Palm Beach Laminitis Conference Launches Web Site

Information will be posted at a new web site designed for speakers, attendees and exhibitors at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, to be held November 3-5, 2007 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Learn more about the in-depth educational opportunities to be offered at http://www.laminitisconference.com.

U.S. subscribers to Hoofcare & Lameness Journal will receive invitations to attend in the mail in the next month or so.

AFA 2007 Convention Competition Winners Announced

The American Farrier's Association (AFA) hosted its annual international farrier competition with more than 60 farriers competing for belt buckles, trophies and lots of cash at the recent AFA Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Judges were Gerard Laverty CJF, TE of British Columbia, Jim Keith CJF of New Mexico, and Jim Poor CJF of Texas.

Here's a rundown of class winners:

1. Journeyman Shoes Class, sponsored by St Croix Forge, was won by Conrad Trow of Kentucky.

2. Hunter Shoes Class, sponsored by the Farrier Industry Association (FIA), was won by Mark Milster of Oklahoma.

3. Mustad Specialty Forging Class, sponsored by Mustad, was won by Darren Bazin of the United Kingdom.

4. 2-Man Draft Shoemaking Class, sponsored by Durasole, was won by Bill Poor of Texas & Bryce Burnett of Florida.

5. The North American Challenge Cup (NACC) Qualifying Class, with pins sponsored by Bloom Forge, was won by Billy Crothers of Wales.

6. The North American Challenge Cup (a.k.a. "Live Shoeing"), sponsored by Capewell, was won by Craig Trnka of New Mexico.

7. National High Point Winner Award, sponsored by Grant Moon & Bob Pethick, was won by Craig Trnka of New Mexico.

8. Overall High Point Winner, sponsored by Equine Forgings Ltd. was a tie between Billy Crothers & Craig Trnka.

9. The Shoeing Rig Contest was won by Glen Spradling of Texas.

10. The Shoe Case Classic was won by Gene Lieser of Texas.

11. The Vern Hornquist Class, sponsored by Myron McLane and Walt Taylor, was won by Dennis Manning of Utah.

Interesting statistics: in the main competition (not counting Vern's class), only 17 per cent of the prize winners were from east of the Mississippi, with three of them being from Kentucky. This is a complete reversal from 20 years ago, when prize winners from the Northeast dominated the prizes and the team placings.

Hoofcare & Lameness's unofficial "Marathon Man" award goes to Mark Milster of Oklahoma, whose name shows up on the finalists' list for five different classes.

British contestants showed up as finalists in all classes except the draft shoes class, which was traditionally dominated by the likes of Edward Martin, Jim and Allan Ferrie, and David Wilson, all from Scotland; no one from Scotland made the trip this year. Billy Crothers, who shared the high-point overall award with USA's Craig Trnka, is the reigning World Champion Blacksmith.

No word yet on who will represent the USA on the national farriers' team for 2007.

Thanks to rules committee chairman Myron McLane for sharing the results with Hoofcare & Lamenes.

Industry News: Intervet Purchased by Schering-Plough

This post could be sub-titled, "Banamine Buys Regumate."

News reports from Europe are confirming that Schering-Plough is acquiring Organon BioSciences (OBS), the parent company of Intervet, from Akzo Nobel, in a move that could create a new leader in the global animal health industry. The deal, said to be worth 11 billion Euros (US$14.4bn), was announced on Monday from the Netherlands headquarters of Schering-Plough.

The deal may place Schering-Plough at the top of animal health corporations worldwide by sales.

One of Schering-Plough's most familiar equine-market products is the anti-inflammatory Banamine. Intervet makes several widely-used vaccines, plus wormers like Panacur and specialty treatments like Regumate.

Read the press release from the Schering-Plough web site here.

How to Prevent Bloated Feet, Nigeria-Style

There is a "real world" out there for racehorses who don't summer in Saratoga or loll about in the misty Kentucky bluegrass mornings.

I hope you will take a second to read this blog post from a Swedish racehorse owner in Nigeria, who actually snapped a photo of an Arabian racehorse there being deliberately "bled" to prevent "bloated feet." His or her horse is the only one at the track that is not allowed to have its blood drained into the sand.

I came across this story because it was selected from all the horse blogs and horse posts on non-horse blogs for something called the "Horse Blog Carnival." If you follow that link, you can also read all the posts--and there are some very good ones--if you have a few minutes to spare.

AAEP Deadline Looms for 2007 Speakers

March 15 is the deadline for submission of proposals and abstracts to present research and techniques at the 53rd American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention to be held at the Gaylord Palms resort and conference center in Orlando, Florida, from December 1 to 5, 2007.

The AAEP uses a web-based submission system; full details are mapped out for you at the AAEP web site.

The annual AAEP convention is the largest horse-health event in the world. No word yet whether or not the AAEP will repeat the successful sub-conference for farriers concept that was launched at the 2006 convention in San Antonio.

Grayson Foundation Funds Research Study on Medication for IR Laminitis Prevention

The Jockey Club's Grayson Foundation announced its new round of funding this week, with a whopping $1.1 million to go to research.

One of the new projects addresses a medication for laminitis prevention in horses with so-called Equine Metabolic Syndrome, or insulin resistance.

Here's the Foundation's description of the new project, which will be conducted by Dr Frank Nicholas at the University of Tennessee:

Levothyroxine as a treatment for insulin resistance in horses (toward a defense against laminitis)
Nicholas Frank, University of Tennessee. First year, $25,638

Approximately one half of horses who develop laminitis are on pasture when the disease develops. Sugar content of grass is believed to trigger pasture laminitis, insulin resistance accounts for some horses being more susceptible than others. This team has already shown that levothyroxine (LT4) can be safely administered to horses, induces weight loss, and increases insulin sensitivity. It is even more effective when given to horses with insulin resistance (IR), obesity and laminitis. This disorder is referred to as equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), and the study of the disorder reveals valuable insights into the relationship between insulin sensitivity, factors such as body fat mass, thyroid hormone status and laminitis.

This study seeks to expand the numbers of horses from the 8 that have been reported up to 20, to gain statistical significance. Then statistically sound results will be available for further studies on LT4 and it’s effects on laminitis sensitivity. This will be a pivotal study because the results will establish LT4 as the first effective treatment for IR in horses that are highly susceptible to laminitis. This would confirm the authors’ hypothesis that LT4 can be used to prevent laminitis in at-risk horses by improving insulin sensitivity.

Hoofcare & Lameness will endeavor to keep track of this study and report to subscribers on any new developments on this and all related studies to help IR horses with their laminitis problems.

Another laminitis study, to be conducted at the Ohio State University by Dr. James Belknap will examine the potential use of lidocaine as a preventative of laminar damage in the acute phase of laminitis.