
This horse is headed down the shaft of a coal mine in France, date unknown. (Wikimedia image)
If you are anything like me, you've been riveted to the news this week, and your emotions have run the gamut as hopes have risen and fallen so many times in the race to reach the miners trapped in the West Virginia coal mine.
This video shows you some of the last employed pit ponies in Britain; the voice is poet John Stafford, who eulogizes a pony named Dot. Dot was one of the last pit ponies to work at Annesley Colliery in Nottinghamshire, England.
Thinking about coal mines made me remember about the use of ponies, horses and mules deep below the ground in mines in North America, Australia and Europe. Perhaps they were used in other parts of the world, as well.
Horses and ponies weren't used much, if at all, in mines in the British Isles until 1842, when an Act of Parliament outlawed women and children under the age of ten from working in coal mines. Up until then, it had been women and children who lugged or dragged the coal out of the mines.
"Pit ponies" are most famous for being used in the British mines, where as many as 70,000 were underground at the height of horse-powered coal mine production in 1913. Larger horses were popular for underground work in Germany and mules were preferred in the United States
The pit ponies wore leather shields over their faces, like a solid bridle shield. Bare wires could cause sparks if a pony bumped into one. One statistic said that the ponies were not blind, as most people thought they would be from living in the dark, but a large percentage had lost at least one eye from accidents. In photos, you will notice that the pit ponies had their tails shaved, and probably their manes as well.
These tandem-hitched heavy horses aren't pit ponies, but they are pulling a load of feed for the ponies stranded during a coal strike in England. Do you think they made it through that mud? Double-click to view full size. (Libray of Congress image)
Pit ponies in Britain were one of the first really big public animal welfare campaigns. The RSPCA was concerned about the ponies, and campaigned so that ponies couldn't work more than 48 hours a week. But most of the companies took very good care of them. Many people said they took better care of the ponies than they did the miners. Good pit ponies were valuable and important to the success of the operation. But the public campaigned until finally the last pony kept underground was brought up to the surface in the 1980s.
A1908 image from the Library of Congress shows us mules in a Pennsylvania coal mine. They wore ear hoods to prevent them from being shocked by low-hanging wires. No doubt, they learned to walk with their heads low. This was before there were any child labor laws in the United States. Notice that three of these young miners have whips around their necks.
In the United States, mules were preferred in the mines, and some quite big draft mules went down the shafts and stayed there, sometimes for a year at a time. Mules were especially popular in Pennsylvania. Before US child labor laws were passed, most of the miners are boys who could get into smaller spaces.
This horse was being shod by two young colliery farriers in Wales. Notice the horse is wearing a hood. His tail isn't shaved as is often seen in old photos, but his mane is roached.
The collieries in Great Britain employed farriers. They repaired equipment, made chains and spent a lot of time sharpening the pick axes of the miners. One reports states that each miner took pride in his ax and would take it to the forge to be sharpened in a particular way that suited his way of picking at the mine face. Farriers understood how to please each miner. The farriers also made shoes for the ponies.
When their work in the forge was done each day, the farriers went down the mine and shod the ponies as they finished a shift, or the ponies from another shift before they started. Ponies weren't allowed to work if they had a shoe off, so the farrier's visit was important. Every foot on every pony had to be lifted and looked at every day.
Sign courtesy of Mining Culture Educational and Research Network
This was a long, long day for a farrier. There was no light in the underground stables except for miner's lamps. The farrier would take the vessel out of his lamp and put it on his tool box, like a candle. He would have been trimming and shoeing almost by touch.
Yes, there were hoof boots long ago. This one is from a mine in the Lake District in Cumbria, England, near the Scottish border. The sole of the boot is studded with copper rivets. You can see it at the Keswick Mining Museum.
In coal mines and around explosives factories, horses were shod with copper alloy or "brass" (copper and zinc alloy) shoes and special brass nails made by Capewell Horse Nails and perhaps other companies. Brass didn't cause sparks the way that steel did. Perhaps that is also why horse amulets, called "brasses" are always made of brass.
All the shoeing below ground was done cold, of course, in spite of all the available coal. Any spark could ignite a fire or, worse yet, an explosion, because of gasses and dust in the air.
You've probably heard about canaries being kept in mines, or even being sent in ahead of the men. A canary would die from the gas long before a man or a mule or a pony, and they served as a warning of the danger in the air.
Welsh miners lamps are especially interesting. Today, they're popular on wooden boats. They have a distinctive tall chimney and usually come with a hook at the top. Once British farrier Grant Moon, who competed under the Welsh flag, brought one of the USA as a special award, and told us about how the mine's name and mark were engraved into the chimney. They are special.
The miner's lamp did a lot more than light the way through the mine. The color and height of the flame in the lamp was a means of constant feedback to the miner about the gases present in the air below ground. They were known as "safety lamps". They are small and you might overlook them. But a miner wouldn't.
Many years ago I met a lovely gentleman from Yorkshire, England named Eric Plant, FWCF. He had worked as a farrier at a colliery and he was the first person who told me about pit ponies; I had no idea that as many as 70,000 ponies were working in Great Britain's mines in the early 1900s. Later in life he was the farrier for the magnificent Tetley Shires, the showcase team for Tetley Brewery in Leeds, England.
Mr. Plant painstakingly photocopied all his booklets about pit ponies and the welfare movement to protect them and sent them to me. I always wanted to tape his stories, but I didn't have the privilege of seeing him again before he died. Most of the little facts about ponies and mining in this blog post came from my very precious file of Mr. Plant's own memorabilia.
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.
Once the horses are out on the track, they all look pretty much alike, no matter what countries they call home. Maybe you’ll see a few minor differences in tack, or the way the jockey rides. And as you watch the horses trot by in the post parade, you catch the flash in the sunlight as horse after horse shows you a glimpse of the four silver-y aluminum plates adorning their feet.
