The Sound Hoof: Manifesto of Natural Hoofcare Published by Michigan State researcher/farrier

Book Announcement

Hoofcare and Lameness is pleased to announce the publication of THE SOUND HOOF: Horse Health from the Ground Up by Lisa Simons Lancaster PhD, foreword by Fran Jurga. $27 per book plus $5 post in USA, $12 air post r.o.w. Worldwide launch 1 October 2004. Soft cover. 126 pages, illustrations/photos, references, reading list, indexed. Focuses on current therapy and philosophies, both traditional mainstream and “natural” shoeing and barefoot care of horses. Author is a leading research team member in hoof physiology lab (Michigan State University), veterinary student, and a farrier.

Chapters:

1. Holistic Hoofcare (Holistic practitioner, chronic condition issue, farrier’s role in holistic hoofcare, horseman’s role in holistic hoofcare)
2. Hoof and Lower Leg Anatomy (terminology, anatomical structure)
3. Reading the Hoof (evaluating soundness, understand balance, three-dimensional balance; great detailed discussion on Dave Duckett's balance system)
4. Hoof Care Research and Theory (The nature of research, hoof deformation research, history of hoof deformation research, breakover, 4-pt trim and natural balance)
5. To shoe or not to shoe (Balance, conformation, advantages of barefoot, disadvantages of barefoot, things to discuss with your farrier, dealing with pain)
6. Laminitis and navicular (laminitis, what is laminitis, causes and mechanisms, metabolically based theories, how is laminitis diagnosed, horse do you know if your horse has laminitis, what to do if you suspect laminitis, prevention and treatment, navicular syndrome, clinical signs, diagnosing navicular, speculative mechanism and risk factors, relationship between inner and outer structures, prevention and treatment of heel pain, foam padding for heel pain, holistic approach)
7. Sound management (support team, selecting a farrier, how to keep a farrier, doing your own trimming, safety, record keeping, scheduling, your horse’s health is in your hands)
8. Action gallery (holistically-managed--mostly barefoot—sound horses in competition and recreation
9. Forms, appendices, references, resources, index.

(Note this book has been endorsed by Henry Heymering with a resoundingly positive back cover review, and you know how hard that is to come by! He says, among other good things, “Much of the research on hooves from ancient to current times is explained with unmatched clarity. The more people read this book, the more sound horses there will be.”)

PUBLICATION DATE: 1 October 2004, shipping NOW.

Note: Many of you read Lisa’s insightful article about her role assisting Dr Robert Bowker in hoof research projects at the Michigan State University’s “Equine Hoof Laboratory” in Hoofcare #78.

Kuwaiti Hooves Needs Help!

We've received a request from an associate in Kuwait that an experienced hoof expert is needed there to work on horses. If you are interested and available, please contact Hoofcare & Lameness for more details.

Michigan State Honors H&L's Bowker and Lancaster, Contributing Editor and Author, Respectively

Dr. Robert Bowker and Michigan State student Lisa Lancaster have both received awards from Michigan State University. (Fran Jurga photo)

Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine recently conferred honors on two leading contributors to Hoofcare & Lameness.

First, Robert Bowker DVM PhD, associate professor of pathobiology and diagnostic investigation at MSU, received the Carl J Norden Distinguished Teacher Award.

Then, third-year veterinary student Lisa Simons Lancaster, MSc, PhD received the university's award for best oral presentation by a veterinary student for her lecture "Laminar Density Variation in the Equine Foot".

Lisa is a researcher in Bowker's Equine Foot Laboratory at Michigan State. She collaborated with Bowker on the research, which was featured in Hoofcare & Lameness Issue #78.

Lisa is also the author of The Sound Hoof, a new book sold by Hoofcare Publishing.

Hoof and Leg Problems Are #1 Priority for Research, According to Indiana Horse Owners

A recent survey from the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service showed that horse owners from all segments of the horse industry in that state consider problems in horses’ hooves and legs to be their top priority for future equine research.

Leg or hoof problems were rated #1 by all types of operations, and breaks down to the following percentages:

• 57 percent of trail and recreational horse operations
• 59 percent of show operations
• 63 percent of racing operations
• 65 percent of working farm operations.

Injuries from wounds or trauma, neurological disorders, and obesity were other conditions related to legs and hooves that concerned owners to some extent. Colic, respiratory disease, and infectious diseases were second or third priorities in most industry segments.

However, no other health concern rated higher than hoof and lameness problems in any of the horse ownership segments.

(Information courtesy of the Indiana Horse Council)

IVAN Floods Threaten Horses in Texas: What Would YOU Do?

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by David Templeton:

Floodwaters at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Chartiers inundated stables along the fairgrounds' racetrack, and horse owners who rent the stables had to release their Standardbred horses when fast-rising water rose stomach-high on the horses in the stalls.

"It was the heroic efforts by a couple of people to get them released," Wayne Hite, a horse owner and trainer, said, referring to Janis McGhee and Joe Behanna. "Those are real heroes there. They were up to their chins in water releasing these animals."

Water flowing swiftly into each end of the stables and exiting through the middle door created the effect of a raging river. Two released horses got caught atop concrete barriers and will be lost for the rest of the racing season, if not permanently, with significant leg injuries.

The four stables -- Hite Racing Stables, Bruce McGhee Stables, Sharon Donella Stables and Joe Behanna Stables -- lost tack, 12 jogging carts, six racing bikes or sulkies, helmets, racing colors, a Ford Explorer, a Ford Excursion, a track-maintenance truck, medications, a $54,000 horse spa, farrier equipment and grain and hay. The flood also damaged horse trailers. The loss will exceed $100,000 and could reach $200,000, said Trudy Hite of Somerset Township.

"Everything is gone, and it will take years to rebuild," she said.

Because the fairgrounds' track was destroyed, the county will have to rebuild it.

Clydesdale shoeing in Scotland: Is "couping" a welfare concern or standard practice?

A computer-based horseshoeing evaluation test will compare the gait and characteristics of a Clydesdale horse before and after shoeing with traditional (and controversial) Scottish techniques for the hind limbs.

The 2004 International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) Scottish Equine Welfare Seminar has tapped the team behind the new Equinalysis gait and shoeing evaluation system to test the horse.

According to team leader Haydn Price, DipWCF, the test horse has already been shod with its traditional shoes. To begin the test, the horse’s shoes will be removed, and the horse will be evaluated barefoot. The shoes will then be nailed back on, and the horse will be evaluated again. Finally, the horse will be shod with full-coverage shoes, and the results of the three tests compared.

Equinalysis is a system of using video-based computer software to track the movement of joint markers as a horse is walked before cameras recording from different angles. The resulting reports compare stride length, knee action, hock action, straightness, etc. and are helpful in showing the effects of trimming and shoeing on the horse's movement. The system was used to help fine-tune shoeing alterations on horses competing for the United Kingdom at the recent Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

What is couping?  

“Couping” is the name given the practice of nailing on hind shoes that do not cover the horse’s inside heel area. Shaped like a sickle, the shoe has a protruding lateral calk and exaggerated quarter. These shoes have reportedly been used in Scotland for centuries to help Clydesdales with their work, such as navigating narrow rows of crops.

In the show horse world, couping is used to present horses in-hand with hocks that touch; this is a desired conformation in the breed. With the help of the shoes, an optical illusion is created: the hind legs appear as one limb.

How does couping affect the horse?  

While the technique appears to intentionally imbalance the horse, its proponents point out that it is designed for the horse that works in soft ground, where the outside calk is helpful. They also point to the overall soundness of horses shod in this way.

Critics point out that the horses stand on hard-floored stables and must be transported to shows on solid floors.

Comparative testing of couped and normally-shod horses  

Price pointed out to Hoofcare & Lameness that while the shoe itself is a radical instrument of imbalance, the hoof is generally prepared according to normal balance parameters, so the test horse can be legitimately tested barefoot, and shod in two different ways without having to re-dress the foot. Noted Clydesdale farrier James Balfour, AWCF of Dundee, Scotland is preparing the test horse.

The modern Clydesdale horse has been intentionally bred for characteristics that make it look quite different from this ideal stallion painted in 1820 by artist John Herring. Long legs were not an advantage to a horse working on rough ground in Scotland in the 1800s.

Welfare implications of couping  

Welfare advocates and the Scottish parliament became concerned about couping a few years ago, when a farrier blew the whistle on the practice and called for its elimination. As a result, the Clydesdale Horse Society worked with master farrier David Wilson, FWCF, BEM and published revised guidelines for hoof balance and shoe coverage, but couping itself was not outlawed.

(See "Cruelty Charged in Scottish Clydesdale Shoeing" published in  the print edition of Hoofcare and Lameness 74.)  

In the United States and Canada, single-calked three-quarter shoes are in widespread use for the hind feet of show draft horses. There are no known regulations on how draft horses may be shod for shows and no known public complaints of abuse in the United States. The terminology of "couping" is not generally used in the United States to describe this type of shoeing.

More on couping  

Couping was a topic often mentioned by speakers at the March 2003 “Heavy Horse Hoofcare” conference at Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine, sponsored by Hoofcare & Lameness Journal, particularly by British speaker Roger Clark, FWCF(Hons).

Roger Clark, FWCF(Hons) (left) with Disney World heavy horse farrier Gary Wade at the Tufts Vet School conference on heavy horse shoeing.

More coverage of couping and follow-up of the Scottish Equinalysis test will be published in issue #79 of Hoofcare & Lameness Journal.

Equinalysis was recently introduced in the US at a seminar at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky and was featured in issue 78 of Hoofcare & Lameness Journal, in respect to hock displacement in dressage horses.

Top photo: Clydesdale shoeing competition at the Royal Highland Show, Scotland, by David McCrone, used with permission.