Biomechanics Lab at Royal Vet College Offers Program for British Farriers

Course title: Horse biomechanics: what is in it for farriers?

When : Wednesday 12 December 2007

Course fee: £41.70 + VAT (£49.00) (approximately $100US)

This afternoon session is aimed at farriers who would like to know what is going on in equine biomechanics research and how this could be useful for their daily work.

An introductory session in the lecture theatre will give an overview horse related biomechanics research. This will be followed by practical demonstrations in the Structure and Motion Lab.

Tutors:
Chris Pardoe, Farrier, The Royal Veterinary College
Renate Weller, DVM MRCVS, Lecturer in Radiology, The Royal Veterinary College

Biomimetics Update: Would tree frogs stick to horse hooves?

Biomimetics is in the news again. The word that is kind of fun to say means "taking design ideas from nature" or mimicking things that we see work well in the natural world.

The latest hotspot in the product design world is the foot of high-climbing tree frogs, or geckos and other lizards that seems to defy gravity. If you've ever spent a lazy siesta in Mexico watching the lizards scale sun-scorched walls, you too may have marveled, "how the heck can they do that?"

A scientist named Jon Barnes at the University of Glasgow in Scotland has made a career out of studying tiny tree frogs and how they move about. Tree frogs and cricket toes contain microscopic channel patterns that prevent cracking. If an adhesive could avoid cracking, it would be reuseable.

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology have cracked the code and a new generation of adhesives called "Geckel Glue" will be announced in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. The glue is made of gecko hairs and mussel protein fibers.

Researchers found they could increase the adhesive strength by partially filling the microchannels with fluid. The surface tension of the liquid creates a capillary effect—the ability of one substance to draw another toward it like a sponge soaking up water.

Geckos have hair? Apparently, yes, there are microscopic, spatula-tipped hairs on gecko feet. And you don't have to convince me that mussels have something special going on; no matter how hard the waves crash on the rocks around here, the mussels never budge.

And best of all, mussels cling even when submerged, and the new Geckel glue is supposed to excel in moist environments.

A new design of tire tread that biomimics tree frog feet is also in development. Maybe some plastic shoe designer is reading this...tree frog toe pads might come in handy when a horse has to climb a trail like in the Tevis Cup endurance ride in California.

Maybe Geckel Glue will even hold a shoe on...or at least put the cup holder in my car back together...but can anyone tell me the biomimetic origin of "Gorilla" Glue?

Photo links to National Geographic article on gecko and mussel adhesion.

600 Clydesdales Trample Wisconsin College Town

Not trample, exactly, but they are sure to give it a good stomp with those Scotch bottom shoes.

Yesterday was the start of the World Clydesdale Show at the Alliant Center in Madison, Wisconsin. This is the first time the show has been held in the USA. I was quite taken with this photo of one of the Budweiser Clydesdales from Thursday's Capitol Times.

Sadly, the show has already been scarred by the tragic deaths of four members of a showing family who had camped in a horse trailer to be near their horses and died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by an unventilated space heater.

John Henry Is Dead

The legendary Thoroughbred racehorse John Henry was euthanized at the Kentucky Horse Park today at 7:00 pm, just an hour ago.

The sad but unanimous decision was reached by a team of people who knew him best. The park’s equine director, Kathy Hopkins stated, “After continued successful efforts to maintain the quality of John Henry's life, in the past 48 hours he did not respond to our medical intervention. Due to the loss of kidney function and muscle mass, his veterinarian, Dr. Mike Beyer, found it impossible to keep him properly hydrated and comfortable.

"Over the years, our goal has always been to maintain the highest quality of care and life for him," she continued, "and it became evident over the weekend that this was no longer possible. Our hearts go out to all of those who so deeply cared for John during his long and charismatic life.”

He lived 32-and-a-half years, and went peacefully to sleep surrounded by a small circle of friends who were closest to him, including his breeder, Verna Lehmann and Cathy Roby, who has been friend and caretaker to the great gelding for 16 years.

John Henry overcame numerous well-known obstacles throughout his career, and colic surgery in 2002. His talent, determination, tenacity and toughness inspired thousands of people who didn’t even see him race, but became aware of him many years after his retirement. Some of his fans visited him at least once a month from Toledo, Indianapolis, and other cities in the Midwest, while others made annual pilgrimages to his barn from California, Texas and around the world.

When it recently became public knowledge that his health was in a state of decline, many of his fans immediately came to the park to thank their beloved champion for the memories, and to whisper their personal, final farewells to the horse who inspired great respect and ardent devotion.

John Henry’s race record included more than $6.5 million in earnings, 39 wins including 30 stakes wins (16 Grade 1 stakes wins) and seven Eclipse Awards, including two Horse of the Year titles. He was the only horse to win Horse of the Year more than once in nonconsecutive years, and the oldest horse ever to win that title - at age nine. John Henry was voted Racehorse of the Decade for the 1980s, and was inducted into Racing's Hall of Fame in 1990.

Sired by Ole Bob Bowers out of Once Double, by Double Jay, John Henry was foaled on March 9, 1975 at Golden Chance Farm in Paris, Kentucky.

After having passed through several owners and trainers, John Henry finally blossomed under the careful tutelage of trainer Ron McAnally, and with his owner, Sam Rubin. McAnally, who brought out the best in the horse with “carrots, apples and love,” visited John Henry many times during the horse’s retirement and had just seen him again as recently as September. Lewis Cenicola, John Henry’s exercise rider for six years, also visited the horse in September.

Chris McCarron rode John Henry in 14 of his last races and has spent many hours with the horse during his 22 years at the park. Regarding the great horse’s passing, he observed, “What can I say about the legendary John Henry that has not already been said? John meant the world to my family and me. Everywhere he raced, his presence doubled the size of a normal race track crowd. He did so much for racing, even after he retired, that he will be impossible to replace.”

A public memorial service will be held and will be announced by the park upon completion of the arrangements.

John Henry will be buried near his paddock at the Hall of Champions. Other Thoroughbred champions buried at the park include Man o’ War, War Admiral, Forego, Bold Forbes, Allez France, Peteski and Jay Trump.

KHP Executive Drector John Nicholson concluded, “The next few days will be terribly difficult for his fans, but especially for the people here at the park who have worked with him and loved him for so long. It was our unparalleled privilege to have John Henry living at the Kentucky Horse Park for the past 22 years.”

Thanks to the Kentucky Horse Park for their prompt announcement.

Rollkur: Book Slams Overflexion

You may have heard about the debate going on in the sport horse world about the use of overflexion, hyperflexion or "rollkur" methods of training and warming up horses. Last year, the dressage world erupted when the Germans accused Dutch champion dressage rider Anky Van Gruvsnen of cruelty to her horses by training this way. (That's not Anky in the photo, by the way.)

What was first dismissed as the same old "Germans vs Dutch" arguments at the top of the dressage competitor legions segued into an argument of classical vs "modern" dressage. An FEI special forum on the subject, aided by presentations by Hoofcare and Lameness consulting editors Jean-Marie Denoix of France and Hilary Clayton of the USA was inconclusive.

The photo at the top of this page is posted on the web site of our friend Andreas Hausberger, a bereiter with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna who frequently gives clinics in the USA. The black squares over the rider's face are my addition.

This debate just won't quit; recently the Dutch trainer Coby Van Balen was secretly photographed overseeing a lunging session in which the overflexion or "bite the chest" frame seems to be imposed on the horse. The spy photos have been posted freely across the Internet and the reputation of one of the world's top trainers is being smeared.

I won't even begin to compare the European furor with everyday practices of show horses in the USA. You all know the scene over here, but the Europeans and the horse welfare scene in Europe exist in a separate reality and you can't just dismiss this.

Dutch national team farrier Rob Renirie will present a special half-day workshop on sport horses at the Laminitis Conference in Palm Beach next month; it will be intersting to hear his take on rollkur; he is the personal farrier to Anky Van Grusvnen and sees it all.


Adding more fuel to the flames is the publication of a book that will be sold through Hoofcare and Lameness Bookshop...though I wish I had a book from the other side, as well. "Tug Of War: Classical Versus Modern Dressage" is thoughtfully written and beautifully illustrated by German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann. It's one of the best treatises I have seen on functional anatomy of the dressage horse and I hope it outlives the rollkur debate!

Here's the publisher's description:
In a detailed yet comprehensible fashion, Dr. Heuschmann describes parts of the horse’s body that need to be correctly developed by the dressage rider. He then examines how they function both individually and within an anatomical system, and how various schooling techniques affect these parts for the good, or for the bad. Using vivid color illustrations of the horse’s skeletal system, ligaments, and musculature, in addition to comparative photos depicting “correct” versus “incorrect” movement—and most importantly, photos of damaging schooling methods—Dr. Heuschmann convincingly argues that the horse’’s body tells us whether our riding is truly gymnasticizing and “building the horse up, ” or simply wearing it down and tearing it apart.

DR. GERD HEUSCHMANN trained as a Bereiter (master rider) in Germany before qualifying for veterinary study at Munich University. There he specialized in equine orthopedics for two years before accepting a post as the head of the breeding department at the German FN, which he eventually left to start his own practice in Warendorf. He has been an active member of the “hyperflexion” (previously referred to as Rollkur) debate, weighing in at the 2005 USDF National Symposium and the 2006 FEI Veterinary and Dressage Committees’ Workshop.

144 pp • 6 ½ x 9 • 76 color and 5 b/w photos, 20 color illustrations • $25 plus $5 postage in USA; $12 postage outside USA.

Click here for our printable/faxable order form or call 978 281 3222 to order; email orders to tugofwarbook@hoofcare.com.

Life in the Contaminated Zone: Farriers Have to Play by the Rules in Australia

In order to keep horses shod and keep farriers working during the Equine Influenza (EI) epidemic in Australia's states of New South Wales and Queensland, the Master Farriers Association of New South Wales is now working under these rules:

1. Farriers who service race horses on a race course are not to service any other horse off that race course.
2. Farriers who shoe off a race course are not to service any race course.
3. Farriers who shoe pleasure horses are not to shoe any race horse
4. Farriers who shoe race horses are not to shoe pleasure horses.

These directives will remain indefinitely until further notice; legal action will be taken if these directives are not adhered to.

A new outbreak in a former "green" (uninfected) zone near the border between New South Wales and Victoria ups the risk of the disease spreading into the southern state, which is holding its breath with one of the world's greatest stakes races, the Melbourne Cup, coming up in early November. Equitana in Victoria has been cancelled for next month and the Royal Melbourne Show went on without a horse show last month.