Dr. Tracy Turner is new president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners

Dr. Tracy Turner of Minnesota brings his lifelong interest in equine lameness and hoofcare with him as he embarked on a year of service as president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) this week. (Photo courtesy of the AAEP.)

Inaugural Laminitis Research Grant to Swedish Study

ECIR Group Inc. announced on September 13 that Johan Bröjer, DVM, MSc, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM (LAIM), Dipl. ECEIM, Professor of Equine Internal Medicine at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) has been awarded the group's inaugural research grant.

SURVEY: Professional Farriers' and Equine Veterinarians' Attitudes, Knowledge, and Opinions Sought by University of Edinburgh Researchers

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Scotland are seeking online input from equine veterinarians and professional farriers from the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital opens doors for International Equine Podiatry Conference April 18-20, 2024

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky will host the third International Equine Podiatry Conference.

The doors to the forge are always open at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Someone is always going in or out, and the equine podiatry clinic is a favorite stop on every hospital tour. But from April 18-20 this year, the doors will open even wider to welcome attendees to the hospital's third International Podiatry Conference. 

Attendees should expect to roll up their sleeves, buckle their aprons, and spend two days in a stimulating state-of-the-art treatment and diagnosis center where the highly-trained staff looks expertly -- and exclusively -- at the equine hoof. A registration at this conference guarantees that the motivated participants can and will get their hands dirty and their questions answered.

Horseshoer Joe Alfano celebrates 50 years of service with Pennsylvania National Horse Show Hall of Fame honor.

Joe Alfano has been the horseshoer at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg for 50 years. The horse show honored him this year by inducting him in the event's Hall of Fame. Joe is shown here with his niece (left), well-known equestrian Jennifer Alfano, and PNHS Executive Director Susie Shirk. (Photo by Andrew Ryback Photography)

How do you top reaching the landmark of 50 years of farrier service at one of America's most prestigious horse shows? Joe Alfano knows the answer to that question.

And he might be the only one who knows. It's hard to imagine that anyone else holds such a record for longevity of service to a show.

Shire horses inspected for controversial “couping” horseshoe practice at British horse shows in 2023

HoofSearch

At England’s Staffordshire County Show earlier this month, British farrier Grant Moon, FWCF represented the Worshipful Company of Farriers in an inspection of Shire Horses entered to show. This is one of the hind feet he inspected. (Photo courtesy of Grant Moon)

The feathery hooves of Britain’s magnificent Shire horses are receiving close scrutiny in 2023, as the breed society addresses possible welfare impacts of shoeing practices on the feet of show horses exhibited for conformation.

At England's recent Staffordshire County Show, held May 31-June 1,  the Shires’ hooves were inspected by British farrier Grant Moon, FWCF,  acting as a representative of the Worshipful Company of Farriers. 

Hoof bruises 101: Forte's Kentucky Derby scratch had a common but loosely-defined cause

On Saturday, the 2023 Kentucky Derby favorite was scratched from the big race, just hours before the horses headed to the starting gate. Two-year-old champion Forte stayed in the barn that afternoon, after a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarian scratched the colt following a post-gallop inspection in the stable area.

Forte’s scratch by regulators came at a time when a dark cloud already hung over Churchill Downs. He would be the fifth horse to be scratched that week from the roster of three-year-old colts who had qualified for the 2023 Kentucky Derby. By Derby time, seven horses had lost their lives at Churchill Downs, including two as a result of injuries suffered in undercard races on Derby Day itself.

As tragic as those losses were, it was Forte's scratch that attracted the most attention and discussion on Derby Day. Should he have run or not? Was the colt a victim of discrimination by regulators who feared that such a high-profile and valuable horse might be further injured if he raced? We'll never know that answer, but Forte is safe tonight, and will almost certainly run again.

Meet University of California at Davis new veterinary hospital farrier Ian Davies

Ian Davies, DipWCF is hard at work in his new job.

The British-born and British-educated farrier has joined the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, California. The vet school welcomed Ian to his new position yesterday.

Research Supports Compression Treatment System Ability to Relieve Horses’ Painful Swollen Limbs

Human patients use them--why not horses? Therapy devices don't always translate for parallel use between humans and horses, but a system developed at a US veterinary college may bring relief for horses suffering from swollen limbs and lymphedema. And it can do on all four legs at once.

PETA vs the Budweiser Clydesdales: A match worthy of Super Bowl weekend

You might have heard that the Budweiser Clydesdales will be missing from your television screens at Super Bowl LVII this Sunday in Arizona. The St Louis brewer will not run its traditional, expensive, and hugely popular ad featuring America's favorite team. (Yes, a hitch of giant Clydesdales are more beloved than either the Chiefs or the Eagles will ever be.) 

But there will be a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial, you can be sure of that. It just might not be one that Budweiser wants America to see.

Swedish barefoot vs shod showjumper comparative research preview at FEI World Championships

The world watched Swedish barefoot show jumpers sweep the individual and team gold medals at the FEI World Championships in August in Herning, Denmark. At the same event, the media received a preview of a comprehensive hoof science study that hopes to explain why they won. 

The Hoof Blog offers this exclusive report.

Barefoot show jumpers make history at 2022 FEI World Championships--and beyond

History was made at the FEI 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark in August. After the first two rounds of jumping, three of the top four horses on the scoreboard were shoeless. And at the end of the full event, the world champion individual horse was barefoot, as were half the winning gold medal team.

Some may think that barefoot grand prix jumpers leaping, landing, and turning on groomed-to-perfection arena footing aren't news anymore, after the brilliant Swedish gold team and silver individual medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this was the FEI World Championship. 

Prevent laminitis: Wellness Ready stallside insulin tests accelerate Equine Metabolic Syndrome diagnostics

We all know horse owners who can recite entire pedigrees, race records, or a lifetime of judges' scores. But veterinarians and farriers would prefer that owners have the history of their horses’ insulin test results on the tips of their tongues. 

A new stallside diagnostics tool called Wellness Ready provides real-time equine insulin levels from a simple blood test kit; it is now available to veterinarians around the world. With its growing use for horses of all breeds and ages, laminitis prevention is taking a big stride forward.

Farriers at the Herning 2022 FEI World Championships: Who was minding the forge?

Last week's ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, made farrier history when the event entered into an agreement with Mustad Hoofcare Group, who became the FEI's first  "Official Farrier Service Partner" by providing a crew of its own farriers for Herning2022. With more than 1,000 horses on the grounds, farriers were a priority service.

Badminton Farriers Prize 2022: In Search of the Best Shod Horse

Badminton Farriers Prize 2022: Jim Blurton breaks records

The Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, is one of only seven five-star three-day events in the world, and the only one that awards a coveted "Farriers Prize". After two consecutive years of cancellation for coronavirus, the world was coming close to banging on the gates by early May, demanding to enjoy one of the most iconic and unrivaled horse competitions of any kind, anywhere in the world. 
And in 2022, just like all the years before, we wanted to know who won the Farriers Prize. As usual that assignment was just a jumping off point to a bigger story. There may be just one winner, but the story is bigger and better, although most people at the event never even knew it was going on.

Congratulations to Welsh farrier Jim Blurton.

History-loving and history-making American horseshoer Bill Miller dead at 96

History-loving and history-making horseshoer Bill Miller died today in Seattle, Washington. According to his close friend Dave Duckett, the 96-year-old had been moved to hospice care after being released from a Veterans Administration hospital for treatment of coronavirus. 

Preview: Rood & Riddle Equine Podiatry Conference

Rood & Riddle Equine Podiatry Conference

April 14-16, 2022

Spy Coast Farm Equine Education Center 

Lexington, Kentucky

Late breaking news! Attention, veterinarians: 19.5 hours of RACE continuing education credit has been approved for this event.

New HISA racing rules for Thoroughbred horseshoe traction to begin July 1 in USA

New federally-mandated racing safety rules from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will be introduced "feet first" this summer. The first new rules are primed to take effect on July 1 at U.S. racetracks. 

A change to how American Thoroughbreds may be shod, including what shoes they can wear, is key to the new rules, limiting the use of shoe traction devices with one national rule for the entire United States.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Research Funding for 2022

US-based research in equine lameness continues to move forward with today's announcement of new and continuing projects to be funded in 2022 by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

UC Davis farrier Shane Westman awarded Royal Veterinary College graduate diploma; focuses research on glue-on solar hoof cast for Type III P3 fracture

Shane Westman at work in his forge at the University of California Davis Large Animal Clinic.

The movement to bring more data-driven science to the care of horses’ hooves is surging forward, and University of California Davis veterinary hospital farrier Shane Westman is helping lead the way. 

The Olympic Hoof Explained: Swedish farrier outlines barefoot management of gold medal team

Everyone has questions about the shoeless Swedish showjumpers that have been so successful at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Sweden won the Team Gold Medal Saturday, as a followup to rider Peder Fredricson's Individual Silver Medal for jumping earlier this week.

To explain it to you, we went straight to the source. Peter Glimberg is the farrier at Peder Fredricson's training farm and oversees the hoofcare of some of the world's most elite show jumpers, many of whom now train and compete without shoes on carefully-groomed arena surfaces.

The Olympic (Bare) Hoof: Sweden's All In delivers a shoeless silver medal for rider Peder Fredricson

Ears up: Sweden won the team gold medal! Watch for Fran's followup interview with Swedish team farrier Peter Glimberg on his hybrid professional hoofcare management program for Peder Fredricson's elite international showjumpers. There's more to "barefoot" than there looks when it comes to competing on modern arena surfaces...

Now, this is news: Swedish rider Peder Fredricson won his second consecutive silver Olympic individual show jumping medal in Tokyo this week. Once again, Fredricson flew over the fences at the Olympics and, once again, he was aboard his Rio 2016 Olympic silver medal partner, the Belgian Warmblood All In.

But this time, the world gasped before it cheered. 

All In was shoeless. 

The Olympic (Gold Medal) Hoof: Farrier Jim Blurton's Concave-Maybe Shoeing for British Team Eventer Ballaghmor Class

Farriers love to argue about the ideal shoe -- concave or flat?-- for a three-day event horse, but when it comes time to shoe a horse for the Olympics, what do they actually do? UK farrier Jim Blurton, AWCF, just watched a horse he shoes win the Olympic Team Gold Medal in Eventing. He kindly offered some thoughts about how he shoes Ballaghmor Class for client Oliver Townend and why he does it that way.

The Olympic Hoof: FEI salutes farriers as crucial to equine performance in Tokyo

Note: This story was provided to Hoofcare Publishing by the media relations service of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports, and was not written by Hoofcare Publishing. Some statements from the original article have been omitted.

The Olympic Games are all about the coming together of the best of the best. The human and equine athletes have been meticulously prepared for the occasion. An essential part of that preparation is shoeing. Just as with human athletes, a horse can only perform at its best if the shoes fit perfectly.

The Olympic Hoof: US Eventing Horses Try British Concave Shoes for Tokyo

Two distinct styles of horseshoes dominate the sport of eventing, one based in Britain and one in Europe. There is no middle ground, or wasn't, until the US eventing team prepared to embark for Tokyo.

Part 1 of an article series on international eventing shoes the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Hoofcare wisdom has always held that if you want to tell what country an eventing horse is from, you don't need go looking around the stable for a saddlecloth with a flag. Just pick up its feet. You can at least narrow down the possibilities. But after this Olympics, the world map of horseshoes may need to be redrawn.

The Olympic Hoof: Therapeutic plastic horseshoes helped two US dressage silver medal horses in Tokyo

Horseshoes, like Olympic medals, can be made from different metals. But this week in Tokyo, the world saw that they can also be made of plastic...and help bring home a medal.

For Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics this year, dreams are made of gold, silver, and bronze. But for two horses, those dreams had a plastic lining, although you might not know it unless you happened to see the bottom of their hooves.

The Olympic (Laminitic) Hoof: Dressage horse diagnosed with laminitis before competition begins

A dressage horse representing South Africa has been withdrawn from the Olympics after developing laminitis at the Olympic Equestrian Center outside Tokyo. (Hoofcare.com file photo; this is not the horse described in the article.)

It's been a long road to Tokyo for the world's Olympic equestrian competitors. They've faced Covid lockdowns worldwide, an Equine Herpes Virus outbreak in Europe, Brexit horse transport regulation changes in the United Kingdom, and floods just miles from the quarantine center in Aachen, Germany. 

But for one rider, the challenges are just beginning: Her horse, expected to compete in dressage on Saturday for South Africa, has been diagnosed with laminitis at the equestrian center outside Tokyo.