Farrier Photography: Matthew Wright Exhibit Shows Andy Eadie Shoeing on England's Lambourn Downs

Photographer Matthew P. Wright followed farrier Andy Edie around the Lambourn Downs area of England. The result is a photography exhibit that has been made into a book, which can be previewed here.

Royal Recognition: British Farrier Thomas Burch Honored with MBE by Queen

Glimpses into the life of a farrier who might be found on the streets of London or in the rainforests of Central America or helping a horse in Capetown in South Africa: Royal honors have been announced for British farrier Tom Burch for his service to the welfare of horses in the United Kingdom and overseas.

What You Read: Most Popular Hoof Blog Stories of 2013

There are lots of ways of looking at a horse's foot. The Hoof Blog offered a lot of them in 2013. Some were more popular than others. What were your favorites? And what kind of a screen did you use to view them?

Christmas with Laminitis Video: St Nicholas Abbey Five-Month Update from Coolmore in Ireland

St Nicholas Abbey - Five months on from Coolmore Stud on Vimeo.

This video is shown on The Hoof Blog with permission of Coolmore Stud. Click the "play" icon to begin the video.

It's Christmas Eve and you can count your blessings. Count your blessings especially if you are a horse that doesn't have laminitis.

A Farrier's Christmas Tale, World Champion Style, in Video and Poem

There are many tales about Christmas in the forge, but Santa Claus knows exactly where to go when he needs help. He seeks out three World Champions: Grant Moon (Wales), David Varini (Scotland), and Paul Robinson (Ireland) who just happen to be working late on Christmas Eve. But have your read the poem?

What's Eating These Hooves? Readers' Photos Document Stable Pests Have Hoof Hunger

Back in October, the Hoof Blog offered some photos of horses' hooves that could have been gnawed by rodents. The blog post was big news to some, old news to others.

Book Announcement: Jean-Marie Denoix's Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse Published December 2013

Stop the world, Jean-Marie Denoix's new book is out. The first advance copies of Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse by Professor Jean-Marie Denoix are hitting US shores. The official publication date was December 30, 2013.

Biomechanics and Physical Training of the Horse is an expansion of Professor Denoix's landmark earlier and highly recommended earlier textbook, Physical Therapy and Massage for the Horse. The production has been upgraded to a full color format and the author's trademark illustrations are supplemented by copious photographs of leading French equestrians caught in sometimes less than graceful segments of strides, lateral movements, and jumps.

The Real Deal: Laminitic Pony in Australia First Horse in History to Wear 3D Printed Titanium Horseshoes

A pony with chronic laminitis in Australia is wearing the world's first horseshoes that are "printed", not forged or cast or turned. The shoes are made of titanium and were created in a laboratory setting by the government agency CSIRO.

The Hoof Blog promised a follow-up on that viral story back in October about 3D printing of titanium horseshoes in Australia. We promised that when we could show you a horse wearing them, we'd be impressed.

PPID: Equine endocrinology researchers revise guidelines for "Cushings" tests for horses

Equine Cushings Disease or pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) has been easy to identify, with overt signs like a long coat. Underlying PPID is now being identified in younger horses and in horses that show none of the typical signs. Researchers say that an episode of otherwise-unexplained laminitis may be their first and only clue. 

Edited from press release

Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) can be detected earlier and more reliably with a new set of guidelines developed by the Equine Endocrinology Group (EEG), a body of leading veterinarians and researchers in the field of equine endocrinology.

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine to Open Urban Equine Hospital near Belmont Racetrack

Alan Nixon, DVM, MS, BVSc, Diplomate ACVS

Edited from press release

Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has signed a lease-buy agreement with Racebrook Capital Advisors, LLC for the former Ruffian Equine Medical Center. The arrangement will establish Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists, a referral and emergency care hospital.

The hospital, located near the Belmont Racetrack backstretch in Elmont, New York, is expected to open April 1, 2014, and will provide elective equine specialty services to horses referred by their attending veterinarians. Full emergency and critical care services will be offered by the spring of 2015. Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists will partner with referring veterinarians to meet the needs of New York State racing and the surrounding sport horse communities.

Hoof Explorer: Discover and Interact with the Horse's Foot in Three Beautiful Dimensions, Online

Hoof Explorer is a new interactive 3-D anatomy education tool that is in four languages and has almost infinite capacity for displaying the anatomy of the distal limb.

It's official: 2013 is the year of 3-D hoof anatomy on the web. 

St Nicholas Abbey Update: Champion "Struggling to Overcome Laminitis", Maggot Therapy in Use

Laminitis may be manifest in many ways. It can be a simple detachment of a portion of the "laminae", which are linking fibers that attach the main bone of the foot to the hoof capsule. It can also be a complex combination of mechanical failures that includes a complete detachment of the bone, resulting in a collapse known as "sinking". In this sample tissue plastination prepared by Dr. Christoph von Horst, you see a detached, sinking bony column that has descended from its normal position inside the hoof capsule. This is a sample image, and is not meant to accurately represent St Nicholas Abbey's current condition

Coolmore Stud issued the following update on champion Irish racehorse St Nicholas Abbey. The 2012 Breeders Cup Turf winner suffered a pastern fracture during training on July 23 and later developed what is probably a form of support limb laminitis in his "good" foot. The colt has been hospitalized at Fethard Equine Hospital in Tipperary, Ireland since the initial fracture.

The announcement reads:

3D Printed Horseshoe Update: No Purple Titanium Horseshoes on Hooves (Yet)

Australian national CSIRO research laboratory engineer Chad Henry has gone back to the drawing board to perfect his titanium horseshoe produced via 3-D printing. (CSIRO photo)

Do you remember the flashy purple horseshoes from the Australian laboratory that were destined to crush racetrack records? The story--along with examples of the way that 3-D printing is used in the hoofcare world--was popular on the Hoof Blog last month. 

The Hoof Blog contacted the horse's trainer to see how it was doing with the special new shoes and he kindly responded. Apparently the rest of the media in the world re-published the story without checking on the result.

Netherlands National Equestrian Training Center Closes Farrier School and All Equine Professional Education Programs

Is the worldwide economic slowdown in danger of jeopardizing educational opportunities for young people who would like to become farriers? Or does it depend on where they live? The Netherlands is the latest country to report a kink in the farrier educational system. (Photo of a farrier working in Dubai by Yousif Al Mulla, used with permission)

Congressional Hearing on Walking Horse Soring LIVESTREAM (Archived Video for Replay)

Please watch this taped archive of today's Congressional hearing on the PAST Act to amend the Horse Protection Act. You should read yesterday's Hoof Blog article on this hearing, and the commentary below.

British Government Opens Consultation Period for Reforms to Farriers Registration Act

Today the Farriers Registration Council in Great Britain announced that that country's governmental Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), jointly with parallel teams in the Scottish and Welsh Governments, have opened a period of consultation for regulatory reform of the Farriers (Registration) Act (of) 1975.

Horseshoes in Congress: Whitfield-Cohen Letter Clarifies "Weighted Shoe" Under Proposed PAST Act; House Hearing on Soring Legislation Wednesday

What and when: November 13, 2013 10 a.m. — United States Congress, House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing on the PAST Act to End Soring

Will the PAST Act finally bring an end to Walking horse stacks, pressure shoeing and pastern soring? A Congressional hearing on Wednesday will hear both sides of the argument. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Barnett and HSUS Facebook page) 

The United States Congress will be talking horseshoes tomorrow at 10 a.m. Chances are, there won't be a farrier in the House (of Representatives) but this is a hearing whose time has come.

3D Printing in the Forge and Clinic: Hoof Anatomy Models, Veterinary Applications, and Horseshoes

3D printing in the horseshoe world probably was done first in some high-tech factory in Asia, but let's give some credit to Curtis Burns in the United States, who has been using 3D printing in the design of Polyflex glue-on shoes. Watch for Mucho Macho Man to run in the Breeders Cup Classic wearing shoes derived from this 3D printing technology on Saturday. (photo courtesy of Curtis Burns/Polyflex Horseshoes)

Video: English Farrier Steven Beane Crosses Ocean to Judge 2013 Canadian Horseshoeing Championships

 

Shoeless and Ageless, Tahoe Warrior Wins at Keeneland

Keeneeland Racecourse in Kentucky has a Polytrack all-weather surface that has been used by trainers as a test for a few horses each week to run without shoes. 

It was the last race of the day. Maybe no one will remember it, except it’s not every day that a horse pays $40 on a $2 bet. It’s not every day that a ten-year-old gelding with no less than 84 starts under his girth wins one. It’s not every day that trainer Wayne Rice stands in the Keeneland winners circle, a place usually reserved for the likes of Todd Pletcher and D. Wayne Lukas.

And it’s not every day that a horse with no shoes wins a race.

Laminitis Stalks Champion: All Hands on Deck as Coolmore Reports St Nicholas Abbey Diagnosed with Mild Signs of Dreaded Hoof Disease in Ireland

Coolmore Stud has posted the following news on their website:

"St Nicholas Abbey has suffered a setback over the last 24 hours, having developed mild laminitic changes in the left fore. This is disappointing, as he is now weightbearing and walking well on the operated (fractured) leg which has healed amazingly well to date.

Anatomy Resource: Alex zur Linden's Clinical Equine Imaging Reference Site

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Digital "Post Card from Calgary" Takes You to World Championship for Farriers at the Calgary Stampede

The newly released digital "Post Card from Calgary" is mirrored here; you can preview the pages here; if you click anywhere on it, you will go to the video-capable website where you can read the full-size edition with enlargeable text, watch seven videos, share links to Twitter and Facebook and spectacular photos of the farriers competing for the title of World Champion at the 2013 Calgary Stampede in Canada. The magazine videos are by Sandra Mesrine; photos by Sandra Mesrine and Marguerite Paige; it was written and designed by Fran Jurga.