Equine Soundness Professionals Organization Launches Credential Testing; March Seminar Planned

After just six weeks of intensive planning and organizing, the new Equine Soundness Professionals group is ready to begin voluntary testing for qualified member veterinarians and farriers.

Laminitis Prevention: British Veterinarians Issue Alert to Prevent Spring Laminitis in Obese Horses

Links between equine obesity and laminitis are well documented, but veterinarians still report an increase in obesity; latest estimates are that as many as fifty percent of all horses in the United Kingdom may be overweight and at risk for related health problems. Today the British Equine Veterinary Association issued an official warning to owners that is valid all over the world. 

Beeman and Shannon Named Speakers for 2019 Heumphreus Memorial Lecture at UC Davis

The late Charles Heumphreus, resident farrier at the University of California at Davis, is remembered each year with a memorial lecture available free of charge to veterinarians and farriers. (UC Davis photo)

The 33rd Annual Charles Heumphreus Memorial Lecture will take place February 16, 2019 at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The event is a tribute to the vet school's longtime resident farrier, the late Charles Heumphreus.

New farrier/vet podiatry organization launched for US professionals

Texas farrier David Gilliam has a vision. The accomplished hunter/jumper farrier stopped talking about the way he thinks things should be and started doing something about it on December 6, when he launched a website for a new synergistic interprofessional association, Equine Soundness Professionals (ESP).

Saddle Research Trust Conference: Dyson research focuses on pain-associated behavior in ridden horses

"Horse, rider, saddlery interactions: Welfare and performance" was the theme of a landmark conference held this weekend in England.

FormaHoof Hoofcare Technology at the AAEP Convention: Is this hoof barefoot, shod...or protected?

FormaHoof is a new 3D hoof support process from Dubai. The hoof is not quite shod, and it's not exactly bare. Top farriers and equine podiatry veterinarians are singing FormaHoof's praises for not only the treatment capabilities of the molded coatings, but also the remarkable amount of sole growth and concavity they see at treatment's end. FormaHoof will be exhibiting at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention Trade Show, December 2-5 in San Francisco.

Whatever you call it, it has people talking. And looking. And asking questions. Until this week, FormaHoof seemed like just an interesting idea with a few slick videos on social media and a promise of results for rehabilitating hooves. “Liquid” horseshoes, some people called them. “Invisible” horseshoes, others said.

“3D” horseshoes?  We’ve heard that before, and can buy alternatives that claim the same effect, but for a lot less than the upfront investment in FormaHoof hoof treatment costs. Why, then, are farriers and veterinarians now buying and using the system?

Laminitis Survey Results: Do horse owners value science-based advice? Do they use it?

Equine research is fascinating, much-needed, and worthy of support. But are equine research findings being integrated into the care, feeding, and hoofcare of average horses? A survey in Great Britain set out to see if horse owners were applying research-based practices in their stable routines, using laminitis prevention as an example.

Palatable pergolide paste for PPID: BEVA award for Rendle presentation on clinical research into new treatment option for "equine cushings disease"

Many ponies and horses suffer from pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), known in the past as equine cushings disease.  Among the common clinical signs of the endocrine-related condition, seen commonly in older (but not exclusively older) animals are long, non-shedding coats and chronic laminitis. PPID can, in most cases, be successfully managed by the medication pergolide mesylate, which is currently only FDA-approved in a poorly palatable tablet. A recent presentation on an alternative form of the medication has been recognized with a prize from the British Equine Veterinary Association.

Research into what may one day be a significant advance in options for the treatment of horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), once known as equine cushings disease, has received an award in the United Kingdom.

Vampire Bats: Why horses should be afraid of vampires--and not just on Halloween

Vampire bats in South and Central America love horse hooves. They frequently feed at the coronet, where the blood is close to the surface. Besides being creepy, vampire bats are the leading reservoir of rabies virus in Central and South America and have recently been identified as a host that easily spreads bartonella bacteria. Newly deforested landscapes are now home to domestic livestock; vampire bat populations have flourished with the captive animals so easily available to bite. Officials in Texas are now warning that common vampire bats have crossed the Rio Grande into the United States.

Until recently, most of us only thought about vampires once a year, on October 31. But that is about to change. While Count Dracula may be a figment of literary imagination, the real-life inspiration for his story is alive and well and spreading rapidly through recently deforested regions of South and Central America.

Horses, horseowners and horse professionals: Consider yourselves warned. Like the killer bees who paved the path, vampire bats may be headed your way. And they're bringing dangerous diseases with them.

Blacksmith Buddies: Vet school students and farriers work together in Florida

What is (or are) Blacksmith Buddies? A few years ago, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine students and local farriers joined forces for mutual education and camaraderie. It was such a success that it has gained momentum and now has an extended program of both informal ridealong opportunities for students and multiple educational events for both students and farriers during the school year.

WEGucation: Horse health lectures added to FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 schedule

Can you feel the "back to school" energy in the air? As calendars turn to September, it is obvious that the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 (WEG) at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) in North Carolina are just ten days away, and WEG organizers are capitalizing on the back to school mindset.

No, it won't be all competition, all the time in Tryon; an educational program will run throughout the event, which runs from September 11 to 23, 2018.

Burghley's best-shod horse 2018: Records broken and handicaps overcome with farrier's one-handed excellence

For the third time in five years, an Irish Sport horse named Coolys Luxury was won England's Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials' "Best Shod Horse" prize for rider Tom Crisp and his long-time farrier James Hayter.

And not just that: Ringwood Sky Boy, ridden by New Zealand's Tim Price had been judged best-shod back in 2015.

But the story doesn’t stop there. Have you ever heard farriers brag that they could shoe a horse with one armed tied behind their backs?

That’s pretty close to what happened when the day came to shoe this horse for Burghley 2018.

Gene therapy: Second stage of research documents further success for rehabilitation of tendon injuries in lame horses

Equine surgeon Milomir Kovac performs an ultrasound on a horse; ultrasound was used to monitor healing in tendon injuries in a group of race and sport horses treated with an experimental gene therapy designed to both speed healing and improve the quality of the healed injury site to prevent recurrence. (Image courtesy of University of Nottingham)

In October 2017, The Hoof Blog reported on experimental research looking into direct-injection gene therapy for soft tissue lameness injuries in horses. The authors of the 2017 paper had successfully cured lameness in two horses and published their results in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Dyson: Equine performance assessment tests veterinarians' ability to recognize pain-related behavior

Before the study horses were ridden, Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy (ACPAT) physiotherapist Jo Spear assessed each one. (Saddle Research Trust photo)

Will veterinarians succeed in using Dr Sue Dyson's new "equine ethogram" system to identify behavioral signs of musculoskeletal pain in horses?

Transitions: Hoof research innovator Renate Weller makes career move to corporate veterinary education

Professor Renate Weller (center) of the Royal Veterinary College in the United Kingdom announced this week that she is leaving academia for a career in corporate veterinary education. Weller has been a magnet in the equine industry for her inclusive and inspiring dialogues with students, horse owners, farriers and the public. She is shown here during a demonstration for an equestrian group touring the RVC's Structure and Motion Laboratory where she conducts research. (RVC publicity photo)

Professor Renate Weller, Drvetmed, PhD, MScVetEd, ACVSMR, FHEA, NTF, ECVSMR, MRCVS, has announced her decision to leave her academic teaching role at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London in the United Kingdom.

HANDS OFF Safety Alert: US Food and Drug Administration reports potential health risks to people exposed to altrenogest products for horses

The following warning was issued today by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine in Rockville, Maryland:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting veterinary medical professionals, as well as those who work with horses, that a synthetic progesterone product commonly used in these animals may cause reproductive system disorders and other adverse effects in people who become exposed to the drug. The FDA is providing this alert because of the nature of the adverse events, some of which have occurred in teenage girls.

Research overview: Preventing laminitis by studying insulin dynamics in older horses

Laminitis research comes in many forms. Recently, the emphasis has been on understanding the cause of the disease, and developing ways to prevent horses from ever knowing laminitic pain. The emphasis is on understanding how horse management and feeding can effect hormonal balances in older horses, and what recommendations might help horses live longer and healthier lives.

Australian research analyzes hoof nail holes after shoeing with steel or copper-coated horseshoe nails

The complexity of studying horse nail hole morphology and pathology is well illustrated by this foot from the study. In one foot, nail holes with a range of pathology were documented. The study documented the front feet of 11 sport horses over several shoeing cycles. (Photo © Brian Hampson and John Wilson)

Copper-coated horseshoe nails took the farrier profession by storm in 2015 when “Liberty Cu” nails were introduced by Royal Kerckhaert in Europe. A novelty at first, the new nails gained favor with many farriers who claimed they observed an improvement in the quality of the nail hole or the hoof wall itself. The nails spread to farriers in many parts of the world.

Godolphin's Masar took the barefoot route to Epsom Derby; farriers detail stable's hoof protocol

The old joke goes something like this: A tourist wandering around in New York City sees a tuxedo-clad musician getting out of a cab. He's carrying his instrument. Relieved, the tourist walks up and asks, “Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”

Without missing a beat, the musician says, “Practice.” And walks on.

If only horseracing was so simple.

New York Governor Announces Funding for Veterinary College on Long Island

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that his state is investing $12 million in the establishment of a new veterinary college on the existing campus of Long Island University (LIU)  in Brookville, New York. According to Cuomo's news release, the $40 million project will "fill a void in the academic landscape, while generating new opportunities for medical research and jobs creation in the state."