Underfoot with Winx: Meet Australia’s champion and her farrier, John Bunting

This man has a lot to smile about: Meet Mr. John Bunting of Melbourne, Australia. He's the farrier and she's the world's favorite racehorse--and with good reason. Today she won her third consecutive Cox Plate, and her 22nd stakes win in a row without defeat. John reports that she is so good-tempered, he "could shoe her without a head collar (halter)." He hasn't tried that yet, though. (Photo courtesy of John Bunting)

If you could pick up the near fore of any horse in the world today, and have a look, whose would it be?

Frankel’s? American Pharoah’s? Valegro’s? Zenyatta’s?

Most people would probably choose the same horse: Winx. She's the horse of the hour. And the year. Maybe of the decade.

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?

Underfoot in Dubai: World Cup Hooves, Shoes and Farriers for Thoroughbred Racing’s Superstars

When the world’s best racehorses pack their bags for a trip to the golden global hotspot of Dubai to race in the World Cup, what do they pack? These days, trainers are sending more than coolers, halters and haynets with their horses.

They’re sending farriers, who in turn are shipping in a surprisingly diverse assortment of raceplates and nails. The flip side of the coin is that several of the top racehorses now don their shoes only on the morning of the race--and have them promptly removed the day after it's over.

Travel to Dubai with us, as we check in on an international troop of farriers, hard at work in the desert on some of the world's most valuable horses. What comes out of the desert may be headed for you.

Thinking Outside the Flip Flop Box: Florida Farriers Find Flex-Step Free-Heel Hoof Pad Aids Problems in Sport, Racehorse Feet

Far from the racetrack, a warmblood show horse sports the new high-tech Flex Step free-heel pad. The shoe is cut to the widest part of the foot, and rabbit ear drainage holes have been opened to allow sand, footing and water to drain out. Attentive show grooms maintain the pads by inserting the hose nozzle between the pad and the heel bulbs to make sure the sole isn't packed. Two small holes in the heels accommodate studs for traction, if needed, on some models. Copper rivets on the inside of the shoe's web attach the pad to the unheeled shoe. Made by Polyflex, a company known for its glue-on shoes, the pad is designed to be partially attached to the foot with nails and requires no adhesive or hoof packing.

Sometimes you wonder where things came from. Who was that first Standardbred farrier in Europe who cut the heels off a horse’s shoe, put a plastic pad against the foot, and nailed it on? You can hear it now: the horse walking down the barn aisle with a clumsy sounding “flap flap flap flap” sound from the loose pad against the heels. The farrier probably never counted on the noise. The trainer took some teasing, without a doubt. But that horse must have won, because they’re still around.

And no one laughs at you when your horse is winning.

Swedish research tests hoof sensor capable of predicting wall structural changes

An electronic sensor taped to a horse's hoof walls at Chalmers University in an earlier stage of research.

Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden is entering a public testing phase for a new sensor that gauges the structural integrity of the equine hoof wall, with a goal of pinpointing cracks and wall damage before they are visible to the human eye.

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.

Political Cartoons: Public opinion was forged with humor from the blacksmith shop

How would Joe Biden look at the anvil? Traditionally, political cartoons have portrayed US Presidents as blacksmiths and, sometimes, farriers. Here you see President Woodrow Wilson portrayed in 1917 as a striker, not the smith. Uncle Sam is the smith, and he is urging Wilson to swing and hit, while the iron is still hot. The shoe has "crisis" written on it; it probably refers to the hesitation of the United States under Wilson to abandon isolationism and enter World War I on the side of the Allies. This old political cartoon by William Allen Rogers is from the archive of the Library of Congress's Cabinet of American Illustration.

Saturday Night Live notwithstanding, there hasn’t been much to laugh about when it comes to US politics lately. And ever since former-farrier Lincoln Chafee dropped out of the Democratic primaries back in 2015, there have been almost no tie-ins at all to hoofcare, horseshoes or even horses.

Shane Westman Joins the University of California at Davis as Large Animal Clinic Farrier

Shane Westman recently was appointed Large Animal Clinic Farrier at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. (Image courtesy of UC Davis)

Congratulations to the University of California at Davis and to Washington farrier Shane Westman on Shane's official appointment as farrier at the UC Davis Large Animal Clinic. Shane is embarking on a new career path that will see him following in the rather large hoofprints of that university's famous longtime farrier, Mr. Charles Heumphreus and, more recently, another longlasting farrier, Bill Merfy.

Career Opportunity: New Arizona Equine Podiatry Center Seeks Farrier

Arizona Equine Medical & Surgical Centre seeks an American Farrier's Association certified JOURNEYMAN FARRIER  (or equivalent qualification) for our newly developed Arizona Equine Podiatry Center.   

Delta Mustad Hoofcare Center Appoints Scott Lampert New Product Development Manager

Delta Mustad Hoofcare Center (DMHC) has announced that Minnesota farrier Scott Lampert has joined the company as Product Development Manager. 

Olympic Farriers: Inside the Forge at Rio

This article is an edited extract from a general news release from the FEI.

Some of the hardest working people behind the scenes at the Rio 2016 Olympics are the team of British and Brazilian farriers working round the clock to keep the well-heeled equine athletes well-shod at the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Deodoro.

Royal Veterinary College Announces Graduate Equine Locomotor Research Diploma for Farriers

These images from recent locomotor research at the RVC were part of a test on the influence of hoof packing on a shod horse's foot deformation at the walk and trot. (©RVC image)

Hoof Blog comment: Progress happens slowly, and this announcement has been a long time coming--about 225 years, in fact. Sometimes making progress requires going back to the beginning of things and looking it all, all over again. That’s what’s happening in Great Britain this summer, as the Royal Veterinary College prepares to invite farriers to return to the vet school, which (like all vet schools) began when 19th century farriers sought to improve their scientific knowledge, banded together, and expanded their skills. The result was the invention a new field of medicine: veterinary science. 

The United Kingdom's Royal Veterinary College (RVC) announced today that it will launch a new Graduate Diploma in Equine Locomotor Research (Grad Dip ELR). The new program offers farriers the opportunity to gain skills and experience in producing original research to both increase the evidence base behind farriery, and to enhance equine welfare.

American Farrier’s Association and Purina Animal Nutrition announce educational partnership

via press release

The American Farrier’s Association (AFA) and Purina Animal Nutrition, LLC ("Purina") have entered into an agreement that will lend support for the educational goals AFA stresses for its members. It will also offer Purina researchers an opportunity to share results of their considerable body of work in equine nutrition while engaging farriers in discussions about the impact that they observe nutrition having on hoof integrity.

Discipline Committee strips British farrier of right to practice; apprentice complained of bullying

A sculpture honoring the relationship between a master and apprentice above the Craiglockhart Primary School in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kim Traynor.

The Disciplinary Committee of the Farriers Registration Council (FRC) in Great Britain has announced the removal of a long-established farrier from the nation’s Farrier Register. The decision to “strike off” the farrier--thus ending his ability to practice farriery in that country--came after a much-publicized hearing in London in March, when the FRC publicly investigated complaints of bullying behavior lodged by an apprentice the farrier had agreed to train.

Badminton Farriers Prize 2016: What Was Under the Mare Who Won? (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a two-part article. Before reading the specifics of how this horse is shod, please read Part 1, posted on May 8th.

Shoeing for the Roses: Kentucky Derby Foot Factors 2016

It's the first Saturday in May. Theories abound about how to pick the winner of the Kentucky Derby, but there's no doubt that the feet come first in the hearts and minds of Hoof Blog readers. With the help of wonderful people in the racing industry, this article is a collection of as much as is known about the hooves of the fast and famous.

Re-visiting the Big-Footed Event Horse at Badminton Horse Trials: Ben Hobday, Mulrys Error, and Paul Conway

A photo posted by Ben Hobday (@benhobday) on Apr 27, 2015 at 10:01am PDT

British farrier Paul Conway preparing a shoe for Ben Hobday's large-footed event horse Mulrys Error before Badminton Horse Trials in 2015.

Virginia Tech launches second permanent vet school farrier facility; longtime consulting farrier Paul Goodness and team will now be on site in Leesburg

Virginia farrier Paul Goodness (right) is moving his successful farrier business out of his barn and into the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, the satellite veterinary hospital in Northern Virginia for Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. After serving more than 25 years as the hospital's contract farrier, he and his team, including his son Luke, left, will now be on-site full time. (Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center photo)

This week the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC) in Leesburg, Virginia is announcing the launch of a permanent farrier facility. Longtime hospital contract farrier Paul Goodness is in the process of moving his team to Leesburg where he will begin his new staff role as in-­house Chief of Farrier Services for Virginia Polytechnic University, Leesburg division.

The EMC is Virginia Polytechnical University’s satellite referral equine hospital and research center for the Virginia­-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. The state-­of­-the-­art facility is located west of Washington, DC.

The Anzac Hoof: Where were the farriers during the battle for Gallipoli?

The Anzac trophy hoof / inkwell lives in the heraldry collection of the Australian War Memorial.

Today, a salute to our friends in Australia and New Zealand, where it's Anzac Day. It's not exactly a holiday; it's a day of remembrance, lest the people in those countries ever forget the extreme national tragedies experienced during World War I when Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) forces landed on the Turkish coast in 1915 at a place called Gallipoli. According to the Australian War Memorial, more than130,000 died, on both sides, during eight months of trying to take the strategic piece of land.

What most people know about Gallipoli is the terrible Australian loss that occurred on April 25, 1915, when half of the 500 unmounted members of the Australian Light Horse cavalry who charged ashore were mown down and killed. The moving 1981 film "Gallipoli", starring Mel Gibson, tells the story.

While the Australian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles were trained as cavalry, they fought on foot at Gallipoli. Their horses waited in Egypt. A large corps of international farriers waited with them, to care for them, keep them shod, and help them adapt to life in the desert. 

They kept themselves busy, and hung on the news drifting back to Egypt about what was happening to their countrymen at Gallipoli.

Best Shod Horse Award Debuts at Grand National Steeplechase

For the first time in the history of both the Worshipful Company of Farriers and racing in the United Kingdom, one of The Company's prestigious Best Shod Horse awards will be judged and presented at a race meeting. The hooves of the starters in England's world famous Crabbie's Grand National will be evaluated by a farrier judge, who will decide which horse's hooves are best prepared to tackle Aintree Racecourse's legendary obstacles like Becher's Brook and The Chair.

Which horse will gallop into history on the best-formed hooves and wearing the most appropriate shoes?