Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness: horseshoer

Showing posts with label horseshoer. Show all posts

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Silent Anvil: J. Scott Simpson

The late J. Scott Simpson, horseshoeing icon of the Great West, is in the center of this photo, flanked by Danny Ward on the left and Walt Taylor on the right. This was taken at an American Farrier's Association demonstration in 1988. There must have been more than 1000 farriers watching them that day.

I'm writing this while I'm snowbound and icebound in my little house in New England. I should be 1000 miles away in Mobile, Alabama at the American Farrier's Association convention.

Today I found out I'm not the only one who's missing from the annual gathering of the hoof tribe.

Farrier educator, author, entertainer and raconteur J. Scott Simpson of Arizona and Montana has died but it's too soon to know much. All I can tell you is who Scott was. Or is, since his place in the farrier world is not likely to change just because he's not around. He's part of the fabric, the folklore and the family.

Scott was and always will be revered by possibly thousands of people who went through his farrier training courses at Montana State University, Walla Walla State University and his own Northwest Horseshoeing School.

He magnified his effect on the farrier industry by authoring several farrier books, including one of the overlooked classics of all time, The Mechanics of Shoeing Gaited Horses.

I may be snowbound, but I had these two photos of Scott on my laptop's hard drive; they were taken at Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company's first "Working Farrier Demonstration", held on a big stage at the AFA convention in 1988. I'm not sure why I have them so handy 25 years later, but I'm glad that I do.

Scott was completely at ease--you could always hand him the microphone and he'd take it from there, whether it was at a shoeing demonstration or in the ballroom at night when he'd sing and play guitar.

Scott began shoeing in the 1950s in California; he learned at Ralph Hoover's famous horseshoeing class at CalPoly University in San Luis Obispo, in the class of 1959, along with his long-time friend, Montana's farrier tool wizard, Mike Williams.

A few years ago, Mike and Scott organized a reunion of horseshoers who had been in Hoover's classes between 1959 to 1961, and they managed to pull together 27 graduates and get them to Montana to take a photo.

Scott started teaching at Montana State in the early 1970s and left there in 1983 for a stint at Walla Walla before starting his own school. He wintered in Wickenburg, Arizona, where he seemed determined to play tennis and team rope in spite of repeated operations to replace things like hips--he was perhaps the first bionic farrier. It seemed like he was always in for replacement parts.

He was vice-president of the American Farrier's Association for several years and was an original mastermind of the AFA's certification program. No, he didn't always agree with people--especially people from east of the Mississippi.

But one of the things that Scott gave the farrier world is also the most enduring and most valuable: his simple, catchy "eagle eye" system of using visual memory to recognize five basic hoof shapes--good old Norman, Spike, Tag, Stubby and...well, everyone knows who the fifth one is.

By my records, J. Scott Simpson was 78 years old. In the last email I received from him, he told about his return to the Catholic church after a long absence and how much he enjoyed two perspectives on Catholicism between Montana and Arizona as he traveled back and forth.

I don't know what sort of funeral plans are being made, or where, but people will not just be saying good-bye to a great friend and farrier. They'll be saying good-bye to a legend of horseshoeing embedded so deeply in the great western tradition that his name is as close to a horse-hold word as you can get.

Ralph! That's the fifth shape from Scott's eagle eye discipline for recognizing hoof shape. How could I ever forget? That's how good a teacher Scott Simpson was. He helped me and countless others cut through the clutter at a time when farriery was getting very cluttered, indeed.

They ought to name a hoof shape, and a lot of other things, after our friend Scott Simpson. Not that anyone who ever met him is likely to forget him, ever. Some of us think of him, subconsciously, every time we pick up a foot. And we always will.

--Fran Jurga

© 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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Friday, February 24, 2012

Historic Capewell Triumphs Recalled As Connecticut Looks Back After Learning Delta Mustad News of Nailmaker's Departure

Several reports from the Hartford area today expressed sadness at the news that Capewell Horse Nails will now be made abroad, following yesterday's announced by Delta Mustad.

The Hartford Courant had an article featuring Stanley Wojnilo, the company's veteran nailmaker. On Twitter, the Connecticut and Hartford Historical Societies announced the news.

Things few people know: before the existence of today's Farrier Industry Association of salesmen in the hoofcare industry, there was the Order of Nutmegs. When there were horseshoer conventions, the Nutmegs would have big banquets and just generally celebrate in grand style.

Why were they called "Nutmegs"? A "nutmeg" was a name for a pedlar without many scruples. They'd travel around with a wagon-load of goods back in the days before mail order or malls. One of thins they sold was the spice, nutmeg. But it might not be a nutmeg you were buying--it might be a knot of wood. They looked alike.

Among those Nutmegs toasting the horseshoers (and each other) at conventions in the old days were Capewell salesmen who called Connecticut (known as "the nutmeg state") home. Capewell had an army of salesmen on the road visiting hardware stores and blacksmith and horseshoer supply houses. A Capewell salesman was synonymous with the successful tradesman.

For many years, the Capewell factory in downtown Hartford was derelict. It was once called "one of the great cathedrals of American industry". Capewell was one of the first US companies to ever offer daycare for the children of women who worked in the factory. I'm not sure when this photo was taken; the last time I tried to find the factory, I couldn't. Maybe I was lost, or maybe it is gone. Delta Mustad bought the Capewell horse nail business, not the building, in 1985. Photo by Nivek29

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Monday, February 20, 2012

Headlamps and Horseshoes: Finnish Farriers Shed Some Light on Their Equipment

Farrier Lee Canham works in the dark Finnish winter with a headlamp that illuminates the hoof for him.
(photo by Tuomas Kauko)

They call it the Midnight Sun. In winter, above a certain northern latitude, there's simply not much daylight. For farriers who must keep working on their clients' hooves, that means shoeing in the dark for at least part of the year.

Finnish farriers Lee Canham and Tuomas Kauko make sure they can see what they are doing by wearing headlamps while they work. They contributed some insight on why every photo I see of them seems to include a cyclops eye in the middle of their foreheads:

"No matter how well lit up a place is, a farrier will almost always find his or herself working in their own shadow," wrote Lee, who was born in Wales and has also lived in Spain, Iceland, and Sweden. "Hence the headlamp: problem solved! That´s my theory; also it's dark half of the time in Finland and when it's minus 20 or 30 degrees (Celsius), a good headlamp can help with the frostbitten fingers."

Is Finland the safest place in the world to shoe a horse? Lee Canham wins the best-dressed award for his noise-cancelling headphones, safety glasses and headlamp. No comment on the cigarette! (photo by Tuomas Kauko)

Tuomas Kauko likes the idea of conjuring the image of a dentist in his clients' minds: "I use it to look professional," he said. "I'm quite convinced that usually people think that I'm kind of like a dentist but just a bit sensitive to strong odors so I can't work around people`s mouths..."

I think his tongue was in his frozen cheek for that one, since farriers are bound to catch--or even create--some interesting odors in their daily work.

I´n not old yet and loving it..``I hope all my clients get to see this``

The Hoof Blog originally found Tuomas and Lee through this portrait of Tuomas at work, taken by Lee. I used it as an example of how to take a good picture of a farrier: the photographer should get down low and shoot up--too many photos of farriers don't show their faces well, if at all, because of angle compromises, lighting, and cap brims. But I didn't realize until much later that the photo was actually taken by a farrier, which helps explain why it is so good. The headlamp intrigued me and I decided to track these two down--even though they are a world away in Finland. And I'm glad I did.

"Not that many farriers use headlamps," Tuomas continued. "I think it`s a neglected but (sometimes) very useful tool. I think Lee always uses his lamp but I only use in stables that have poor lighting. Winter time we don`t get much light from the windows so I end up using it much more during the winter.

"By the way, I once spoke with a German guy who was doing his apprenticeship with a very, very respected farrier and they always used tiny headlamps," he added. "The headlamp I use is the kind they sell for sport."

This terrific photo of the interior of Lee's van shows off his photographic skills. This is not an easy photo to take--in any light. (Lee Canham photo)

Lee and Tuomas don't work together, but their paths cross--so these two talented photographers sometimes get to take photos of each other, like the ones you see here. "Tuomas and I occasionally get to work at the same stables and sharing the same hobby (with the cameras) makes work more fun than it already is," Lee wrote.

If it sounds like Lee and Tuomas are far, far away in their corner of northern Europe, remember that everyone else seems that way to them. Their beautiful country is the center of their universe.

Lee waxed philosophical on the loneliness, sometimes, of the self-employed. He wrote, "Have you ever heard that being a farrier is always challenging? Of course you have. What I think makes it more challenging is the fact that every farrier is so busy and one soon becomes isolated by working for and with one's self. Therefore, the ability to learn from others can be cut off.

"This is where your (Hoofcare + Lameness/The Hoof Blog) site becomes a farrier's asset, along with his tools," he added.

As I write this, Tuomas is leaving for India and Nepal on holiday. He has traveled the world seeking adventure and, as he goes, documenting the horses and farriers he meets. He's even been to Australia and been on a wild horse research trip to the Outback with Dr Pollitt's Australian Brumby Research Unit.

His goal--enthusiastically encouraged by his interviewer, who is now one of his biggest fans--is to publish a book of his photos about shoeing around the world.

The sunlight in India will surely blind him when he gets off the plane but I'm sure he has a plan for that.

Thanks to Tuomas and Lee for their help with this article and for their beautiful, inspiring photography, which they kindly agree to share with Hoof Blog readers today.

To learn more:

Lee Canham photostream on Flickr.com

Tuomas Kauto photostream on Flickr.com

Friday, February 10, 2012

AVMA: Horseshoeing Is No Longer an Excluded Profession in the New Model Veterinary Practice Act (But Farriery Is)

What's in a name?

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board approved revisions to the new 2011 Model Veterinary Practice Act (MVPA) in November 2011, and those changes became official on January 7, 2012 when the AVMA's governing body, the House of Delegates, approved the document.

The Model Veterinary Practice Act is just that: an approved sample ("model") document that is promoted by the AVMA as reflecting the verbiage and policies it would like to see adopted in each of the 50 states as the ideal state veterinary practice act.

That said, each state can and probably will make some changes; the states usually end up with documents that vary on some level related to how veterinary practice is conducted or regulated.

Each time the MVPA is changed, the AVMA opens a comment period for members and the public to have their say. That period has now passed.

The AVMA reported that it received "985 comments on individual sections of the model act. About 70% of the comments were submitted by non-members, and 10% came from organizations as opposed to individuals. The sections attracting the most comments are Section 2 (definitions, especially “complementary, alternative and integrative therapies” and “practice of veterinary medicine”), Section 6 (exemptions to the act), the preamble (general comments) and Section 3 (board of veterinary medicine)."

While horseshoeing had been previously excluded from practicing veterinary medicine, this year's edits (Section 6. Number 8) showed a line drawn through the word "horseshoeing". It was changed to "farriery".

The old document read

The document-in-progress showed the change:

The exemption now reads "Any person lawfully engaged in the art or profession of farriery."

No explanation is given for the change, and while other words are defined, "farriery" is not.

Although other professions, such as pharmacists and researchers, are also listed as exempt, farriers are one of only a few professions predicated by "lawfully engaged". And it is the only one described as an "art or profession".

Since farriery and other hoof-related professions are not regulated in the United States except on racetracks, the language begs the question of how it would be determined whether or not an individual was lawfully engaged in providing farriery care to an animal.

And what, exactly, farriery is.

The word change in the horseshoeing--or farriery--section is probably a minor matter in the big picture of things, but it should be duly noted. "Horseshoeing" is the word traditionally used in all US government documents; farriery is seldom mentioned. The word seems to have been dusted off, perhaps around the time of the formation of the American Farrier's Association and it has enjoyed a renaissance, particularly in the past 30 years or so.

That said, it remains poorly defined and some hoof-oriented professionals simply don't like the word, while others prefer it. You can call yourself whatever you please--except a veterinarian, unless you are one.

The general public, however, is behind the curve; people are usually convinced that a farrier either makes fur coats or carries people back and forth across rivers in a boat. They think "farrier" is a great word for "Words with Friends" on their iPhones.

Repeated calls and emails to the AVMA and its task force administrators were not acknowledged or returned except for one interchange with a media relations representative who referred me to the librarian. I did enjoy my conversation with Diane Fagen, AVMA librarian, who set out to find out if a farrier was defined anywhere by the association.

Being a good librarian, she cheerfully suggested we look up farrier in the ultimate reference, the Oxford English Dictionary. I warned her not to, and that attorneys roll their eyes at OED definitions, but she did anyway.

"Oh my," Ms Fagen murmured, reading aloud a lengthy definition of the term "farrier" that seems woefully outdated, though historically accurate. "It means horse doctor," she concluded.

"I can see why you called," she acknowledged. But no, she didn't have any information on why the word had been changed.

But that's how change happens, sometimes: it just does.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

War Horse Hoofcare: Holy Horseshoeing at an Anvil Altar in France, 1918

Today we salute some holy horseshoeing. During the long battle in World War I to take (or defend) the Argonne Forest, American transport horses were stabled inside the ruins of a church in Consenvoye, in northeastern France. A corner of the once-grand church became the smithy where American farriers worked to keep the horses shod.

Click this link to read the rest of this article

Friday, September 16, 2011

Standing In A Giant's Hoofprints: Bob McCarthy's Anvil Dedication Saturday

Standing on the shoulders of giants on two-pound coins

There's a saying that gets tossed around a lot in leadership-by-design books. It's often spouted from the stage by commencement speakers. The words, attributed to Sir Issac Newton, appear on the edge of every British two-pound coin. Newton is said to have said, "If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

I'm sure you understand precisely what this saying means. We have progressed further than those who came before us, because of their tremendous height--height in humanity, height in perseverance, height in sacrifice or bravery or intelligence or ability. And, in some way, the giants gained their height too by the act of lifting up the next generation, sometimes by not even acknowledging that that is what they were doing, even as they did it.

British two-pound coin

For the most part, these giants exist in people's memories. Each of us knows who the giants are--or were--in our lives. But sometimes we see the ghosts of the giants, or I do.

I remember being at farrier Eddie Watson's funeral in Virginia, at an overflowing funeral home with three chapels--all three filled with the three F's of Mr. Watson's life: friends, family and farriers. At the Hunt Club reception afterwards, there was a tiny lamp; he had forged the beautiful base. It burned brightly, though it was the middle of the afternoon, and the paper shade was a warm color. As people jostled around, that little light kept burning. I think I know why it was there, and why it was turned on.

A tree was planted in Saratoga.

Another time was when the horseshoers at Saratoga lost several members of their fraternity in one year. To commemorate the loss, they set up an anvil and planted a tree as a little memorial garden outside the blacksmith shop behind the Oklahoma Training Track. A lot of people came to the dedication ceremony, all for different reasons, and in memory of different people. We stood and stared at a little sapling tree, and beyond.

I felt that way in 2008, when Cornell's vet school farrier shop was remodeled and then-resident farrier Michael Wildenstein sank into the concrete of the floor shoes made by the instructors who had come before him. And he made sure that Buster Conklin, the only one still living (at the time), came in to have his photo taken in the new shop with his shoe in the floor.

Buster Conklin posed with farrier instructor Michael Wildenstein and horseshoering school students at Cornell University vet school.

A giant named Buster Conklin posed with Cornell farrier school students in 2008.

We all have ways of remembering people who've made a difference in our lives, and we carry them around in and with us in different ways. But sometimes people care enough, and are creative enough, to make an extra effort, to call out for a gathering or a photo session or a special place to set up a little lamp, because it's important.

Saturday afternoon will be one of those times. The senior statesman of Massachusetts horseshoers, Mr. Bob McCarthy, died last year. His wonderful blacksmith shop in his little town of Medfield has been torn down. A forge stood in that spot for almost 200 years but now there's a parking lot. But someone cared enough to do something to mark the spot where Bob spent his days--spent his life, in fact.

We all had to start somewhere, even Myron McLane, and he was lucky enough to start with Bob McCarthy. Myron bought Bob's 225-pound Eagle anvil years ago when the shop closed, and now has prepared it as a monument on a special granite base, surrounded with a mosaic of inlaid horseshoes made by farriers who were influenced by Bob, and who cared enough to make a shoe in his memory. There will be a few of Bob's shoes in there as well. The town has approved the monument and the dedication.

Allen Smith and Bob McCarthy, Massachusetts farriers

Allen Smith and Bob McCarthy, two giants of New England farriery.

Bob's anvil will be dedicated at 12:30 on September 17 on Janes Avenue in Medfield, Massachusetts. Everyone is welcome. Just ask anyone where Bob's blacksmith shop used to be. It's the kind of place that, even though it's gone, is still there in a lot of people's memories, and now an anvil will mark the spot.

It doesn't seem so long ago that a giant stood in that very spot, and behind that very anvil, the one that Bob's father bought in 1931. If Bob stood there on Saturday and looked down, he'd see the beautiful workmanship of the farriers who stand today on his shoulders, farriers who haven't forgotten who helped lift them to where--and who--they are today.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Silent Anvil: Buster Conklin, Retired Cornell Vet School Farrier, Has Died

Say good-bye to Marshall "Buster" Conklin of Horseheads, New York, one of the great faces and spirits of late-20th century horseshoeing in America.

Buster was the longtime farrier instructor and resident farrier at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine but he will be remembered much more for his character and his passion for his profession than for any job he held. After all, no job could quite hold a man like Buster Conklin.

I'm sure more information will come in and I'll think of something to say but not quite yet. Just "good-bye, Buster" for now.

And definitely, "What a guy".

Please check back for more information. Photo © Fran Jurga, Hoofcare Publishing.

Monday, May 23, 2011

An Unusually Silent Anvil: Ron Dyer ("The Horseshoer")

I learned tonight, completely by accident while researching something on the web, that Ron Dyer the Horseshoer (as he called himself) died on April 23, just shy of his 84th birthday. I don't have much information, perhaps other people have already announced his passing, but I had no idea.

When I knocked on the door of the farrier profession, I immediately noticed that people tended to cluster around certain individuals. Were they hoping to pick up some sage advice? Not really, they were more likely souvenir story collectors. These people stood close enough to listen, memorize and then go home and re-tell the best stories, again and again, until the stories became legends. And the people who originated those stories along with them

Ron Dyer The Horseshoer 1927-2011

Ron Dyer, a.k.a. Ron Dyer The Horseshoer was one of those people whose stories were and still are re-told. Here was someone who'd been there, done that and definitely had an opinion about it that he didn't mind sharing. People were a little timid around him; some might use the word "gruff" to describe him, but I also saw him be generous and kind and help people.

Ron was a horseshoer, all right. According to his obituary, he worked for the Budweiser Clydesdales, he worked on the midwestern harness racetracks of the Grand Circuit, he traveled with the circus, he was part of The Great Milwaukee Circus Parade...he did it all.

To hear him talk, he might have been around to shoe Dan Patch or Man 'o War. He pulled history out of the past and made it sound like he'd been there. I never could tell if he was giving me a history lesson or telling me about something he'd seen with his own eyes.

Case in point: The Galesburg, Illinois horse sale barns were one of the biggest horse yards in America in the early 20th century. It was right there in Ron Dyer's hometown that the French military, and then the British, came to buy artillery horses and mules for the First World War. Thousands of them. Reading the history of the sale barn tonight in Ron's honor, I realized it closed seven years before Ron was born. But he told stories about it as if he'd be there.

"By 1910, (the Galesburg Horse Sale) was receiving 25 carloads of horses a week and the same number of 25 cars would be shipped out—making a total carload business for the two railroads of 50 cars per week. The sale employed 25 regular men. and always had 40 to 50 extra men for Friday and Saturday. Five hundred horses per week consumed about all the hay and straw raised in the adjacent counties. Five hundred horses per week had to have 500 new halters. Each horse had to have two shoes on his front feet, which made a total of 1,000 horse shoes per week. From 7 to 10 blacksmiths were busy the week around making the shoes." (From Galesburg's Mighty Horse Market by Cornelia Thompson and Fred Dunbar)

I found a story about Ron Dyer in the archives of the Chicago Tribune. It included this gem: Once--possibly many more times than just this once--Ron Dyer was judging a horseshoeing competition. The anxious competitors awaited their precise instructions of what the esteemed judge would be looking for in their work. Ron told them simply, "I want to see a commercial job; something you can charge for." End of subject.

Farrier Henry Heymering, the visionary founder of the American Farriers Journal and my colleague in our early years of publishing that magazine, offered a few memories of Ron, who was also an author of articles in that magazine in its early days. Thanks, Henry:

Ron left quite an impression on me. Florida formed a farrier's association and started a certification test before the AFA. When Ron took the Florida test he made four shoes and shod the horse with them in about 40 minutes, and did a damn nice job!
Ron said the Illinois association was started after a shoer had a heart attack. Two farriers worked in the same barn, but they (as was the custom then) worked at opposite ends of the barn and wouldn't talk to each other. One day one of the farriers collapsed under a horse. The other farrier went up to the owner to tell him there was a problem.
When Florida started having contests, Ron was so good he won most everything. Other farriers before signing up would ask if Ron was going to be there and if he was, they would't compete. Ron got wind of this and stopped competing. He would only judge and/or demonstrate, and help the others improve.
Ron was too young for the French remounts, but I bet his father and grandfather worked on them. I believe Ron was a 4th generation farrier.

Probably Ron Dyer never wrote down any of his stories, and probably no one ever tape-recorded them for him, either. Like so much of the history of the horseshoeing profession, it's just going away with him. Horseshoers wear their stories well. Maybe if he'd written his life down, no one would have believed it anyway.

Except those of us who knew Ron Dyer The Horseshoer.

To learn more: Ron Dyer's obituary in the Galesburg Planet

and

Funeral home page and guest book for Ron Dyer

If you have a favorite memory of Ron Dyer, click the comments button below and share it with the rest of us or email it to blog@hoofcare.com and I will post it for you.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Farrier History: Negro Ellick Shod Horses for the Confederacy in the Civil War

Today is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of one of the darkest and most painful chapters in United States history: the Civil War. Where I live, every little village has a monument to its men who died in places like Gettysburg and Antietam. The names go on and on. It makes you wonder if anyone came back at all.

I can imagine that in the southern states, the lists could be longer and it would be possible that no one returned.

As much as I read and study about the Civil War, I keep learning new things. For me, the horses are the thing of interest, and the farriers who serviced them, and the foot problems that challenged both horses and farriers.

Farriers for the Union horses were often foreign immigrants. This group looks like new arrivals: their aprons are clean and their hammers shiny.

If you have read this blog for any length of time you know that the Burden Horseshoe played a big role in turning the tide of the War in favor of the Union. Trainloads of horseshoes could leave the factory in Troy, New York and be bound for the huge remount stations or go directly to the front. Not just the cavalry but the entire artillery and the massive kitchens and quartermaster depots moved camp only the horses were shod. And those first machine-made shoes from Troy kept them all moving.

The Confederacy wasn't so lucky. They had a limited supply of iron, and it was needed for munitions as much as for horseshoes. There were no horseshoe factories in the South and orders were given for any raids on Union supply trains to go for two things: cash and horseshoes.

Until recently, I never thought much about who the farriers of the Confederacy were. I knew the Union recruiters met ships in New York and convinced farriers and blacksmiths from all nations to either enlist or to go to work as civilian government horseshoers in the remount stations.

But what about the Confederacy?

This is the enlistment paper for Ellick, an African-American who was brought into military service to work as a farrier for the Confederate States of America, even though it was not approved for white men to conscript blacks into service. This document is preserved in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

This week I learned that the laws of the Confederacy prohibited the conscription of slaves into military service. But African-Americans were there anyway, in fighting and non-fighting roles, and if authors Kevin M. Weeks and Ann DeWitt are correct, the care of the horses may have been one area where they could have been found. Just take Ellick's case.

Ellick was a farrier for the Confederacy, though he had no rank and drew no pay. It's impossible to know if he went willingly. It's quite likely that the Confederate army was desperate for farriers and experienced horsemen. Ellick may have played an important role.

Not only did the Union have new recruits with shiny hammers and unmarked aprons. They had mobile forges built on double wheel axles. In front of the forge you see here was a big bellows. The US Army designed and built these to get the farriers and the shoes to the front, where they were needed. (Library of Congress photo)

How amazing is it that the National Archives in Washington would have preserved the enlistment paper of a farrier after that war was over? This is just one example of the millions of bits of fascinating information that lies buried in those vaults of papers.

Who found Ellick? Kevin Weeks and Ann DeWitt are the authors of the new book, Entangled in Freedom: A Civil War Story. Last week their book graced the cover of Publishers Weekly's Special Independent Publishers Spring Announcement Issue. Entangled in Freedom is a young adult novel written as a first-person account of a young African-American serving with his slaveholder in the Confederate Army. The book has already won the Bonnie Blue Society Award. Ann DeWitt runs the web site www.blackconfederatesoldiers.com.

I'd like to thank them for bringing Ellick to my attention, for pulling him out of the piles of papers in the Archives, and for making him come to life. Maybe we'll never know much about Ellick but for today, he's the star farrier on the Hoof Blog and the Civil War is interesting all over again.

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Monday, March 14, 2011

Arkansas Veterinary Practice Act Definitions Sought for Guiding Exclusion of Farriers, Tooth Floaters, Other Professions

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It's time for the politics of horsecare again. Or is it the politics of veterinary care?

We're back in Little Rock, Arkansas, and here are the gentlemen of the House Agriculture, Forestry & Natural Resources Permanent Subcommittee of Agriculture. They need to review all bills under their jurisdiction before they are presented to the legislature. We met them before, in late January, when they heard testimony on House Bill 1099 (video of that hearing is also posted). H.B. 1099 would have exempted a long list of animal care professionals from the all-encompassing but loosely defined description of veterinary medicine in the Arkansas Veterinary Practice Act. That bill was not voted forward by the committee.

So Representative Gary Smith came back again on March 9, with House Bill 1712. This bill was much more specific and only dealt with horsecare. In particular, 1712 would have exempted massage therapy, tooth floating, and farriery and hoofcare, although it would have created a state certification program for equine dental technicians.

The video you'll see in this video begins as the hearing for House Bill 1712. It, however, morphed into a presentation of a second bill; likewise, farriery and hoofcare morphed into "the lawful practice of horseshoeing". There is considerable discussion of what the lawful (or unlawful) practice of horseshoeing might be.

This is a very long discussion, but probably worth your time to have a listen. The second bill, known as House Bill 1763, was received more favorably and seems to be a compromise favored by the state veterinary board. Please note, however, that HB1763 is marked by the state government as "re-referred to committee" on the official state web site rather than approved. Reports in the press indicate that the bill was approved. This is a discrepancy.

For those who don't want to go through the video, the second bill went through an amendment process, in part to clarify the description of horseshoeing. The bill was amended to read: Arkansas Code § 17-101-307(b), concerning the practices that are excluded from the practice of veterinary medicine, is amended to read as follows: (b) This chapter shall not be construed to prohibit: (8) Any person: (A) Engaging in the art or profession of horseshoeing.

The meeting to amend HB 1763 was not videotaped, or the video is not available to the public.

If HB 1763 passes the legislature, it does not exempt massage therapy and tooth floating indefinitely; it only gives them a two-year moratorium from cease-and-desist orders from the veterinary board. After two years, some other bill should be waiting in the wings to take over, or these horse professionals may not be able to work in Arkansas.

Hopefully other states can learn from what is going on in these midwest states (Oklahoma and Texas are two other states with recent legislation) as they struggle with the interpretation of what veterinary medicine is, and isn't. According to the existing law in many states, veterinary medicine pretty much encompasses all care of animals. The time to have exempted professions was back when the draft veterinary practice act was introduced, but no one's ears were up then, or else no one ever thought that cease-and-desist letters would be sent out.

It seems pretty obvious that efforts to combine large and small animals or even cattle and horses, or to combine different professions makes it difficult for legislators and for people from agencies and businesses who would testify. It may be that it's every profession for itself. Arkansas has proven that quite clearly.

Another thing that seems obvious is that the legislators are looking for highly credible testimonies on these subjects. There's no question that they don't know much about the flow of services, or what happens when a horseowner needs some work done on a horse. Before this legislation came up, they probably never gave it a thought beyond the fact that they knew that veterinarians make barn calls. They're getting an education and they're learning that the horse industry in their state employs a lot of people on a lot of levels. And it takes a support crew of professionals of many descriptions to keep a stable of horses adequately prepared for showing, racing or even just recreational riding.

No one who is elected by public votes wants to put people out of work, yet the state government is in the business of enforcing the laws and legislation it has on its books. These legislators have to stand behind their government's previous actions. Change may be necessary, but it may also be incremental...and painstakingly slow.

If I lived in Arkansas and was working in any of these professions, I think I would slow the process down even further and ask for more amendment to HB 1763 by defining each of the professions the way that tooth floating is defined. If someone has a natural hoofcare practice and does not engage in horseshoeing per se, is he or she not exempt? Must a shoe be on the horse for this law to stick? Now's the time to find that out, not when a cease-and-desist letter arrives in the mail. And to get it printed in the bill, not in a verbal assurance.

Maybe you're one of the people affected by legislative rumblings in Arkansas or other states. Maybe you're hoping this will just go away. Be careful what your wish is: it will be back, if people care about preserving your profession. If no one cares, your profession may be lost in a legislative or legal shuffle one day, and your livelihood along with it.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Racetrack Horseshoer's Survey Launched by Grayson Jockey Club's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit

The Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee of the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit has compiled an online survey to collect data from horseshoers at US racetracks. Information from the survey will be used to assist the committee's efforts to study how horseshoers are licensed by states or racing jurisdictions, and what changes horseshoers feel may be warranted in the system to improve the education of horseshoers and the welfare of the horses in their care.

A sub-committee of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit's Shoeing and Hoof Care committee will use the results of this survey to gain information on topics, ideas and structure for a uniform national racetrack horseshoer test for state licensure. The committee feels that this step, which is similar to the Jockey Club's efforts in unifying Thoroughbred racetrack trainers' tests, will raise the bar of horseshoer qualifications and thereby boost the overall safety of the racehorse.

Hoofcare Publishing and The Hoof Blog have been asked to help disseminate news of the survey into the Thoroughbred racing shoeing community.

The survey is primarily an online questionnaire, and should only take a few minutes to complete.

To preserve the integrity of the survey, only those directly involved with racetrack horseshoeing should fill out the survey. This means: professional horseshoers who earn part or all of their living at the racetrack and are affected by state or track licensing.

An alternative path through the survey is available for trainers, owners, stable employees, racing officials, veterinarians, non-track horseshoers or others who are interested in expressing opinions about the practice of racetrack horseshoeing, but only racetrack shoers should answer the shoeing questions to preserve the survey's validity.

The committee has been collecting information for the past few years on state licensing and tests administered, and has sought the input of racetrack shoers in improving the process of testing new farriers. It is hoped that this survey will be able to reach many more horseshoers at tracks across the country.

A word about the survey: it is an automated program. Once you start to take the survey, you should finish it; you cannot go back and finish it later. The program will also prevent you from answering the survey more than once.

While the survey is anonymous, the Committee would like to hear more opinions from racetrack shoers, and has provided a comment section at the end of the survey for general feedback. Horseshoers are also invited to contact the committee directly to become involved in the efforts of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit and the Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee.

Please click on the red survey badge to open the survey:

If viewing on a text-only or mobile device, the direct address of the survey is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/farriersurvey

If you have any questions before you attempt to complete this survey, please contact Cathy O'Meara at comeara@jockeyclub.com. If you know someone who does not have Internet access but who should take the survey, Cathy will be able to help.

The Foundation has not provided a deadline date for completing the survey, but you should not delay in submitting your answers if you want to have an impact on the decision-making process.

Notification of this survey is provided as a public service by Hoofcare Publishing. Comments left on this blog post, by clicking on "comment" at the bottom of this article, once published, will be visible to anyone visiting this blog but will not go directly to the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation, so please make comments on their survey feedback area as well.

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Monday, January 17, 2011

Friends at Work: John Edwards Is a Young Farrier Who Sees the Big Picture

When I first found out that John Edwards was only 22 years old, I thought that was pretty young. But when I listened to what he had to say about his chosen career as a farrier, I changed my mind, and I think you will, too.

John Edwards has the necessary sense of humility to understand that working with horses is a process, not a top-down delivery. And in almost any career you choose, when you work with horses your feelings for your career will go through changes. John Edwards may be keen on shoemaking now, but a few years from now he might get sidelined by working on some foundered horses or get fascinated with natural horsemanship or equine behavior.

All work with horses has many facets and phases, and he's absolutely right when he says that your learning is never done...and that anyone who claims to know it all or have all the answers must be very new to the scene.

John Edwards is a farrier in Navan, Ontario whose bio at the end of the slideshow gives the intriguing information that he plays the fiddle and curls. (Curling is that amazing ice sport played in the Olympics by players armed with brooms chasing what looks like giant spinning hockey pucks.)

This story originally was published in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario. It was written by Bruce Deachman, who called John "One in a Million".

I know from personal experience that there are a lot more than "one in a million"...but we could still use a whole lot more young farriers like John Edwards.

Thanks to Bruce Deachman for making this multimedia file available for The Hoof Blog.

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Sunday, October 03, 2010

Hoofcare@WEG: Cutest Farrier Rig at the World Equestrian Games

I don't know how Sandy Johnson gets any work done. Everyone is so curious about her cute little shoeing trailer that she has to keep showing it off. But she doesn't seem to mind.

Shoeing trailers have become the road fashion accessory of the American farrier for the past few years. Some farriers work out of them on a daily basis, and get to enjoy having a truck that functions as a truck. Or they can pull a small trailer with a smaller truck or SUV, as Sandy has done with this Honda Pilot.

The little black trailer was built this spring from Sandy's scale drawings by Stonewell Forge in Genoa, New York.

Sandy lives in Wellington, Florida, where she and her husband, Joe, operate their International Farrier Service. Horses shod by IFS competed in the Dressage at WEG in the first week and will compete in the Para Dressage in the second week. Sandy was credentialed in horse handling operations for WEG and you might have found her out on the runway at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, riding the high-low up and down with a bouquet of leadlines in her hand. Joe and Sandy were the US Team Farriers for show jumping at the World Equestrian Games in 1996 in Rome, Italy.

The black trailer is only used to service clients in the north during the off season. Sandy's is one of many clever designs rolling down the highways that are saving space and gas and making convenient unhooking locations or even transporting shoeing trailers within cargo containers for overseas work or inside big horse vans or moving vans. Try doing that with a truck.

Sorry it was raining when these photos were taken!

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