American Farrier’s Association and Purina Animal Nutrition announce educational partnership

via press release

The American Farrier’s Association (AFA) and Purina Animal Nutrition, LLC ("Purina") have entered into an agreement that will lend support for the educational goals AFA stresses for its members. It will also offer Purina researchers an opportunity to share results of their considerable body of work in equine nutrition while engaging farriers in discussions about the impact that they observe nutrition having on hoof integrity.

Discipline Committee strips British farrier of right to practice; apprentice complained of bullying

A sculpture honoring the relationship between a master and apprentice above the Craiglockhart Primary School in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kim Traynor.

The Disciplinary Committee of the Farriers Registration Council (FRC) in Great Britain has announced the removal of a long-established farrier from the nation’s Farrier Register. The decision to “strike off” the farrier--thus ending his ability to practice farriery in that country--came after a much-publicized hearing in London in March, when the FRC publicly investigated complaints of bullying behavior lodged by an apprentice the farrier had agreed to train.

Pennsylvania Court Petitioned to Require State to Resume Racetrack Farrier License Tests

On Tuesday, June 7, the International Chapter of Horseshoers and Equine Trades, Local 947, ("the Union") filed a writ of mandamus in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania naming the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission, a board administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, as defendant.

The document petitions the Pennsylvania judicial system to direct the Racing Commission to follow its own law regarding the requirements to obtain a license to shoe horses on the grounds of Penn National and other Thoroughbred racetracks in the state.

Gene Test, Research Unravel Severe Skeletal Atavism Limb Deformity in Shetland Ponies

Limbs of a 16-week old Shetland pony with Skeletal Atavism, often described as "bow legs". (Left) caudal view when standing; (center) caudal view when walking and (right) view from the front when standing square.  Complete, or "fused", fibulas and ulnas cause instability in the tarsocrural and antebrachiocarpal joints respectively; the angular limb deformity becomes more severe at the walk. Photo: Ove Wattle

Skeletal Atavism is a genetic defect that can cause skeletal deformities in Shetland ponies. The deformity has now been genetically identified by researchers at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), in cooperation with colleagues in the USA at Texas A&M University, the University of Kentucky's Gluck Center, and the University of Washington, as well as at the University of Qatar in the Middle East. The discovery means that healthy carriers now can be identified for better breeding decisions with the use of a gene test.

Badminton Farriers Prize 2016: What Was Under the Mare Who Won? (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a two-part article. Before reading the specifics of how this horse is shod, please read Part 1, posted on May 8th.

Badminton Farrier Prize 2016: Charlie Sands' four-star horseshoeing wins (Part 1)

Resident farrier Bernie Tidmarsh watches a horse at the Badminton House stables, used for the Duke of Beaufort's Hounds and the Badminton Horse Trials. Bernie has a forge at the end of the stable block. He's won the Farriers Prize at the Badminton Horse Trials multiple times. (Fran Jurga photo)

Hint: if you want to win the Farriers Prize at the four-star Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials in England, consider having your partner shoe your horse.

Or, alternately, if you're a farrier, consider helping your partner make it all the way around Badminton so your shoes have a chance of being judged the winners on the final day of the event.

Fact: For the past three years, the Farriers Prize has been awarded to a horse shod by the rider's partner.

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Shoeing for the Roses: Kentucky Derby Foot Factors 2016

It's the first Saturday in May. Theories abound about how to pick the winner of the Kentucky Derby, but there's no doubt that the feet come first in the hearts and minds of Hoof Blog readers. With the help of wonderful people in the racing industry, this article is a collection of as much as is known about the hooves of the fast and famous.

Re-visiting the Big-Footed Event Horse at Badminton Horse Trials: Ben Hobday, Mulrys Error, and Paul Conway

A photo posted by Ben Hobday (@benhobday) on Apr 27, 2015 at 10:01am PDT

British farrier Paul Conway preparing a shoe for Ben Hobday's large-footed event horse Mulrys Error before Badminton Horse Trials in 2015.

British Minister Meets with Farriers on Future Registration, Discipline Changes for the Profession

DEFRA Minister George Eustice, MP can't take his eyes off the horseshoe he forged at the anvil with help from Simon Moore, FWCF, during an informal meeting with farriers and industry stakeholders in Cornwall last week. Eustice is working on possible changes to the farrier education and apprenticeship system in Great Britain through Parliamentary reform of the Farriers Registration Act. (Photo via Mr. Eustice)

On Friday, April 29th, George Eustice, a Member of (British) Parliament and Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) visited Bridge Farm in his home district of Cornwall in southwest England.

Mr. Eustice met with local Approved Training Farrier (ATF) Simon Moore, and his apprentice, Josh Ellery, along with a number of other local farriers and farrier industry representatives. His goal: to discuss some of the challenges facing the farriery industry.

Virginia Tech launches second permanent vet school farrier facility; longtime consulting farrier Paul Goodness and team will now be on site in Leesburg

Virginia farrier Paul Goodness (right) is moving his successful farrier business out of his barn and into the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, the satellite veterinary hospital in Northern Virginia for Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. After serving more than 25 years as the hospital's contract farrier, he and his team, including his son Luke, left, will now be on-site full time. (Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center photo)

This week the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC) in Leesburg, Virginia is announcing the launch of a permanent farrier facility. Longtime hospital contract farrier Paul Goodness is in the process of moving his team to Leesburg where he will begin his new staff role as in-­house Chief of Farrier Services for Virginia Polytechnic University, Leesburg division.

The EMC is Virginia Polytechnical University’s satellite referral equine hospital and research center for the Virginia­-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. The state-­of­-the-­art facility is located west of Washington, DC.