Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness: video

Showing posts with label video. Show all posts

Friday, May 08, 2009

Pioneer Equine Hospital: Bigger and Better Things in Store for Lameness Referral Practice in Calfornia

by Fran Jurga | 9 May 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

One of the leading veterinary referral hospitals in the United States is stretching its legs in its new building. Pioneer Equine Hospital in Oakdale, California has moved to a new building that gives them plenty of space for their lameness specialty practice and the surgery procedures that are their specialty.

Dr. Brad Jackman is now the owner of Pioneer Equine Hospital; former owner Dr. Jerry Black also still practices from the clinic. Behind Dr. Jackman you can see his pride and joy: the new hospital's high field MRI, Pioneer will be only the second hospital in the United States to offer MRI with a 1-tesla super conducting electromagnet from Oni Medical Systems.

The practice was featured in a newspaper article in yesterday's Modesto Bee, which you can read by clicking here. The Bee made a special video format for The Hoof Blog to be able to host the little video clip of a horse's plantar digital neurectomy (roughly translated: transection of the nerve to the back part of one hind foot) that I thought you all might find interesting, as well as the familiar face of Dr. Brad Jackman.

The neurectomy was performed by Dr. David MacDonald on a 20-year-old Warmblood-Thoroughbred cross with a history of chronic foot pain.

As to who's manning (or womanning) the farrier shop that has been built at the new facility? The hospital's web site lists longtime Pioneer consulting farrier Rocky Armitage and Rob Dugo. The one at the old hospital was built for and by our friend the late Emil Carre, who provided farrier services for the hospital in its early days. I still miss him, and I'll always wish Dr. Jackman and the hospital well.

All photos and the video accompanying this article are the work of Brian Ramsay at the Modesto Bee and are mirrored from that site. Thanks very much to Brian and the Bee for working with The Hoof Blog to bring you inside the new Pioneer Equine Hospital.

To order, go to http://www.hoofcare.com/hoofwall.html

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Friends at Work: Ernie Gauoette Shod His Way from the Racetrack to the Show Barn

Somehow it didn't surprise me to see Ernie Gauoette's picture in the newspaper today. Our friend Ernie has been shoeing show hunters and jumpers at the well-known Briggs Stable in Hanover, Massachusetts for a while now and he's a good model, as well as a nice guy, so Ernie gets his picture taken a lot.

What did surprise me was when I went to the Patriot-Ledger newspaper's web site and Ernie's voice came out of my computer speakers as if he was right in the room with me; the paper made a video of Ernie explaining a few aspects of shoeing. Thanks to the magic of YouTube.com I was able to embed the video and share it with you.

Enjoy the video and please know that what you are seeing Ernie do is pretty normal shoeing in the Boston area from Thanksgiving to Easter. The shoe was four tiny tungsten drive-in studs for traction on ice or slippery pavement and a big black "pop-out" pad that prevents snow from building up on the bottom of the horse's foot. Pop-out pads are a poor rider's gait analysis system. They make an audible pop-pop-pop-pop with each stride set as you ride and if the rhythm is off, you know you have a problem. A sure sign of spring around here is when horses go back to clopping instead of popping.

The shape identification system for hooves that Ernie alludes to on the video is the "Eagle Eye" system developed by farrier instructor Scott Simpson in the 1980s. He taught farriers to look for Norman, Stubby, Ralph and Tag...and guess what? It's pretty accurate!

By the way, Ernie's excellent accent comes through nicely. Every region of New England has a distinct accent so we can tell each other apart. Thanks to the Patriot-Ledger newspaper and web site. Click here to go to Ernie's page and leave a comment, or leave one here by clicking on the word
"comment" below.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Sunday Video Humor: Sneak Previews of Racing Clydesdales and Charging Ostriches on Tonight's Fun Commercials

by Fran Jurga | 1 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The Budweiser Clydesdales at the track? You have to see this!

It's Super Sunday across America and all through the land, we all waited for half time and Bruce Springsteen's band...

And what from our wondrous eyes could not hide, but three brand new commercials about a Budweiser Clyde.

But I soon was laughing, like a February Fool, about a dog food commercial called simply "Dogs Rule"

You can watch it too, you'll catch the vibe, and pronounce to the world, "I think that's my tribe!"

Today's a tossup, not between Arizona and Pittsburgh, but between Bruce Sprinsteen and the Budweiser Clydesdales. Is there another reason for 50 million people to plant themselves in front of the television tonight?

Pedigree dog food just might give the Clydes and the Boss a run for their money. The new commercial and web site "Dogs Rule" will be a hoot to those of us who work around animals and the people who love them. Pedigree thought it was making an outrageous takeoff on exotic pets, but, ummmmm, actually, I think they are pretty close to capturing some of the "unique" people and pets I've met along the way.

Pedigree is doing their Super Bowl ads (at how much for 30 seconds? $3 million?) as a public service to encourage pet adoption. If you go to the new web site (www.dogsrule.com) you can download an .app for your iPhone and the company will donate dog food to animal shelters every time someone watches a video on the site.

The best part is that they have made it possible for you to watch four character development videos that give you some insight into the individual pets and their quirky owners featured in the commercial: Rusty the rhino, Bruno the ostrich, The Boar, and Max the Water Buffalo. It's a great laugh.

This is all in good fun. I hope you will watch the original commericial here, go to dogsrule.com and click around so some dog food flows to the needy ones. I wish someone would do this for horses in need of homes.

And don't forget to watch for the Clydesdales! One commercial has a lovesick Clyde and another honors the hitch on its 75th anniversary year. Later today I will post some sneak-peek footage from Budweiser about how (and where!) they shot this year's great commercials.

In the meantime, have a laugh with Pedigree...and don't forget to consider giving a shelter dog a good home, right next to you on the couch on Super Sunday.

© 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.

Hoofcare and Lameness Journal is often published under the cover of fog amidst the comings and goings and launchings and sinkings and leakings of the old industrial waterfront in Gloucester, Massachusetts. If you come to visit, bring your life jacket...and you'd better like fish.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Thoroughbreds with Crushed Heels: Ian McKinlay's Latest Video Offers Advice

Hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay, known for his literal "stop-gap" expertise for keeping racehorses like Big Brown running in spite of cracks and blow-outs, has created a short video about crushed heels in racehorses.

Ian spoke to an SRO audience at a Hoofcare@Saratoga event a few weeks ago and will be speaking at the AAEP's farrier conference in San Diego, California in December.

Learn more about his dual-density rimming technology for shoes at www.tenderhoof.com.

All HoofBlog text and images © Hoofcare Publishing 2008 unless otherwise noted.

To learn more about new research, products, and treatments for the horse's hooves and legs as reported to veterinarians and farriers in the award-winning "Hoofcare & Lameness Journal",
go to http://www.hoofcare.com

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Thursday, September 16, 2004

OLYMPIC FOOTING: Controversy underhoof at the Athens Olympics Games

It's either too hard or too soft. Too dry or too wet. Anyone who has ever worked in show management knows the importance of good footing, particularly for outdoor show jumping.

Click this link to read the rest of this article