British Farriers to Face Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Requirements Beginning in 2008

Passing the British farrier education system's stringent apprenticeship and exam systems will no longer be a ticket to a lifelong career for farriers there. Beginning in 2008, British farriers must also prove that they have spent a required number of hours per year in pursuit of new knowledge or participating in farriery-related events.

From the website of the Worshipful Company of Farriers:

"Every farrier will be required to gain 10 points per year averaged over a 3 year period. The system will start in earnest in 2008. The requirement in 2008 is 5 points, in 2009, 8 points, and from 2010 onwards 10 points per year. Farriers who have completed the required amount of CPD in the previous year will display CPD Stickers on their vans."

A similar program launched by the American Farrier's Association two years ago was withdrawn. The 2006 Grayson Jockey Club Foundation's racehorse welfare summit meeting hoof care committee recommended continuing education programs for racetrack shoers.

CPD is a growing trend in many fields. The Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot was recently granted 18.5 hours of CPD credit to veterinarians.

A controversy in the US exists over veterinarians not being able to receive credits for educational events' lectures if farriers are speakers.


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Myhre Equine Clinic Announces 2007 Farrier-Vet Conference

Myhre Equine Clinic (MEC) in Rochester, New Hampshire has announced that its annual farrier and veterinarian conference will be held on October 18 and 19, 2007.

The conference will have a new format this year, with one full day or lectures on hoof wall infections and chronic laminitis and one full day on navicular disease.

Speakers scheduled are Drs. Bryan Fraley and Bob Agne of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Center in Lexington Kentucky, plus farriers Patrick Reilly of the University of Pennsylvania and Rebecca Watts, resident farrier at MEC.

The clinic is offering a ten percent discount to attendees who pre-register. This conference was a sell-out last year, so pre-registrations is recommended.

Drs. Fraley and Agne provided consultation services in the Boston area on a monthly (or so) basis primarily on complex laminitis cases.

Myhre Equine Clinic is in the former clinic facility of Rochester Equine Clinic.

Rochester is convenient to airports in Boston, Manchester, New Hampshire or Portland, Maine. It's a beautiful time of the year to visit New England.

A great hotel is the Governors Inn; less expensive is the Anchorage Inn.

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"Hoofcare@Saratoga" Toe Grab Forum Explored Thoroughbred Shoeing

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK--An evening dedicated to the proposed ban of toe grabs by state racing commissioners brought out a diverse group of interested attendees on August 7th. The second of Hoofcare & Lameness Journal's "Hoofcare@Saratoga" Tuesday evening gatherings at The Parting Pub filled every seat in the restaurant's function room.

Facilitated by the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation, the evening focused on the work of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit's hoof committee. On hand to present thewere committee chairman Bill Casner of WinStar Farm, and committee members Mitch Taylor, owner of Kentucky Horseshoeing School, and Steve Norman, a well-known Churchill Downs shoer.

A late-afternoon condensed run-through was presented for anyone who needed to attend the yearling sales that night.

Racing's Hottest Filly Is Just Plain Hot Today

Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Richess shipped to Saratoga earlier this week after three days of examinations and diagnostic tests at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. She was given a clean bill of health. R2R galloped around Saratoga for her trainer, Todd Pletcher, than exchanged exasperated looks with me. I felt about the same way that she looked. And it would get even hotter as the day wore on.

Historic Firsts: Secretariat's First Shoes

On August 3, 1971 a yearling colt in Virginia named Secretariat had aluminum race plates nailed on his front feet for the first time and was transferred down the road to The Meadow's training center for breaking.

Another anniversary is that of Secretariat's defeat at Saratoga on this day in 1973. A few days earlier, he had beaten the track record for a mile, and in the mud, during a morning workout in front of a grandstand full of fans. As many as 5,000 people would show up just to watch him train in the early morning.

But in the Whitney, the 1-10 favorite Secretariat couldn't catch the 10-1 older gelding, Onion.

That loss, coupled with Man 'o War's historic loss at Saratoga years earlier, in which he had been defeated by the aptly-named Upset, earned the racetrack the nickname "Graveyard of Champions".

Above: Secretariat as a weanling as seen on his web site, secretariat.com .

American Farrier's Association Changes Publishers (again) for Magazine

A letter in today's mail informs me that the American Farrier's Association (AFA) has terminated its contract with Sebastian Publishing for publishing the Professional Farrier, the AFA's member magazine.

The wording of the letter is a little vague, but it sounds like Danvers Child and April Raine, partners in iHorseshoe Inc., will "assume production of the magazine in collaboration with the AFA". The letter does not specify whether this is a temporary arrangement or if the team is working as employees of the AFA.

Sebastian Publishing, headed by Rob Edwards, formerly published The Anvil. Sebastian had been publishing Professional Farrier since October 2006. iHorseshoe will be the magazine's fourth publisher since 2003, but Danvers has had editorial involvement at different times with different publishers over that period.

As always, Hoofcare and Lameness wishes the AFA the best.