The Olympic Hoof: FEI salutes farriers as crucial to equine performance in Tokyo

Note: This story was provided to Hoofcare Publishing by the media relations service of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports, and was not written by Hoofcare Publishing. Some statements from the original article have been omitted.

The Olympic Games are all about the coming together of the best of the best. The human and equine athletes have been meticulously prepared for the occasion. An essential part of that preparation is shoeing. Just as with human athletes, a horse can only perform at its best if the shoes fit perfectly.

Farrier "Teams" Will Be On Site for FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018

Edited from press release

The American and International Associations of Professional Farriers (AAPF/IAPF) have announced an agreement to provide emergency farrier services for the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 (WEG) at Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina in September.

FEI hosts new Grooms Working Group; will support their role in sport horse welfare

Grooms are gaining recognition for the role they play in equine welfare within equestrian sport. The FEI's new Grooms Working Group is expanding into a more formal registration program for international sport horse grooms. (Fran Jurga photo/©Hoof Blog)

The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) hosted the inaugural meeting of its new Grooms Working Group at the Federation's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland this week.

It was the first meeting of its kind. 

The working group was created following a recent survey among national equestrian federations to determine the best way to improve communications and interaction with grooms and what the FEI can do to help them.

As part of a day of very positive discussion, it was agreed by the working group that there was a need to establish a more formal relationship, with grooms being officially welcomed into the FEI family through being registered with the FEI. Registration would facilitate further development of education systems, and create a more structured framework for cooperation between the FEI and grooms.

In addition, the FEI is taking significant steps towards producing applications and other tools which will best serve the grooms, allowing them to streamline preparation for upcoming events.

“Grooms play an absolutely vital role in our sport, especially in preserving the welfare of our horses, but often they go unnoticed and unrecognized, so this new working group has been set up to change that and establish an official relationship with these very important members of our community,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said after the meeting.

The new Grooms Working Group had its first meeting at FEI Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland this week. (L-R): Nanna-Riikka Nieminen (Finland) and Brent Kuylen (Belgium) representing Jumping; Jackie Potts (Great Britain) representing Eventing; FEI President Ingmar De Vos; and Alan Davies (Great Britain) representing Dressage. (FEI photo)

“It is vital for the sport and for the development of our global equestrian community to have a solid support network, and for the FEI to offer assistance and education where necessary. Grooms are truly worth their weight in gold, and we want to provide the finest resources and tools that will help increase knowledge of best practices and standards. Forging better relationships with our grooms is only the beginning. We want to help them share their knowledge with the wider community for the benefit of the sport globally.”

“I felt very honored to be invited by the FEI to talk about the future of the grooms,” said dressage groom Alan Davies, who works with British Olympic stars Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin.

“I am super excited about the fact that the FEI want to do things to help the grooms and improve everything, which at the end of the day is for the welfare of the horse as well. It was a great meeting, we talked a lot about amazing new features and things which can be developed. It won’t be easy and it is going to take some time to put in place but it will be a fantastic project.”

Belgium's Brent Kuylen, who has worked with Dutch Jumping world champion Jeroen Dubbeldam, and Finland's Nanna-Riikka Nieminen, who previously groomed for two-time Olympian Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, both agreed that the day had been a “great experience” and were looking forward to future initiatives.

“I think this is a real step forward,” said British Eventing legend William Fox-Pitt’s groom Jackie Potts. “It’s good to try and keep the standards up, and use the experience and the knowledge that some of us have gained over the years, in keeping welfare a priority and keeping grooms in the industry as well.”

Following this initial meeting, the FEI will now focus on the key components of integration, registration, education and communication. Membership in the Grooms Working Group will be expanded to include grooms from other disciplines, with the next meeting planned for 2018, ahead of the FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Tryon, North Carolina (USA).

Information for this article was provided by the FEI. 

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is the news service for Hoofcare and Lameness Publishing. Please, no re-use of text or images on other sites or social media without permission--please link instead. (Please ask if you need help.) The Hoof Blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a headlines-link email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). Use the little envelope symbol below to email this article to others. The "translator" tool in the right sidebar will convert this article (roughly) to the language of your choice. To share this article on Facebook and other social media, click on the small symbols below the labels. Be sure to "like" the Hoofcare and Lameness Facebook page and click on "get notifications" under the page's "like" button to keep up with the hoof news on Facebook.
  

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Research: Farriery and Hoof Care Data Collected for Dressage, Showjumping Sport Horses in New Zealand

Not too long ago, a sport horse at an international show could trot by and you could tell what nation he was from by the way he was shod. Those days are gone, but there are still distinct differences in some parts of the world. We'd do well to document them, while we still can. And in at least one country, they have.

There was once a time when you could look at a foot and practically see the national flag. Those big, broad Dutch toe clips. The heel-to-heel fullered shoes of the British. The daring of an American rider to compete in a heart bar shoe. The way farriers of all nations displayed subtle national preferences in how and where they drew their clips or executed a nailing pattern or finished their heels or chose where to position their stud holes, or even how many stud holes they drilled.

Research: Does the Unshod Dressage Horse Really Bear a Competitive Disadvantage?

Irish researcher Richard Mott writes: "This photo is an example of some of the gait analysis work I’m doing for my dissertation comparing the stride patterns of shod and unshod horses. Most previous research has measured shod horses then taken their shoes off and measured them again straight away. The result? 'Look how badly they go without shoes!' To my knowledge, this is the only study that has compared shod and unshod horses that are conditioned to that state."

At the recent International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) Conference in Denmark, a Warwickshire College (UK) abstract covered research by distance-learning student Richard Mott from Ireland: He studied the potential difference in movement between shod and unshod horses in dressage.

To be fair to the researchers, this abstract is something like a snapshot from a moving car, compared to the author's much larger research effort. Richard Mott's thesis will actually be about 12,000 words when we finally get to read it.

Book Announcement: Jean-Marie Denoix's Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse Published December 2013

Stop the world, Jean-Marie Denoix's new book is out. The first advance copies of Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse by Professor Jean-Marie Denoix are hitting US shores. The official publication date was December 30, 2013.

Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse is an expansion of Professor Denoix's landmark earlier and highly recommended earlier textbook, Physical Therapy and Massage for the Horse. The production has been upgraded to a full color format and the author's trademark illustrations are supplemented by copious photographs of leading French equestrians caught in sometimes less than graceful segments of strides, lateral movements, and jumps.

Aachen's Walk of Fame: What Does the Plaza Paved with Horseshoes Tell Us About Famous International Sport Horses?

CHIO Aachen Show Director Frank Kemperman stood in the show's new starwalk in 2011. It has continued to grow, with three new shoes added recently.

In 2011, The Hoof Blog was delighted to introduce a terrific new "Walk of Fame" at the showgrounds of CHIO Aachen in Germany. The horse show that stands tall above all others wanted to honor some of the famous horses who have competed there. Their way of remembering was to ask for a shoe from each to sink into the pavement, surrounded by a star.

Behind the Scenes at the FEI World Cup Finals with Swedish Farrier Bjorn Berg

You're a long way from home when you go to the Gothenburg Horse Show in Sweden. The huge Swedish spring horse show hosted both the dressage and jumping finals of the 2013 FEI World Cup indoor winter competitions. The best in both sports converged on the annual show and turned it into a world stage.

Sweden's Bjorn Berg has been the show farrier at Gothenburg for 12 years but you can bet that it had never been like this before.  Still, Bjorn managed to find time to snap some photos and email them to the USA.

How Research Works: Sport Horse Suspensory Ligament Study Involves Real Dressage Horses and Riders

A call for dressage riders offered a free analysis of joint motion, rein tension and  rider balance  in exchange for riding a horse of a specific age and dressage level on two different arena surfaces. The researchers are gambling that dressage riders will want to be part of equine research that targets the function of the suspensory ligament, one of the most common sites of lameness in dressage horses. (AHT photo)

You read the research. You look at the data. You note the summary.

But did you ever want to know more?

Researchers often list their protocols, including the number of horses or cases evaluated. Some will give some data about the horses--sex, age, use--but that may not tell you much.

If you've ever been to a vet college, you know that they often have a herd of research horses. Some are more athletic looking than others. Some are more sound than others. Some are all one breed, while at others, the herd is made up of mixed breeds. At some schools, the horses in the "research herd" look like they are seen by a farrier about once a year.

When you read about sport-related research, you trust that the research was actually done on sport horses. Most researchers will now give much more background data on the horses used in the trials, because they know this is necessary for the credibility of their findings.

Unfortunately, the numbers of horses in studies is usually small because of the difficulty in obtaining horses to test and the labor-intensive aspect of equine research. Large retrospective studies of cases are possible for injuries, but what about when the subject is gait analysis or sports performance?

And even for studies that are data analysis of cases treated at a university or vet hospital for a certain condition, or treated by a certain procedure, a considerable number of cases are lost to follow up because they were sold, died or the owners didn't answer a researcher's questions.

So an announcement that was circulating on the internet seemed interesting. The Animal Health Trust (AHT) in Newmarket, England has done several studies on injuries to the suspensory ligament. In fact, the letters PSD--for proximal suspensory desmitis--are closely connected with the letters AHT.

The suspensory ligament (sometimes called the interosseous) is show in white; it is a common site of lameness in performance horses.  Jumping horses commonly injure the branches of the ligament, shown at right, but the ligament can be injured at any point along its length and in either of its branches. (Illustrations are 3-D animations from Glass Horse: Elements of the Distal Limb)

The Animal Health Trust is known for taking a rider-centric view of equine lameness. The rider may be asked to school the horse as part of the lameness exam. That may not be enough to satisfy clinician Sue Dyson, who has trained horses at the elite level of eventing and ridden Badminton herself. She employs a professional rider to participate in the lameness evaluation so that the rider's balance, ability or mental state can be ruled out as influencing the horse's gait.

The first line of the announcement read:

"Would you like to get a free assessment of your horse’s gait, symmetry and exercise programme with your travel costs covered? And also help prevent suspensory ligament injury in dressage horses for the future?"

If you think like an equestrian, that sounds like a pretty good deal, with a feel-good factor thrown in for good measure.

But from someone who follows sport horse medicine, it could only get better when the study was outlined in this way:

"The Animal Health Trust is looking for horses and riders to be filmed at trot using high speed video on two different (but good quality) arena surfaces as part of an important investigation into suspensory ligament function in horses of different levels and with different types of movement.

"For the project we are looking for combinations which fit into the following groups and would be willing to travel to Keysoe, Bedfordshire (travel costs would be covered) on 8th, 9th, 12th or 13th November and can allow approximately two hours for the testing, from arrival until completion."

Remember the comment about some horses used in studies being sketchily described in the papers?
Consider this precise description of exactly what horses were being sought for this study:

1. Young horses (seven years old and under)
• Very extravagant moving (achieving scores of 7 or 8 and above for paces) or
• Less extravagant moving (achieving scores of 6 or less for paces)

2.  Mature horses (10 years and above), training at advanced level (working Intermediate 1 and above)
• Very extravagant moving (achieving scores of 7 or 8 and above for paces)
• Less extravagant moving (achieving scores of 6 or less for paces)

The requirements don't just describe the qualities of the horses needed. It also describes what the rider needs to be prepared to do.

"Horses will need to be ridden by their normal riders in a straight line in collected/working, and medium/extended trot (and piaffe and passage for any horses trained to that level) on two different surfaces."

For their effort, the riders are to be reimbursed for their travel expenses (remember that British gas is at least twice what it costs here in the USA) and this promise of a report:

"Feedback for the rider will include information on the gait (including joint flexion angles) and symmetry of the horse, rein tension, and rider position, plus advice on exercise programmes and performance if the rider would like this information."

I can't think of any dressage riders who wouldn't like that information.

The closing message rolled out the feel-good factor:

"The results of this study would enable us to provide immediate and beneficial advice on training practices to dressage trainers, riders and owners, in order to reduce the risk of suspensory ligament injury.

"Based on the number of horses that suffer from suspensory ligament injuries, and the variable outcome of treatment/management, any work which improves prevention strategies would have a considerable positive effect on dressage horse welfare."

What the text doesn't mention is that the Animal Health Trust is a charitable organization that depends on donations. By inviting and potentially involving citizen dressage riders to participate in the study, the AHT is opening the door for future donations from the riders and also creating a culture of transparency and awareness of the dressage community's problems with suspensory lameness.

When the study is complete and the researchers publish their findings, the British dressage community will have a sense of knowing the horses and riders who participated and of having been part of some important research. Everyone reading the study will know exactly what level and type of horses were in the study.

If you live in England and would like to be part of the study, you can apply by sending an e-mail to vvicki.walker@aht.org.uk; telephone: 01638 751908 or 07825 005125.

Vicki noted that horses from the local area will be accepted first to try and minimise travel expenses.

To learn more:

All about suspensory ligament injuries by Sue Dyson FRCVS
Suspensory Ligament Injuries in Horses, a UC Davis Center for Equine Health special report (free PDF download).

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

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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.

London 2012 Farriers: Tending the Other Olympic Flame

Once there was a peaceful park on the edge of London...

The Opening Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games were pretty spectacular. I’m sure that the highlight for many was when the Queen parachuted out of a helicopter and into the stadium with James Bond at her side and her handbag in place.

But for me, the highlight came before that.

Director Danny Boyle’s timeline portrayal began with a bucolic rural England, complete with (real) giant Shire horses. It got even better when smokestacks rose among the meadows and the Industrial Revolution reshaped the land into mills, waterwheels and massive gears. Smoke filled the air. The pastoral farmers turned into millworkers with soot on their faces.

And then it happened.

The smiths leaned on their hammers and watched the rings they'd forged rise in the sky over the stadium

The center of the stadium glowed with fire and a single giant Olympic ring formed in the earth. And it kept forming because 100 or so hammer-wielding smith-types pounded it into shape. Ok, so their sledges were undoubtedly made of foam. But it was pretty realistic, an Olympic-sized exercise of traditional iron wheel-making in a forge.

The ring rose in the night sky and four others joined it, forming the iconic Olympic rings.

The peaceful park was transformed into an equestrian village, with a smithy, of course.

Across the river in London’s Greenwich Park, the equestrian events were set to begin 12 hours later and the Olympic forge was open for business. The flame burning there is encased in a gas forge, but it is being tended by a group of British farriers who are also sharing it with team farriers from around the world.

If there is a place at the Olympic equestrian venue where the world meets, it will be here. The Olympic forge amidst the sprawling stable area should be a re-creation of the village smithy on a town green.

During the Games, the Hoof Blog will do its best to connect you with the people who are sharing the Olympic Forge’s Flame.

You won’t hear gossip about horses or riders, but you might learn something about how the FEI and individual nations approach farriery and veterinary care as essential parts of equine welfare, how the forge came to be, who the farriers are, and which nations sent a farrier along with the horses to keep things straight.

We’ll end the beginning by saying thank you to all the farriers who have already generously provided interviews and sent over photos of their time in Greenwich Park. Keep it coming...and keep the Olympic forge flame burning for us all.

Call 978 281 3222 for US orders of this crucial reference book; supplies are limited!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

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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.

ON THE (Dressage) CASE: Euro Rock ‘n Roll Horseshoe Evolves with Vet-Farrier Collaboration, California Style

Just As Successful Dressage Illustrates Synergy Between Horse and Rider, 

Successful Dressage Hoofcare Illustrates Synergy Between Vet and Farrier 
by Fran Jurga

Background: The Hoof Blog took a long look at the Euro “rock n roll” shoe this fall, with photos of the great Spanish PRE grand prix dressage horse Fuego, who wears them when he competes against the likes of Totilas and Parzival. His high-tech, high-fashion Italian-made (of course) aluminum shoes help him pirouette and piaffe with the best of them, as applied by his vet/farrier Hans Castelijns of Italy.

Spain’s FEI dressage star Fuego de Cardenas is not a warmblood but he’s near the top of the world rankings. He wears Euro-style rock ‘n roll shoes not often seen outside Europe. (Erin Ryder photo)

Utilizing the negative space under a horse’s foot made sense to a lot of people. And curious minds have been either debating or deliberating over how it might help their horses ever since that article appeared. It went around the world and back again and was the most popular story on this blog in three years.

Is Euro rock ‘n roll shoe design some kind of rocket science? Just remember: rock ‘n roll was born in the USA. Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis would be proud of California farrier Ernest Woodward and sport-horse veterinarian Mark Silverman DVM of Sporthorse Veterinary Service in San Marcos, California. Together, they visualized an Americanized version of the concept they had seen illustrated in the Hoof Blog on a successful competition horse.

Silverman challenged Ernest to figure out how to make the shoe in a cost-effective way that worked on different hoof types.

California dressage-specialist farrier Ernest Woodward Americanized the Euro-style 3-D full rolling motion shoe with a simple fabrication plan. A base plate and pony shoe are held together with a few screws and some PMMA adhesive.

“This shoe eases breakover in all directions but backwards,” Ernest observed after the first shoes were nailed on. “We applied it to a working competition horse with a few different issues but the main one we were hoping to address was strain on the medial collateral ligament (of the coffin joint) of the forelimb.”

Ernest began by cutting the 6mm plate out with a jig saw. Black Equilox (PMMA adhesive) holds the shoe to the plate. He also drilled holes in the crease of the pony shoe and placed a few screws through the plate to secure the two levels of aluminum.

The impression material used under the plate is brown Sound Horse 25 durometer (extra-soft), pre-medicated with copper sulfate.

Ernest’s two-fiered design (shown with foot surface down, ground surface up): On hard surfaces, the horse stands on the inner, or bottom, shoe--a Triple 0 Kerckhaert Triumph aluminum pony shoe. The outer foot plate conforms to the foot’s shape from heel to heel. The inner shoe, a.k.a. the breakover sweet spot, kicks in for the “lateral” work required in upper level dressage.

My conversations with Ernest and Dr Silverman reminded me of talking to designers of racing sailboats. Much of the stability of a saiboat is based on what’s underwater--the shape of the hull and the keel.

When it comes to the racing boats at the level of The America’s Cup, there’s a lot of sail up in the sky but it has to work seamlessly with what’s under the water.

A hoof isn’t shaped anything like a hull but would a dressage horse benefit from a little bit of a keel in arena footing to help it turn with less stress on joints and ligaments??

These shoes were called “flying saucers” when they first came out. Can you see why?

Both Ernest and Dr Silverman shared my interest in what happens when a horse hits the corner of the arena or is asked to do non-linear movements. When a sailboat falters, the sails are said to “luff”. They flutter against the mast until the vessel corrects course and the wind fills them again. A lot of horses luff a bit in deep corners.

“I’ve known a lot of horses that would earn nothing but 10s if they only had to go in a straight line,” Dr Silverman remarked. We go to great lengths to study how horses land when going straight and extrapolate that the horse uses that landing pattern throughout his work.

But think about it: Does shoe wear always reflect the linear landing pattern?

 “A square toe helps when the horse is going in a straight line, but can actually lengthen the breakover distance when the horse needs to break over the corner of that squared toe,” Ernest observed, then added that a minimum bevel on his shoes is from second nail hole to second nail hole.

It all began with a simple aluminium plate cut out with a jigsaw to match a tracing of the horse’s foot. The border is beveled and nail holes drilled. The sample shoe that Ernest made for this article has a crease in the plate so it looks startlingly like two shoes. He said he heated up the plate to make the crease and punch the nail holes but that is the only heat he used in the fabrication.

Ernest Woodward is an analytical farrier with a penchant for video documentation, which Dr Silverman also shares. Ernest analyzed a current grand prix dressage test and found that 34 percent of the movements required lateral work by the hind end of the horse. With that fact in hand, Ernest now builds a smaller-scale lateral rocking effect into almost all his hind dressage shoes.

You might ask why Ernest Woodward pursued this shoe design rather than use an out-of-the-box rail shoe. His answer: “The focus is for the competition horse. The traditional rail shoe is a very extreme forward breakover, and not as smooth and symmetrical to the other points of the compass. Also, the prefab shoes are generally very hard to fit and nail for any application other than just making an unsound horse feel more comfortable at rest.”

Silverman mentioned another alternative that had been considered and not adopted for this case. “The now-traditional approach to shoeing horses with unilateral injury to the collateral ligament of the coffin joint involves the use of asymmetric shoes. While the asymmetric approach may prove beneficial in the acutely injured horse, it would not provide the horse with a chronic issue the omnidirectional freedom that it needs while in work.”

Lateral view of the shoe nailed on; the horse is standing on a hard surface to lllustrate the height of the shoe. Ernest said that the materials used cost a total of perhaps $25 for a pair of shoes that would be affordable to most owners, including the adhesive.

Ernest remarked that slipping hasn’t been a problem for the horses wearing these shoes; they live in deeply-bedded stalls and work in cushioned arenas. He said that the only hard surfaces his clients’ horses walk on are some concrete walkways and barn area paving blocks. “The shoe is a surprisingly more stable platform than I anticipated on a hard surface,” Ernest remarked.

If horses were subject to a lot of walking on hard surfaces, an interesting feature of this shoe might be that the plate can be reset and a worn wear-point pony shoe can simply be unscrewed and replaced.

The finished shoe lifts the horse about 14 mm on a hard surface (6 mm plate plus about 8 mm thick pony shoe).

“The horse was trotted afterward and looked very promising in the arena in a fairly tight circle on the lunge. We are eager to see how this horse progresses over time,” Ernest commented.

“We wanted to just try it,” he continued. “This shoe is a prototype and just one of what ’m sure are many versions to come as we refine things and learn more. It’s just one more way, and a cost-efficient proof of concept. It has already taught us a lot for how we approach conventionally-shod horses on a daily basis.”

Silverman is an advocate of collaborative problem-solving on cases like this one. “When working with farriers, especially one with Ernest's creativity, I find that it's best to suggest what I would like to achieve, then leave it to the farrier to open his or her mental toolbox to build an appliance that will meet our needs.”

“As farriers and vets we all learn off each other,” Ernest concluded. “I can’t wait to see future articles: Someone, somewhere will take it to the next level.”


From the Casebook

The case: Hanoverian mare, 16’1” tall, age 10, working at third or fourth level, with a history of medial collateral ligament strain.

The history: She had previously been shod with Kerckhaert Steel Comfort shoes and leather wedge pads with brown dental impression material. “That was successful for a time,” Ernest recalled. “I’d say that it was improvement, but not a fix.” The California-style 3D Euro full rolling motion shoes were nailed on in January and Ernest saw immediate improvement. This video was shot about a week after the new shoes were applied.

Ernest also commented: “The landing on the outside of one heel and the inside of the other does show the need for the rockering area all the way back to the heel of the shoe.”

Notice: All images, media and text in this article are protected under international copyright by Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. Images and video © Ernest Woodward and Erin Ryder. This article and media are provided for the enrichment of subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This is their blog.

To learn more:

Previously on the Hoof Blog: Dressage, Fuego-Style: It's What's Underneath That Counts as Euro Rocker Shoes Score for Spain (by Fran Jurga with Hans Castelijns, Erin Ryder, and many others)

Castelijns, Hans: Flying saucers and rock n' roll: Full rolling motion shoes in equine podiatry: Hoofcare + Lameness 78. (back issues and reprints available)

Castelijns, Hans: Shoeing for Palmar Hoof Pain at http://www.farriery.eu

Caudron et al: Radiological assessment of the effects of a full rolling motion shoe during asymmetrical bearing: Equine Veterinary Journal Suppl. 23 (1997)

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask, so pleas do! 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). Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

Updates to this blog are posted on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

Dressage, Fuego-Style: It's What's Underneath That Counts as Euro Rocker Shoes Score for Spain

Update: The horseshoe explained in this article is the subject of an update post published 18 February 2012 with a dressage horse in California. Be sure to click on this link after you read this original story: ON THE (Dressage) CASE: Euro Rock ‘n Roll Horseshoe Evolves with Vet-Farrier Collaboration, California Style

Fuego XII, now known as Fuego de Cardenas, is one of the top ten FEI dressage horses in the world, and probably the most successful FEI dressage horse in Spanish history. Spanish horses are usually short-backed and great at piaffe but lack the extension of the northern European warmbloods. But the Spaniards are working on that...(Mrs. Flax photo)

When the great Spanish dressage horse enters the arena at an FEI musical freestyle event, you know who it is. You hear that staccato Spanish flamenco music and he starts piaffing in perfect time.

But underneath, that horse is pure rock n roll.

Although someone suggested that, when it came time for The Hoof Blog to show his shoes, the soundtrack should change to the theme from Twilight Zone.

In the past, we’ve shared the news that the USA’s top dressage horse, Ravel, ridden by California’s Steffen Peters, won the FEI World Cup in high-tech plastic Epona shoes. And that when triple-world champion Totilas left The Netherlands, his new German management team switched his minimalist steel Rob Renirie open-heeled shoes for heart bars.

Foot Photos: Totilas Used His Shoes at German Dressage Championships at Balve Today, Set New German High-Score Record

German rider Matthias Alexander Rath riding Totilas competes in the Grand Prix Dressage Competition at the German Championships in the western city of Balve June 17, 2011 REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

New rider, new trainer, new stable, new vet, new farrier...Dressage World Champion Totilas seems to be putting it all together and, with luck, hit a new kind of stride.

Under new rider Matthias Rath, the horse who won all three gold medals at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for the Netherlands is hoping to be crowned champion under a new flag this weekend at the German National Dressage Championships at Balve. In today's Grand Prix, the black stallion set a new high record for a German horse, with a score of 81.021.

Excitement is building for the musical freestyle portion of the championships, where the new music for Totilas will be heard in its entirety for the first time. It was composed/created/compiled by music producer and dj Paul Van Dyk and has been widely touted in the international music and entertainment news.

Hooves of German dressage horse Totilas are pictured during the Grand Prix Dressage Competition at the German Championships in the western city of Balve June 17, 2011  REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

   

Luckily for us, Ina Fassbender was on hand to take these photos. Totilas's new farrier is Franz Helmke, who is also farrier to Isabell Werth. As previously reported, Totilas's shoes have been changed from the simple open-heeled shoes he wore under Dutch rider Edward Gal, finetuned for him by Dutch farrier Rob Renirie. The new left hind would be described as a lateral extension shoe. Totilas's heart-bar shoes are explained at length in a previous Hoof Blog post.

Hooves of German dressage horse Totilas are pictured during the Grand Prix Dressage Competition at the German Championships in the western city of Balve June 17, 2011  REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

   

Totilas is now shod with heart bar shoes in front and a combination of lateral adjustments on the hinds. The right hind would be described perhaps as a thumb print heel with a kicked-out trailer on the lateral branch.

German rider Matthias Alexander Rath riding Totilas competes in the Grand Prix Dressage Competition at the German Championships in the western city of Balve June 17, 2011  REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

   

It's easy to see why Grand-Prix level dressage horses often receive increased lateral adjustments in their shoes. The pirouette requires the horse to lower his haunches, elevate the front end, turn...and not move forward. The test will require the horse to do the pirouette both to the left and to the right, to demonstrate balance.

German rider Matthias Alexander Rath trains with dressage horse Totilas during in Kronberg near Frankfurt May 9, 2011. The owners relocated Totilas from another stable to Kronberg on Monday. REUTERS/Alex Domanski (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

In this Alex Domanski photo of Totilas schooling at home, you can see where his hind fetlocks are headed in the piaffe. Also, notice the equipment he wears: lined bellboots and wraps in front, but behind he is wearing a full-length wrap/boot combination, similar to the one-piece stretch-and-flex "spats" (my nickname for them) sold in the USA by the British company Equilibrium. The one-piece construction prevents the inevitable rubbing between a bell boot and a leg wrap or boot, which can pinch or irritate the pastern and heel bulbs on the hind leg. As with any leg gear used during training, these boots have to applied properly, however, or the horse will be annoyed.

Thanks to Alex Domanski and Ina Fassbinder for aiming their lenses at the hooves.

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© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

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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.

Isabell Werth's Satchmo Follows in Totilas' Heart-Bar Hoofprints at FEI World Cup Finals

Satchmo's left front shoe worn at the 2008 Olympics when he and Isabell Werth helped win the team gold medal in dressage for Germany. (provided by Satchmo's farrier, Franz Helmke)

As the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Finals begin in Leipzig, Germany today, the smooth surface of the arena has a special imprint. It's a heart.

Perhaps many horses at the Finals today are shod with heart bar shoes, but this set of hoofprints is especially newsworthy. One of the world's leading champions and one of the favorites to win the World Cup title will be wearing heart-bar shoes on his hind feet as he goes for the title.

A hand-forged heart bar / egg bar shoe with a leather rim pad, also called a "full support" shoe. Photo from the Michael Wildenstein library of images.

In the dressage world, when a horse changes his shoes, people like me pay attention. Earlier this spring it was WEG triple gold medalist Totilas. Now he is joined by another German horse, the 17-year-old Hanoverian gelding Satchmo, ridden by the legendary world champion and Olympic gold medalist Isabell Werth.

Satchmo and Isabell won the World Cup in 2008.

Whoever said that the world wouldn't be interested in the minutiae of equestrian appointments didn't count on the public interest in this age of micro-analyzing sport horses and their every move.

Isabell Werth and Satchmo in World Cup competition earlier this year. Kit Houghton photo for FEI.

News of Satchmo's shoe switch came from Franz Helmke, farrier to both Totilas and Satchmo. Mr. Helmke is an advocate of using the shoes and didn't hesitate to send Satchmo to Leipzig with bar shoes on.

Will heart-bar shoes make a difference to the mighty Satchmo? The horse won two gold medals at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. Werth shocked many people in 2010 when she loaded her #2 ride, Warum Nicht FRH, on the plane for America at the last minute, instead of Satchmo, to compete in the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Now she prefers Satchmo again. Werth finished the World Cup 2010-2011 qualifiers in third place and will surely be a favorite with Germans in the audience.

On the opening page of her web site, Isabell Werth greeted her fans with this message: "I was spoilt for choice which horse I should ride in the Final. In the end I decided to compete Satchie. He is in a great shape and so he will be my partner in the arena. Cross your fingers!!"

And your heart bars.

Mr. Helmke's spotless anvil looks immaculate. When I commented on how spotless and unscarred it was, he joked that it was 20 years old.  "All of my implements are in excellent shape," he said. (Franz Helmke photo)

The original reason to contact the obliging Mr. Helmke was to discuss Totilas, who was suffering from a hoof abscess at the time. He now assures me that the abscess is resolved.

"Totilas is in absolute best shape," he wrote in an email this week.

For an extensive explanation of how and why a sport horse might be sent into competition wearing heart bar shoes, please read the Hoof Blog's article about Totilas and his heart bar shoes  published in April 2011.

Totilas had been scheduled to debut in competition next weekend with his new rider, Matthias Rath, but the abscess medication withdrawal time and days missed from trained worked against the pair.

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

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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.

Totilas and Matthias Rath Cancel Competition Debut; Hoof Abscess Resolved

Team Totilas: Owner Paul Schockemohle, Totilas, and rider Matthias Rath as they appeared on German television in early February when Rath rode Totilas in a demonstration at a stallion exhibition

Almost two weeks ago, the Hoof Blog reported that world champion dressage gold medalist Totilas is now wearing heart-bar shoes. At that time, he was unable to perform for a press conference because of a hoof abscess.

Today, rider Matthias Rath announced that the horse's planned return to competition next weekend at the "Dressage and Dreams" show in Hagen, Germany has been cancelled.

Here is Matthias Rath's statement today:

"We very much regret not being able to compete in Hagen, but the health and welfare of our horses is always the top priority. We had a great feeling before the injury and the preparations and joint development were going much better than expected, which is why we had made firm plans for our early competition debut in May and we were really looking forward to it."

(English version supplied by Matthias Rath)

According to the team, the abscess has healed completely. Rath and Totilas trained over Easter but the veterinary treatment required brings into question the withdrawal/detection times that need to be observed before a competition when a horse has been treated for a medical condition.

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines and read special Facebook-only news and links when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

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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.