Walking Horse Celebration Official Statement

From the Walking Horse Celebration office:

Official Celebration News Release
Sunday, September 03, 2006

The decision to cancel the final class of the 2006 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration was based upon the best information available to show management from the inspection area and from law enforcement officials.


Tennessee Highway Patrol officers informed Celebration officials that they were confident they could protect the safety of the people working in the inspection area but did not have the manpower available to assure the health and safety of the 26,000 spectators, exhibitors and horses.

When show officials entered the warm-up area to check if the three entries eligible for the class were going to show, they were unable to reach the horses. They were almost immediately confronted by a crowd of approximately 150 people who demanded that all horses be allowed to show and were told that the three entries eligible to show would not be going into the ring.

As the crowd continued to build, law enforcement officers escorted the show officials from the warm-up area and took them to the Celebration Administrative offices and the announcement was made that the class would not take place.

The Celebration deeply regrets having to cancel our World Grand Championship class for the first time in 68 years but we were unwilling to compromise the health and safety of our fans, horses, personnel and exhibitors.

We extend our deepest sympathy to all of those affected by this difficult decision and thank you for your continued support of our show during this most challenging season for the entire industry.

Still More Trouble Afoot at Grand Finale of Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration: Finalists Fail Soring Inspection

One can only imagine the reaction of the crowd at the Walking Horse Celebration on Saturday night (September 2, 2006) when it was announced that there would be no grand champion class after ten days of showing.

The world's largest show for Tennessee Walking Horses had already been shut down for more than 28 hours the week before following a confrontation between USDA inspectors and trainers. The show had resumed, but the inspectors had the last call, so to speak, when inspectors rejected the majority of finalists for the grand championship on the grounds that they could not pass federally-mandated regulations defining how to identify a horse that has been made "sore" with chemicals or treatment to the pastern and/or pressure shoeing.

The three horses that did pass inspection were not shown. Whether this was voluntary or they were bribed is possibly a bigger concern right now than the condition of the horses themselves.

According to the Walking Horse Report newspaper, several trainers of horses that had been declared sore then went into a schooling arena and had a mock show for assembled fans.

One trainer said he took his horse directly back to the barn because he feared for his safety. Show ring officials had to be escorted by law enforcement, according to the WHR.

Reports from The Tennessean and Walking Horse Report were used to compile this summary. The New York Times even reported on this embarrassing event in the horse show world.

2006 AAEP Horse Owner Event Moved to Convention's Opening Day in San Antonio

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) will host the 7th Annual Healthy Horses Workshop on December 2 in San Antonio, Texas. Held in conjunction with the AAEP's annual veterinary conference, the AAEP Healthy Horses Workshop will feature educational seminars and demonstrations designed specifically for horse owners and enthusiasts.
Topics and speakers for this year's event include:

• Colic: What it Means to You & Your Horse Dr . David Freeman, Gainesville, Fla.
• Equine Reproduction: From Conception to Birth Dr. Ben Espy, San Antonio, Texas.
• Joint Disease & Lameness in the Horse: Why Does it Happen & What Can Be Done About It? Dr. James Casey, Laurel, Md.
• Managing the Health & Well-Being of Your Aging or Geriatric Horse Dr . Nancy Loving, Boulder, Colo.
• First Aid Tips for the Horse Owner (live horse demonstration) Dr. Mark Fitch, Boulder, Colo.
• "The Problem Horse" (live horse demonstration) Dr . Mark Fitch, Boulder, Colo. and John Lyons, Parachute, Colo.

New this year is an afternoon live horse demonstration beginning at 1:45 p.m. which will feature clinician Dr. Mark Fitch and world-renowned trainer John Lyons (sponsored by Nutrena). They will demonstrate hands-on techniques including loading, handling the feet, saddling and more.
AAEP's Healthy Horses Workshop will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Freeman Coliseum Grounds near downtown San Antonio, Texas. The pre-registration fee before November 6th is $75; after November 6th, please register on-site (on-site registration fee will be $90; lunch will be provided with the cost of registration). To register, visit www.myHorseMatters.com and click on the Healthy Horses Workshop banner or call the AAEP office at (800) 443-0177 (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST).
Note: the information above is from the AAEP and slightly edited to fit HoofBlog style. It is important to note that this event takes place the day BEFORE the AAEP convention really opens, so you might need to adjust your travel plans to attend this event. Saturday at the AAEP Convention is a day for registrations, committee/forum meetings, and for those of us in the shameless commerce sector, setting up the trade show and tracking down lost shipments. The trade show will not be open that day. As a member of the press corps, I would love to be everywhere at once and will no doubt try.

Saratoga in My Rearview Mirror: Highlights of Hoofcare@Saratoga 2006

There's a nice sign to welcome you to Saraoga, but there isn't one that says good-bye as you leave town. Perhaps that's because no one ever really leaves. Even if they don't come back the next summer they plan to, someday.

From the small print in The Saratoga Special recently: "We're in good shape, for the shape we're in." That's a quote attributed to David Mullins, Thoroughbred breeder and yearling consignor. I'll have to remember that one.

From famed sportswriter Red Smith: “To get to Saratoga from New York City, you travel about 150 miles north, turn onto Union Avenue and travel back in time to the mid-19th century. Its elegance and charm is why Saratoga has been selected as among the top 10 sports venues of the 20th century.”

From Dogwood Stable's Cot Campbell: “Louisville is fine; Lexington is OK; Miami is good; but Saratoga is truly glamorous. Saratoga is in a class by itself.”

The "Hoofcare@Saratoga" tour is playing like a tv-reality show so far. In other words, nothing is going according to the script! We've had one event cancelled because of 100 degree heat (even the racetrack was shut down, it was so hot)...and a cancelled speaker another week...a speeding ticket...a handicapped dog in the back seat...a car accident on the Mass Pike...and yet I know in another week or so when I am back in Massachusetts, those won't be the things I remember.

I'll remember the thrill of seeing people--dozens of people who've never heard of Hoofcare & Lameness before that night--marching into Dr. Don Walsh's "Hoofcare@Saratoga" evening on laminitis. Yes, they really showed up, Hoofcare@Saratoga was a reality!

I'll remember driving down Nelson Avenue and peeking through the hedges for a glimpse of Stonerside, the former Greentree Stables training track and barns. If I was to pick my favorite horse architecture in the world, I think Stonerside/Greentree would be it. But Bill Mott moved to new quarters this year, and I think Godolphin Racing has taken over. Someone has...and they've put up big "No Trespassing" signs at the gates. How sad. I don't remember Stonerside ever being overrun with tourists.

I'll remember going to the farrier shop at the Skidmore Equestrian Center at midnight with Cornell farrier Michael Wildenstein and Skidmore farrier Jim Santore to see one of the sweetest horseshoeing shops in the land. I'll be back with a load of cameras one day to photograph Jim in this shop.

I'll remember a fabulous lunch way up in the turf club with racetrack legend Ada Gates, who was visiting from Los Angeles.

I'll remember watching Dianne Volz trying to do therapy on Flower Alley and wondering why she's not covered with bite marks (or worse).

I'll remember an August with almost perfect weather (once that horrific first week of stifling heat was over).

I'll remember the palpable emotion in the air at the dedication of the farriers' memorial behind the Oklahoma training track. And how surprised I was when Pat Day popped out of a golf cart and led everyone in prayer. He said that horseshoers had saved his life by keeping the horses safe. I'd not thought of it that way.

I'll remember the farmers' market in Saratoga and how nice it was to fill my car up with fresh vegetables for the long drive home.

I'll remember the easy-going attitude of everyone at the Parting and the bartenders' sincere attempts to try to understand just what laminitis is.

I'll remember the first time I entered the state park in Saratoga; I hadn't been there since I was in high school. All those trees. The architecture. The gardens. And the Gideon Putnam hotel, such a perfect place to stay. If only they allowed dogs.

I'll remember the school-girl thrill I got the first time I saw Funny Cide and Showing Up, just lounging in their stalls in Barclay Tagg's meticulous shedrow.

I'll remember a stolen hour when I was able to browse through the horse books at the Lyrical Ballad bookstore on Phila Street, with Don and Diana Walsh. That has to be one of my favorite places on earth. What a treat.

I'll remember standing next to Bluegrass Cat and one of Pletcher's handlers saying softly, "Suave, suave" and hearing it echo'd by the other handlers to the four other stallions tapdancing on the pavement. It sounded more like a Tibetan prayer chant than a horseman's command. (And "suave" they did, once each was efficiently hosed down, rewrapped, and sent to his stall.)

I'll remember the horseshoers, especially the parade of them through Butch Colbert's farrier supply trailer every Wednesday morning. So many new friends.

I never did get to wander through the shops on Broadway...or eat at Hattie's Chicken Shack...and I still haven't been to Yaddo. I suppose if I'd done it all and seen it all, there would be no reason to come back and I want to be very sure I have plenty of reasons to return to Saratoga next August.

We have great memories of this year to carry around in our hearts like so many talismen against change. There is always that feeling that even though it has been there for 250 years, this place is just too good to be true. It can't possibly last...but I sure hope it does.

Doug Butler Will Open a Horseshoeing School in Nebraska; Butler Professional Farrier School Will Be in Crawford

Doug Butler, PhD, FWCF will open a horseshoeing school in Crawford, Nebraska this fall. Teaching alongside Dr. Butler will be two of his sons, Jacob and Peter. "Butler Professional Farrier School" will also offer a certification program for its students to progress from level to level, and will offer classes from beginning to advanced as well as personalized graduate-level training.

Learn more at http://www.butlerprofessionalfarrierschool.com

Patty Hogan Will Be Head Surgeon at New Equine Hospital Planned for Belmont

(This article was originally written by Fran Jurga for " "The Saratoga Special" and may be property of that publication. Photo by Mark Wyville, used with permission.)

Trainers at New York's Belmont Park will have both a world-class equine orthopedics facility and a world-renowned surgeon on site when a new equine hospital is completed in 2007.

Patricia Hogan VMD ACVS traveled to Saratoga on August 24 to take part in a press conference organized by International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, Inc. (IEAH), the industry group that will fund the Belmont facility. Dr. Hogan confirmed that she will be serving as lead surgeon when the hospital is built.

Plans call for an 11,500 square-foot, $7 million equine hospital designed to serve the needs of racing Thoroughbreds. The new facility will also have a treadmill for the evaluation of breathing problems as well as diagnostic imaging equipment. The hospital’s practice will be headed by James C. Hunt Jr., DVM. Hunt currently employs five veterinarians and services more than 50 percent of the horses in training at Belmont.

In a telephone interview this week, Hogan clarified that she will retain her current position as surgeon at New Jersey Equine Clinic in Clarksburg, New Jersey until the new hospital is completed and that in 2007 she hopes to perform surgeries at New Jersey Equine two days a week, while traveling to Belmont three days a week. This will enable her to continue to serve trainers at Philadelphia Park, Monmouth, and Delaware Park, as well as retain her connection with the Standardbred industry in New Jersey.

Hogan noted that harness trainers and Thoroughbred trainers from other tracks would be able to ship cases to her at either Belmont or New Jersey Equine, although stalls may be limited at Belmont. Currently, Hogan lists about half of the trainers on her client list as New York-based.

Hogan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and completed an internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, followed by a surgical residency at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. As a Board-certified surgeon, earned by examination under the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, Hogan specializes in orthopedic surgery, particularly removal of bone fragments and chips, and the repair of fractures. She also performs corrective surgery on foals and laser surgery for upper airway problems.

Among Hogan’s best-known cases have been Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex.

Hogan was in the headlines earlier this summer as the only veterinarian to speak before Congress in favor of H.R. 503, also known as the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

The nation’s two leading veterinary organizations—the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners—opposed the bill. This did not deter Hogan from speaking her feelings on the issue.

“Nick Zito knew how I felt,” Hogan said. “He passed my name to Congress, and it was arranged for me to speak. Veterinarians should never have been politically involved in this issue.”

“There had been no veterinary voice from the other side of the fence,” Hogan continued, referring to the AVMA/AAEP stance.

Hogan’s eloquent testimony voiced concerns about the way that horses are held and transported before slaughter, as well as her warning about the unregulated amount of medication present in slaughtered horses. A transcript of her testimony circulated on the internet this summer, making Hogan something of a folk hero in the anti-slaughter camp.

Hogan works with both the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and ReRun, and donates some surgeries for ex-racehorses. She is also active in re-homing Thoroughbreds and making them more adoptable.

“As a person, I have a lot of love for horses,” she stressed, adding, “And as a veterinarian, I have a lot of concern for their humane treatment.”