Life Imitates Art: World Championship Blacksmiths Pitch Their Tent in Massachusetts

Maybe it was my head cold, but it seemed like a tableau off the wall of a British art gallery. I had just finished selecting a series of Murfin paintings for the next issue of Hoofcare and Lameness; they depict the sights and sweats of the Shire Horse Show shoeing competition held in Peterborough, England each March.

On Friday, the paintings seemd to come alive right in front of me when the World Championship Blacksmiths Competition passed through western Massachusetts; they pitched their big yellow tent at our regional all-breed, all-sport horse fair, Equine Affaire. I was able to drop in for a few minute minutes between sniffles and sneezes.

Both the name recognition factor of the competitors and the geography represented were impressive. Also impressive was the lineup of farriers on the spectator side of the "caution" tape line, the announcer (New Mexico farrier and WCB front man Craig Trnka) and the judge, Billy Crothers of Wales.

Probably my favorite part was the blasting music. Who couldn't smile when you walk up to a big yellow tent full of blazing coal forges and hear Johnny Cash singing "Ring of Fire"? Maybe it was my cold medicine, but I swear the hammers were swinging to the beat.

My heart skipped a beat a little as I looked around and saw what was missing. My late great friend, New York farrier (and tireless competitor) Vern Hornquist, would have been front and center in a very big way at this event. Vern, as many of you know, died a few years ago.

Note: World Championship Blacksmiths is a private corporation producing regional forging competitions around the USA. I believe this was their fourth event, leading up to a national championship to be held in Tampa, Florida in February. Anyone wishing to compete may join the organization and admission seemed to be free for spectators.

About the paintings: These Murfin images are posted for viewing on this blog only. You may double click on the image to see a larger version. You can see more from this series in the next issue of Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. No downloading or reproduction of these images without permission of Hoofcare Publishing and the artist. They are protected by both British and American copyright.

Icelandic Hoof Interlude at Cornell: Sigurdsson Tolts On

Rider Sigurdur Oli Kristinsson, farrier Sigurdur Sigurdsson, and Cornell's Michael Wildenstein pose with a furry Icelandic horse (don't call them ponies!) after an in-depth seminar on shoeing and gait adjustment on the Icelandic horse. The farrier speaker brought a top rider with him to illustrate the fine points of gaiting the fast little island-bred horses that have become very popular in the United States. Below are the finished front feet on this horse. The fine art of adjusting a horse's gaits was covered; the Icelandic horse has five natural gaits, including the four-beat "tolt" which can be trotty or pacey. Adjusting shoe weight behind or in front can have a big effect on the horse's tolt, as illustrated by Siggy and Siggy on two horses worked on the indoor matted horse run at Cornell. The farrier's job is to make sure that the tolt is a true four-beat gait. "Siggy Sig" is director of hoofcare studies at Holar University College, Iceland and is very active as a rider in international competition. Many farriers from the Northeast attended to learn about these horses that are showing up in their practices. It was an outstanding presentation; it's a rare treat to see a farrier pleased enough with his work to ride the horse and there were many points that would have been valuable for trainers or farriers. No one in the audience could say "been there, done that". You know it's a good clinic when I'm not the only one taking photos.

UPenn's Rob Sigafoos Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

America's "Mad Scientist" of farriery received the lifetime achievement award at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday. Sigafoos's career has spanned more than 20 years of innovative thinking that culminated in his important role in the team working on Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro during the colt's long stay at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, where Sigafoos has been staff farrier for more than 20 years.

Among Sigafoos's many contributions to veterinary medicine and farriery have been pioneering the use of PMMA adhesives like "Equilox", glue-on shoes with cloth cuffs, external fixator braces, and many innovative cast and brace designs for orthopedic cases.

If there are giants in the farrier world, Rob is one. He-who-hates-nails changed the way we approach therapeutic options for hoof conditions, and showed us all how to think way outside the box.

Congratulations, Rob!

Million-Dollar Gift from Marianne and John Castle Will Boost Laminitis Research

Several major news stories are in development this morning as I have just returned from the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Complete details will follow, but let me be hopefully the first to announce to the world that Mr. and Mrs. John Castle of New York, New York and Palm Beach, Florida stunned the audience at the conference with the announcement that they will donate one million dollars to Dr. James Orsini's new Laminitis Institute at the University of Pennsylvania for the study of the causes and treatment of laminitis in the horse.

A more formal article will follow, but I wanted to share the great news!

Some background information on the laminitis initiatives at UPenn are outlined in this file.

Farrier Profiled in Video: Australia's Melbourne Cup Will be Run in the Shadow of Equine Influenza Crisis a State Away

It's Melbourne Cup week at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria, where the equine influenza (EI, or "horse flu") outbreak that has paralyzed New South Wales and Queensland has (so far) not erupted.

Several of Australia's top horses are unable to compete because they cannot be transported out of New South Wales. Runners from Europe and Japan have been affected by quarantines as well, or fear the odds of entering the country. Last year the race was won by a Japanese horse.

But the race, made so famous to foreigner through the legend of the great Australian superhorse Phar Lap, will go on. (You may remember how cruel stewards at Flemington kept piled lead on the gifted horse to "equalize" the rest of the field.) Many top stables and racetracks are located in Victoria and South Australia. Horse that were in Victoria when the crisis began just stayed there.

The Australian Broadcast Corporation has posted a very good video profile of farrier Vaughn Ellis from Victoria and his life as a farrier on and off the racetrack. It's worth a look, and American farriers will chuckle when they see him opening a box from the USA as the narrator describes the hardship of Australian farriers, who depend on foreign manufacturers for almost everything they use.

Vaughn is not being hit too hard by the flu crisis, since it has not hit Victoria, but he does remark that he has fewer horses to shoe because the horses from Sydney are unable to come to Victoria for the spring racing season. (Australia, being in the Southern hemishere, is enjoying spring now.)

Try clicking on this type to go to the video. This is a very nice piece and is blessedly free of the sentimentality and cliches that usually mar profiles of professional farriers.

Legal strings with ABC forbid posting the video on this blog. To watch the video you need to click on the highlighted type to the right of the main text and under the photo of the horse hanging his head over a stall door.

Breakdowns Mar First Weeks of Racing on Santa Anita 's New Artificial Surface

The Daily Racing Form is reporting that 11 horses have been euthanized since September 24 at California's Santa Anita racetrack near Los Angeles. The fall "Oak Tree" meet is the first to be run on Santa Anita's new Cushion Track surface and also the first to be run there there since the state of California passed a rule banning toe grabs on front raceplates.

Five horses have died during training and six horses have died during races. The latest death is a three-year-old maiden filly.