Hooves Get the White Glove Treatment from Best Shod Horse Judge at Burghley Horse Trials in England

Photo courtesy of Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and Getty Images

You always hear about it, but rarely does anyone ever see it done. Sure, farriers get dressed up in suits and wear bowler hats and white gloves to inspect horse hooves. Sure they do.

Overgrown Hind Hooves Gone Very Bad: Cruelty Case Video Used in Court to Impose Sentence on Horse Owner

I guess this video doesn't need any explanation. The mare was probably confined in a stall, although I don't know that for a fact, and may even have been born with bilateral hind limb flexural deformity.

This video was provided by World Horse Welfare, formerly the International League for the Protection of Horses. As a result of this prosecution, the owner was banned from keeping horses for ten years, and ordered to pay almost £10,000 in costs and compensation. They ordered that six other horses be removed from the owner's care.

When Mr Barnes of World Horse Welfare and the RSPCA Inspector first saw the mare in the video, named Florence, she was barely able to walk. A veterinarian who examined her decided that so much damage had been done that she could not be saved, and she was put to sleep.

The court magistrates watched video footage of Florence after she had been removed from the owner's premises, possibly the same footage shown here. They heard veterinary evidence that the horse’s feet had been in a bad state for most of its life.

After the hearing Ted Barnes said: “I have found this case extremely upsetting. Years of experience haven’t hardened me to this prolonged neglect to Florence. This horse did not deserve to live most of her life with her feet in this condition. This is something I have never seen before, and neither had the veterinary surgeon who dealt with it.“

The video was apparently shot when the mare had been heavily medicated so that she could walk at all and was probably on her way to be euthanized.

This video is horrifying but I was just as horrified a few weeks ago in Kentucky at the International Equestrian Festival. At an excellent seminar on foal deformities by Dr. Ric Redden, he showed case after case of foals and adult horses with problems as bad as this horse that are brought to him to be "fixed".

One can only wonder what happens to the ones that are never brought forward for treatment or that don't respond to treatment. In spite of the literature and expertise available to them, many breeders never admit that a foal needs expert help until it is too late, if they admit it at all. Some, like this owner, simply hide the evidence in a back stall, hoping no one will see and that the horse will miraculously improve.

There are many ethical questions about keeping animals alive: are they in pain? do they enjoy a quality of life that is suitable? The same questions have come up with horses that have received amputation surgery or that have simply survived severe laminitis rather than recovered from it.

Veterinary ethics is just beginning to explore the issues surrounding chronically lame horses and the ethics of who lives and who dies in the first weeks of life, but the emotions and psychology of horse owners may be a more complex aspect of trying to help young horses with hoof and limb problems than learning medical, surgical or mechanical treatments.

© 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 the Hoof Blog on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Join the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

Tweet

California Statistics Reveal Dangerous Trend in Hind Limb Breakdowns on Artificial Tracks

by Fran Jurga | 28 August 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Data on racing breakdowns compiled by the University of California at Davis tracks the incidence of injuries, the seasonality of injuries and which limb is affected, among many other data points recorded. A publication of recent statistics presented to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) reveals a disturbing prevalence of hind limb injuries that led to the death of racehorses last year.

While the report is not available at present, the Los Angeles Times today reported that the study presented to the CHRB yesterday reveals that 19 horses died on California tracks from hind limb injuries in 2008, and that those injuries were split pretty evenly between left and right hinds. Only one horse died from a hind limb injury on a dirt track.

Breakdowns on the front limbs were somewhat more comparable between dirt and artificial tracks, but the artificial breakdowns still exceeded the dirt tracks: 74 horses broke down in front on artificial tracks while 59 broke down in front on dirt tracks.

Some people feel that this is an invalid comparison, and that trainers will often work a horse on a synthetic track that they would not work on a dirt track.

UC Davis examined 351 cadavers of breakdowns in its search for new insights into why racehorses are so susceptible to fatal injuries.

California has a 4 mm limit on toe grabs on front shoes and allows horses to run barefoot.

© 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.

Turfway Park Brings Back Toe Grabs on Hind Shoes After Eight Horses Break Down in December

You know those hind shoes you just threw away? Most of the shoes in this pile are old draft horse shoes with holes where removable calks could be applied for icy streets.

Just when you think you have things figured out...

Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky runs Thoroughbreds over a Polytrack (artificial) surface that has been in place since 2005. After a new policy went into place in September that banned all but the flattest horseshoes on front and hind feet, the track was a model for reform and safety. Then the calendar turned to December: Turfway reported breakdowns that caused the death of eight horses, most of whom injured the left front leg.

Are the breakdowns related to the shoe changes? It's impossible to tell but one theory is that a slipping hind foot puts more stress on the opposite front. This is still a brainteaser, though, since the foot slips less in Polytrack than on dirt, such as you'd find at Churchill Downs.

Whether as a result of the breakdown or in deference to trainers wishes, Turfway has announced a policy change on shoes. While flat shoes are still required on front feet, toe grabs no higher than 1/4" are allowed on racing and training horses as of the first of January.

Here's the new rule:

Shoe Policy for Turfway Park

Effective January 1, 2009, the following shoe policy will govern racing and training at Turfway Park

Prohibited – Front and Hind
The following devices are prohibited both front and hind for racing and training at Turfway Park: turn-downs, bends, jar calks, stickers and any other traction device worn on the shoes of Thoroughbred horses.

Acceptable – Front
The following front shoes are acceptable for racing and training at Turfway Park: Queen's Plate, Queen's Plate XT, King's Plate, King's Plate XT, Fast Break, Speed Toe, and Outer Rim.

Acceptable – Hind
Hind shoes with a toe grab not exceeding one-quarter inch (1/4") shall be permitted for racing and training at Turfway Park.

Could the same shoe modification believed to cause injury and strain to the front legs actually be of benefit to the hind legs? Time for more research...and keep those new shoe designs coming.

© 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.