Cobra Venom Raises Its Numbing Head at Racetracks

Big news published by the Daily Racing Form today: A recent raid of the tack room of French trainer Patrick Biancone at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky netted a little vial marked "Toxin". Inside was a small amount of crystallized cobra venom. His veterinarian's truck was also searched.

Cobra venom injections are legendary at US racetracks but there has been little proof until recently that they are anything more than legends.

Think: an injectable temporary chemical neurectomy.

The DRF describes: "Cobra venom is a powerful neurotoxin that blocks the neural pathways that transmit pain to the brain. The substance, which is used by researchers in extremely minute quantities because of its toxicity, is considered a Class 1 drug under the Racing Commissioners International classification system."

Last week, two men pleaded guilty in New York state for the crime of injecting Standardbreds with cobra venom.

Lyndi Gilliam, DVM at Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Services is working on a test to detect cobra venom in horse urine but apparently there is no current test to detect it.

Another rumored painkiller used in horse's feet is the oceanic cone snail's venom.

Cobras are intensively farmed in Viet Nam; their meat is also eaten. One farm exported 50 tons of cobra meat to China last year. Cobras are almost extinct in the wild because they are so valuable on the Chinese market. In Florida, there are several cobra "farms" as well, primarily producing venom for research use.

Cobra venom is deadly, of course, if a human or horse is attacked by the snake. But did you know that cobras themselves are immune to the venom? Their bloodsteams contain molecules that neutralize the venom. And the molecule is based on a single amino acid. That's the only difference. The amino acid creates a sugar molecule that prevents the neurotoxin from affecting the snake. National Geographic has a great article about cobra venom research and all it may teach us about human medicine.

Tell me this: if cobras are valuable snakes, who has the job of milking them? And how do they do it?

Who in the World Is Reading This Blog with You?

Today's a holiday here in the USA, but you wouldn't know it if you peeked behind the curtain of this blog. I just did and I thought I would share with you the Top Ten of nations from whence hoof-curious readers seek out this blog:

1. USA
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. France
5. Ireland
6. Hungary (surprise!)
7. Finland (another surprise!)
8. Switzerland
9. Australia
10. United Arab Emirates

Almost half of North American visitors are in the eastern time zone; 25 percent are in the Pacific time zone of North America. I guess I'll have to work on Central and Mountain time zone states and provinces!

If anyone's keeping track, the busiest month ever was May 2007, with June close behind. The busiest single day was on Tuesday, May 1st. That was the day we covered the sad death of Le Samurai, the horse with ruptured suspensories at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and described what an elevator shoe was. It wasn't enough for Le Samurai, I guess.

Message from Down Under: It's a Smaller World Tonight for Farriers

I didn't understand the message at first, but now I get it.

There was a little blip on the world map of farriery. It shone brightly and then was gone.

Many of you knew Paul Mitchell because of the beautiful loop knives he made at his Pinehurst Forge in Tasmania. Others of you knew him because he travelled the world to fuel his love for farriery. He might have been sitting next to you on an airplane or in a hotel bar at a farriery competition or convention. He probably epitomizd what you always thought an Aussie would be like.

Get out the world atlas and look up Tasmania. Don't stop looking until you find it. It might not be where you think it is. Remember that a farrier came all the way from there...to take the world by storm. Put your finger on that little dot on the map and it might still be warm from the last fire in his forge.

Maybe some more details will find their way here, maybe not. The basic message is: Paul Mitchell died on Tuesday, June 26 in Tasmania, half a world away, or half a world closer, depending on how you look at a map.

Remember him. I will.

Get Well Wishes to Dr Scott Morrison

We might all have to mobilize and head to Lexington, Kentucky to help our friends at the podiatry clinic at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital there. A few weeks ago, founding farrier Manfred Ecker was hospitalized with a heart ailment, and has been recuperating.

Now comes the news that clinic director Scott Morrison DVM required an emergency appendectomy on Tuesday. Maybe they could share a room?

At last count, the clinic employed four vets, five farriers, a legion of technicians, a nice new secretary (Heather), and at least one intern vet. The fleet of farrier trucks outside the clinic looks like a Miracle Mile showroom for Stonewell Truck Bodies.

Scott has built an amazing center for the innovative treatment of horses of all kinds. You might see any sort of disease or disorder and meet most anyone in the hoof world, if you go there.

Let's all wish Scott a speedy recovery, after he's rested for a little while.

The picture was taken at the Luwex Symposium in Germany last October, where Scott was a lecturer/demonstrator. They had him shoeing horses day and night. I remember them leading this horse out onto the stage. Scott looked around, wide-eyed (of course, I was the only English-speaking person within earshot) and said, "Um, did anyone notice that this horse is foundered?" He looked around for a schedule. "Is this horse supposed to be foundered?" he asked again. I remember thinking that was a pretty funny question to ask. He paused for a second, as if someone might answer or give guidance. A hundred or so German farriers in the audience just stared back at him. They didn't blink. Scott chuckled, shrugged and went to work.

Planet of the Lost Hoof Picks: Canadian Organization Expert Tackles One of the Horse World's Most Pressing Issues

I have a dryer that eats my socks and, to prove it, a drawer full of odd socks waiting for their mates. I optimistically believe that the lost ones will show up again some day but in my heart of hearts, I know that the dryer ate them.

It's much the same for hoof picks. No matter how brightly colored or how big and visible, hoof picks disappear around the barn and you can never find one when you really need it.

(The exception is my PowerPick, designed by farrier Doug Ehrman of The Sound Equine. I keep it in my car to use as a weapon in case I am carjacked or need to break the glass to escape if my car falls off a bridge. I'm sure it is great for cleaning hooves but I love it so much, I can't bear to bring it near a horse, which would guarantee its disappearance.)

The disappearing hoof pick problem distresses a professional organizer in Montreal who is also an avid rider whose horse lives in a boarding situation. Jacki Hollywood Brown is determined to put her organizing talents to work in the barn and has written a hilarious post on her "Well Organized" blog.

I think I agree with one of her points: Why do we bother to microchip our horses? They are big enough to find and their stalls are labeled. Let's microchip the hoof picks and track them by satellite: it would fascinating to find out where they go!

I hope you'll take a minute and read Jacki's hoof pick theories and share the post with your boarding-barn clients. I thought it was hilarious...but I think she might be serious!

Horseshoeing Homecoming: Bryan Quinsey Returns to the Farrier World as FPD General Manager

Dan Burke, president of Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) joined me for a conference call this evening. Also on the line: former American Farrier's Association Executive Director Bryan Quinsey and FPD's Linda Hill. The subject? FPD's newsletter announcement stating that Bryan joined the Kentucky distribution firm on June 18th as the company's new general manager of operations.

"Bryan will be working on the home front," Linda confirmed. She said that Bill Kleist remains with the company as sales manager. "It was getting to be too much for me to handle alone, with Dan on the road so much."

"It's nice to be back with old friends," Bryan said warmly, with his characteristic enthusiasm intact. "It's a great homecoming.

"I already know many of FPD's vendors," he continued. "I'll be working on the company's web sites and keeping things moving forward so Dan can be on the road more."

Bryan left the AFA in the spring of 2006 to take the executive position with the Friesian Horse Association of North America at the Kentucky Horse Park. He said that while he was in The Netherlands on Friesian business, he had a chance to visit the Kerckhaert factory, on Dan Burke's recommendation.

Dan remarked that having Bryan in the office at home would allow him to travel even more to promote the company's products. "We needed help to handle our growth and to continue expanding operations," he said.

Bryan, who lives in Lexington, Kentucky, said he would be moving to Shelbyville, a town that is between Lexington and Louisville, where FPD's warehouse and office is located.

FPD is a major importer of Kerckhaert horseshoes and Bellotta rasps. The company is also premiering the new Vector horseshoe nail and supplies many tools used by farriers. FPD is technically a distributor; the Shelbyville, Kentucky warehouse ships out supplies to farrier stores all over the U.S. instead of selling directly to farriers.

In the same phone conversation, I had a chance to visit with Joy Ream of Palm Beach Farrier Supply, who was stopping at FPD while driving back to Florida from a visit to her family in Ohio. Palm Beach Farrier Supply is one of many new advertisers in Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Many old-timers in the farrier world know Joy by her former last name of Luikart. She bought Palm Beach Farrier Supply two years ago.

Dan mentioned that New York track shoer Ray Amato had confirmed that Belmont Stakes winning filly Rags to Riches had been shod with Kerckhaert raceplates on her hind feet.

FPD is a longtime advertiser with Hoofcare and Lamensss Journal. Watch for their Vector nail ad in our next issue.