Favorite Photo: This Horse Was In Good Hands

by Fran Jurga | 11 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

"You're in Good Hands" by Dwight Usry

This photo just showed up in my email a while ago. I thought it was quite beautiful...and even moreso when I realized what I was looking at.

This horse's toe crack has been patched with PMMA adhesive, which will harden into a shell-like covering that closely mimics the hoof wall. Plastic wrap is placed over the material while it sets and the farrier is smoothing the big patch as it goes through its processes from a pastey liquid to a solid when it is exposed to the air after mixing the two parts together.

The same procedure is used to build up heels, fill in gaps in the wall or sometimes cover a quarter crack patch. A similar process was used in the 2008 Triple Crown by hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay in his work on Big Brown's separations and crack. The material also can be used to glue shoes onto hooves.

By feeling the texture and heat through the plastic, the farrier will know when it is safe to put the foot down. Once hardened, the patch can be rasped and shaped and may be indistinguishable from the "real" wall at the quarters if the job is done with skill.

You can be pretty sure that was the case here; those long fingers that look like they should belong to an artist or musician were Mr. Edgar Watson's, an expert farrier from Keswick, Virginia. Eddie died this fall, and the farrier world hasn't been the same since.

I'd like to thank Dwight Usry of Peak's Forge in Hanover, Virginia for sharing this photo.

Architect's drawing of the Britt-Watson Veterinarian/Farrier Facility to be built in Virginia in memory of farrier Eddie Watson. The location is The Meadow Event Center; The Meadow is the farm where Secretariat was foaled. The farm was recently taken over as a horse show park and will be the new site of the Virginia State Fair.

Be sure to watch for news of Dwight's fundraiser for the Britt-Watson Veterinarian/Farrier Facility to be built in Mr. Watson's memory at The Meadow Event Park, a new horse park and home for the state fair, built on the farm in Doswell, Virginia where Secretariat was born. Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) has already kicked off the fundraising with a $1000 donation. If you'd like to chip in, I can fax the donation form to you or click here to send Dwight an email.

© 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).

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New Extreme Hoof Makeover Video: Ian McKinlay and Conny Svensson Combine Glue, Nails, Adhesive and New Shoe Designs for 11th Hour Pre-Race Hoofcare

In July, a Standardbred named Before He Cheats needed major hoof renovations before he could race in a big stakes at The Meadowlands. Harness shoer specialist Conny Svensson and hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay went to work and, when they were re-done, rebuilt and reshod all four feet.

Luckily, Ian had his video camera and he created a start-to-finish documentary of the process and is allowing the Hoof Blog to share it with you.

The segments are roughly nine minutes each, since YouTube.com has a ten-minute limit for clips. So, settle back and watch this horse's feet change shape. Remember that this is an 11th hour makeover. In reality, the horse should not have been allowed to get to this stage. Conny and Ian were asked to transform it for a race a few days afterwards. This is stop-gap therapy. Hoof triage. It certainly could have been prevented.

Here's part one:



And here's part two (with a very happy ending):



© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. All images and text protected to full extent of law. Permissions for use in other media or elsewhere on the web can be easily arranged. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online or received via a daily email through an automated delivery service.

This post was originally published on October 2, 2008 at http://www.hoofcare.blogspot.com, with the permission of Ian McKinlay and www.tenderhoof.com

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness, please visit our 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. Comments to individual posts are welcome; please click on the comment icon at the bottom of the post.

Quarter Crack Repair: What Lies Ahead for Big Brown?

This video by Ian McKinlay explain the steps he goes through to "patch" a quarter crack so a horse can continue to train and race. Hit the "play" icon to watch the video; it is almost ten minutes long.

This video is part 2 of the first video we posted about quarter cracks back before the Derby, when there was confusion between wall separations and quarter cracks. We all thought Big Brown had quarter cracks until Ian clarified the situation. The first part of the video can be viewed here but it does not much, if any, narration.

The steps you see here are the final ones in the process. First the horse needs to be wrapped for a few days to draw out any infection and let the crack drain. Once the crack is clean, the repair process begins.

THE HORSE IN THIS VIDEO IS NOT BIG BROWN. This horse is being repaired for a chronic, pre-existing quarter crack that had become infected, not a fresh one like Big Brown's, but this will give you an idea of what process Ian McKinlay normally uses.

You will hear Ian comment on the prevalence of hoof injuries at Belmont this year.

By the way, Ian McKinlay is scheduled to be demonstrating his Yasha shoes at the University of Pennsylvania's Technical Horseshoeing Conference next weekend. Click here to go to yesterday's post about the conference.

Big Brown's Glued Hooves Featured in Today's New York Times

Get a good look at the feet of Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown. The horse has wall separations in the medial heels of both front feet and is advancing through the healing process as the new wall grows down. The shoes are glued on with half-web rubber rim pads and full-web heel cushions and the horse continues to train in Florida. He'll move to Churchill Downs in Kentucky next week. (New York Times photo (see link to story and more photos, below); double click or click to enlarge on your screen)

Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown is the subject of a lengthy article in today's New York Times. But most of the story is about his feet, and his glue-on shoes.

The story includes an interview with hoof repair impresario Ian McKinlay, who has been generously providing images and video to this HoofBlog. (See following blog posts for much more on Big Brown's wall separations and see similar hooves undergoing repair and gluing.)

Another Derby favorite, Pyro, has also been training and racing in glue-on shoes.

The last time I can remember horseshoes being so prominently featured in the Times was 1996, when Kentucky farrier Steve Norman worked with Derby favorite Unbridled Song, and helped him prep for the Derby, and race, wearing a variety of bar shoes.

Kentucky Derby Hoof Tech: Calculated Hoof Repair for Heel-Quarter Blow-Outs in Racehorses

Last week we showed you Ian McKinlay's video clip of a quarter crack, and tried to paraphrase Ian's description of the various types of "blowouts" that can fracture a racehorse's hoof wall, and showed a foot with a wall separation ready for repair. That photo showed a foot that might look something like what Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown's feet looked like when his injuries occurred. They have now been repaired and the horse's trainer, Richard Dutrow, commented to the press today that he is pleased with the condition of his horse's feet and the recovery that has been made possible by a combination of hoof repair and cushioning of the injured area, coupled with glued on "gasket" shoes.

The shoe design and rationale has already been explained in previous posts but this serious of photos will show you a horse that is NOT BIG BROWN, but that received a similar shoeing solution. Ian McKinlay has provided these additional photos to give people a broader view of how streamlined and non-intrusive the repair process is, compared to the older ways of bar shoes and laced and layered patches.

A blog comment last week brought up a good question, regarding his ignornance that Pyro had won his two previous starts wearing glued-on shoes. A few years ago this might have been a handicap, but that racing observer wondered if shoes shouldn't be disclosed to the betting public because high-tech enhancements might offer an advantage to a horse, similar to the new Speedo "skin suits" with ultrasonic welds instead of seams, which will be used in the 2008 Olympic swimming competitions. That is, unless they are ruled to be performance-enhancing equipment.


The shoe (race plate) package ready for application. The heels are fully cushioned where the wall has been removed. The copper "clips" are not clips in the sense of those used on steel shoes; they are providing more surface area for the adhesive. They are just thin tab-like strips of copper. Remember that this shoe will be glued on, there is no issue with nails having to penetrate the rubber.


The heel is rebuilt and the shoe is on. The temptation is probably to incorporate the heel repair into the shoe but the two have to maintain separate entities so that the shoe can be removed. The artificial heel will be trimmed as it grows down. Only the copper tab crosses the frontier between the shoe and the real/artificial wall. Remember that the padding under the heel is the full width of the shoe only in the heel area, which is why you see the black line fill with adhesive in the quarter.


I am not sure whether or not this horse had blowouts (wall separations) in both heels, possibly caused by subsolar abscesses, hard racetracks, or gait changes, so both heel walls were trimmed out and replaced with artificial wall. It's also possible that the the adhesive and heel cushion were used on both heels to provide symmetrical heel architecture and encourage normal gaits and stride characteristics.

The finished feet. This horse will have the benefit of pain relief from the cushioning and the realigned support of the artificial heel wall to stabilize weightbearing over the entire foot (or where the foot would be). This procedure hopefully encourages normal circulation and a normal gait pattern. The finished job does not look very different from a patch for a quarter crack or a wall rebuild for a thin-walled horse so you can see why a trainer would just refer to the injury as a "quarter crack".

Thanks to Ian McKinlay for sharing this technique, and for interrupting his work to take these photos. Racetrack repair technology is continuing to evolve as more horses are being shod and supported as their needs dictate. Ian is a career specialist in quarter crack repair and is bringing new ideas and materials to the racetrack to help horses stay in training. He is very generous to share information from the racetrack with the world through this blog.

Links to previous stories from last week on Kentucky Derby hopefuls' feet:
Click here for quarter crack explanation and Ian McKinlay's video
Click here for glue shoes on Kentucky Derby favorites and Ian McKinlay's explanation of heel separation
Click here for interview with Big Brown trainer Richard Dutrow about the horse's feet.